# New user questions about date format
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/new-user-questions-about-date-format/149708
**Category:** Logstash
**Created:** [September 24, 2018, 4:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/new-user-questions-about-date-format/149708 "2018-09-24T16:03:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Fpig](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Fpig)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2018, 4:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/new-user-questions-about-date-format/149708/1 "2018-09-24T16:03:54Z")
I have two inputs pulling in data in different formats. My problem is the timestamps are causing issues. The first looks like something this 2018-09-21T22:13:27.161Z and the second will have this format 4/11/18 17:19
How can I get them to be the same date format?
Thanks in advance
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### Author:  [@yaauie](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/yaauie)
#### Post date: [September 24, 2018, 10:00pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/new-user-questions-about-date-format/149708/2 "2018-09-24T22:00:23Z")
The [Date Filter](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/plugins-filters-date.html#plugins-filters-date-match), which populates the `@timestamp` by parsing the value in another field, takes a list of formats. It will try each in succession, stopping only when it finds a match or reaches the end of the list. Once populated, the `@timestamp` is a timestamp _object_, representing a specific moment in time. It can be formatted into a String using the [sprintf syntax](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/logstash/current/event-dependent-configuration.html#sprintf).
The first format you list is ISO8601, a well-recognised international standard.
The second format is potentially ambiguous. Is that April 11th, 2018, or is it November 4th, 2018?
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### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2018, 10:00pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/new-user-questions-about-date-format/149708/3 "2018-10-22T22:00:25Z")
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