formatDate(date, pattern) turns a date into text, for labels such as “May 2026”, keys such as
“2026-05” or a sentence built with concat. If all you want is a different look for a date on a chart,
change the field’s format instead and keep the date.
Copy and paste
formatDate({Order Date}, 'yyyy-MM-dd') /* 2026-05-14 */
formatDate({Order Date}, 'dd/MM/yyyy') /* 14/05/2026 */
formatDate({Order Date}, 'MMM yyyy') /* May 2026 */
formatDate({Order Date}, 'yyyy-MM') /* 2026-05, sorts correctly as text */
formatDate({Order Date}, 'EEE dd MMM') /* Thu 14 May */
Year and quarter label, 2026-Q2:
concat(toString(extract('YYYY', {Order Date})), '-Q', toString(extract('Q', {Order Date})))
Pattern letters
| Letters | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
yyyy |
year | 2026 |
MM / MMM / MMMM |
month number / short name / full name | 05 / May / May |
dd |
day of the month | 14 |
EEE / EEEE |
weekday short / full | Thu / Thursday |
HH / mm / ss |
hour (0–23) / minutes / seconds | 14 / 30 / 00 |
The patterns follow Joda. They are case-sensitive: MM is the month and mm the minutes. To put a
literal letter in the output, such as the T in yyyyMMdd'T'HHmmss, wrap the whole pattern in double
quotes or escape the single quotes with a backslash, as the AWS reference shows.
Text sorts like text
The result is a string, so a visual sorts it alphabetically: Apr 2026, Aug 2025, Dec 2025.
Patterns that start with the year and use month numbers (yyyy-MM) sort correctly. For anything else,
sort the visual by a date field or by truncDate('MM', {Order Date}).
Change the format, not the field
For axes, tables and filters, select the date field in the field well, choose Format and pick or
type a date format. The field stays a date: it sorts by time, works with date filters and drill-down,
and the period functions keep working. Use formatDate only when you need text: a label inside
concat, a key to match another text column, or a dataset column exported to a file.
Checked against the Amazon Quick Sight function reference (October 2026).
