# How to convert a string field to a date field in EFK stack

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-convert-a-string-field-to-a-date-field-in-efk-stack/218158>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [February 6, 2020, 11:24am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-convert-a-string-field-to-a-date-field-in-efk-stack/218158 "2020-02-06T11:24:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![skdasari](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/skdasari/32/50452_2.png) [@skdasari](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/skdasari)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 11:24am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-convert-a-string-field-to-a-date-field-in-efk-stack/218158/1 "2020-02-06T11:24:14Z")

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Hi All,

I am sending custom syslog data from a server to elasticsearch using fluentd. I am able to see the data in table visualisation. But when I try to go for Line or any other visuzlization I am not able to place the date field or any other field which is a string into the Y axis.

This is the sample log.

{"date":"Feb 3 17:26:36","server":"xx","error":"augenrules: failure 1"}  
{"date":"Feb 3 17:26:38","server":"xx","error":"NetworkManager[830]: [xx] manager: rfkill: WiFi enabled by radio killswitch; enabled by state file"}  
{"date":"Feb 3 17:26:44","server":"xx","error":"Unit metricbeat.service entered failed state."}  
{"date":"Feb 3 18:01:44","server":"xx","error":"rtprocess[4815]: (RTI rtscantask[6106]@xx)#app#ClsRtdb\_query\_attr.cpp#931#ClsRtdbAttrTbl::fetchScalarVal(): Failed to fetch scalar value because failed to convert address to number address."}

I have 3 fields here.

1. date  
2.server  
3.error

All I want to show is in X-axis I need a date field and in Y axis I need server names and I want to aggregate the errors in between using a dot/line visualisation. When the mouse mouse hovers it should be abe to show the error message.

Can someone please advise on how this can be done?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2020, 11:24am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-convert-a-string-field-to-a-date-field-in-efk-stack/218158/2 "2020-03-05T11:24:19Z")

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Closed on March 5, 2020, 11:24am UTC

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