# Time Field (Hours/Minutes) Format "HH:mm"
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/time-field-hours-minutes-format-hh-mm/68448
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [December 8, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/time-field-hours-minutes-format-hh-mm/68448 "2016-12-08T15:42:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mehdi-aouadi](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mehdi-aouadi)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2016, 3:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/time-field-hours-minutes-format-hh-mm/68448/1 "2016-12-08T15:42:55Z")
I need a field with HH:mm format. I mapped it in the index usgin a HH:mm Format :
`"hour_start" : { "type" : "date", "format" : "HH:mm" }`
I retrieve the values from a semicolon separated values file :
`valueA;valueB;21:00;otherValues`
I use an `exec` input command `cat` on the file and hen a `split` filter. The time field is retrieved correctly but when the field is indexed it generates an error both in logstash and elasticsearch :
```
MapperParsingException[failed to parse [hour_start]]; nested: IllegalArgumentException[Invalid format: "hour_start"];
at org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.FieldMapper.parse(FieldMapper.java:329)
at org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.DocumentParser.parseObjectOrField(DocumentParser.java:311)
at org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.DocumentParser.parseValue(DocumentParser.java:438)
at org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.DocumentParser.parseObject(DocumentParser.java:264)
at org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.DocumentParser.parseDocument(DocumentParser.java:124)
at org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.DocumentMapper.parse(DocumentMapper.java:309)
at org.elasticsearch.index.shard.IndexShard.prepareIndex(IndexShard.java:580)
at org.elasticsearch.index.shard.IndexShard.prepareIndexOnPrimary(IndexShard.java:559)
at org.elasticsearch.action.index.TransportIndexAction.prepareIndexOperationOnPrimary(TransportIndexAction.java:211)
at org.elasticsearch.action.index.TransportIndexAction.executeIndexRequestOnPrimary(TransportIndexAction.java:223)
at org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.TransportShardBulkAction.shardIndexOperation(TransportShardBulkAction.java:327)
at org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.TransportShardBulkAction.shardOperationOnPrimary(TransportShardBulkAction.java:120)
at org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.TransportShardBulkAction.shardOperationOnPrimary(TransportShardBulkAction.java:68)
at org.elasticsearch.action.support.replication.TransportReplicationAction$PrimaryPhase.doRun(TransportReplicationAction.java:648)
at org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.AbstractRunnable.run(AbstractRunnable.java:37)
at org.elasticsearch.action.support.replication.TransportReplicationAction$PrimaryOperationTransportHandler.messageReceived(TransportReplicationAction.java:279)
at org.elasticsearch.action.support.replication.TransportReplicationAction$PrimaryOperationTransportHandler.messageReceived(TransportReplicationAction.java:271)
at org.elasticsearch.transport.RequestHandlerRegistry.processMessageReceived(RequestHandlerRegistry.java:77)
at org.elasticsearch.transport.TransportService$4.doRun(TransportService.java:376)
at org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.AbstractRunnable.run(AbstractRunnable.java:37)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Invalid format: "hour_start"
at org.joda.time.format.DateTimeParserBucket.doParseMillis(DateTimeParserBucket.java:187)
at org.joda.time.format.DateTimeFormatter.parseMillis(DateTimeFormatter.java:826)
at org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.core.DateFieldMapper$DateFieldType.parseStringValue(DateFieldMapper.java:366)
at org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.core.DateFieldMapper.innerParseCreateField(DateFieldMapper.java:534)
at org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.core.NumberFieldMapper.parseCreateField(NumberFieldMapper.java:241)
at org.elasticsearch.index.mapper.FieldMapper.parse(FieldMapper.java:321)
... 22 more
```
And then the value is stored in the document with a full date format :
`hour_start:December 31st 1969, 21:00:00.000`
How to manage time field with only hours and minutes ?
---
### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2016, 4:33am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/time-field-hours-minutes-format-hh-mm/68448/2 "2016-12-12T04:33:03Z")
This sounds like an ES question more than an LS one.
Have you tried `hour_minute` or `strict_hour_minute` from [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/5.1/mapping-date-format.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/5.1/mapping-date-format.html)
---
### Author:  [@mehdi-aouadi](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mehdi-aouadi)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2016, 10:13am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/time-field-hours-minutes-format-hh-mm/68448/3 "2016-12-12T10:13:11Z")
I updated the mapping using `strict_hour_minute` Date Format :
`"hour_start" : { "type" : "date", "format" : "HH:mm" }`
It is working !
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2017, 10:13am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/time-field-hours-minutes-format-hh-mm/68448/4 "2017-01-09T10:13:26Z")
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