# Date Invalid format too short
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/date-invalid-format-too-short/141046
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [July 22, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/date-invalid-format-too-short/141046 "2018-07-22T19:27:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@magedmakled](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magedmakled)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/date-invalid-format-too-short/141046/1 "2018-07-22T19:27:58Z")
I have an elasticsearch model with a field `starts_at` with the mapping
```
"starts_at": {
"type": "date",
"format": "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ"
}
```
When I try to enter `2018-07-29T13:00:00Z`, I get the error `Invalid format: \"2018-07-29\" is too short"`
```
Elasticsearch::Transport::Transport::Errors::BadRequest: [400] {"error":{"root_cause":[{"type":"mapper_parsing_exception","reason":"failed to parse [starts_at]"}],"type":"mapper_parsing_exception","reason":"failed to parse [starts_at]","caused_by":{"type":"illegal_argument_exception","reason":"Invalid format: \"2018-07-29\" is too short"}},"status":400}
```
What Am I doing wrong?
---
### Author:  [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2018, 7:46pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/date-invalid-format-too-short/141046/2 "2018-07-22T19:46:54Z")
Just wondering about `2018-07-29T13:00:00Z`. What is the meaning of `Z` here?
It should be a time zone I think.
---
### Author:  [@magedmakled](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magedmakled)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2018, 7:58pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/date-invalid-format-too-short/141046/3 "2018-07-22T19:58:33Z")
so the format with the `Z` is a `UTC` format but I also get the same error if I try to enter `2018-07-29T08:00:00-05:00`
---
### Author:  [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/date-invalid-format-too-short/141046/4 "2018-07-22T20:22:28Z")
This works well on my end:
```auto
DELETE test
PUT test
{
"mappings": {
"_doc": {
"properties": {
"starts_at": {
"type": "date",
"format": "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ssZ"
}
}
}
}
}
POST test/_doc
{
"starts_at": "2018-07-29T08:00:00-05:00"
}
```
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2018, 8:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/date-invalid-format-too-short/141046/5 "2018-08-19T20:22:31Z")
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