Date Functions within Freemarker

Freemarker provides powerful formatting options for working with dates, whether you’re displaying timestamps, converting numeric values to date formats, or transforming how a date is shown.

Formatting Date Values

When working with m-Power, it’s recommended to first convert your value to a date using ?date(...) with the correct incoming format. Once the value is treated as a date, you can then format it using ?string(...).

Example

If your field is stored as a string in yyyyMMdd format (e.g., "20030408"), use the following:

${row.ORDERDATE?date("yyyyMMdd")?string["MM/dd/yyyy"]}

Sample Output:

04/08/2003

SimpleDateFormat Pattern Reference Table

Freemarker allows you to use Java’s SimpleDateFormat patterns with the ?string built-in. Below are some common examples:

Pattern	Meaning	Example Output
y	Year (e.g., yy = 2-digit, yyyy = 4-digit)	03, 2003
M	Month (1–12)	4
MM	Two-digit month (01–12)	04
MMM	Abbreviated month name	Apr
MMMM	Full month name	April
d	Day of the month (1–31)	8
dd	Two-digit day of the month	08
E	Abbreviated day of the week	Tue
EEEE	Full day of the week	Tuesday
h	Hour (1–12, no leading zero)	9
hh	Hour (1–12, two digits)	09
H	Hour (0–23, no leading zero)	21
HH	Hour (0–23, two digits)	21
m	Minutes (0–59)	4
mm	Two-digit minutes	04
s	Seconds (0–59)	9
ss	Two-digit seconds	09
a	AM/PM marker	PM
z	Time zone abbreviation	PDT

Tip: You can mix symbols to get exactly the format you need.

Example Usage in Freemarker

${row.ORDERDATE?date("yyyy-MM-dd")?string["MM/dd/yyyy"]}

Output:

04/08/2003

Other Examples in Freemarker

${row.ORDERDATE?date("yyyyMMdd")?string["dd.MM.yyyy, HH:mm"]}
${row.ORDERDATE?date("yyyyMMdd")?string["EEEE, MMMM dd, yyyy, hh:mm a '('zzz')'"]}
${row.ORDERDATE?date("yyyyMMdd")?string["EEE, MMM d, ''yy"]}

Sample Output:

08.04.2003, 21:24
Tuesday, April 08, 2003, 09:24 PM (PDT)
Tue, Apr 8, '03

Formatting Non-Date Values into Dates

Sometimes, your data might not be a date value but still represent a date component—like a numeric month (e.g., 1, 2, 10). You can still use Freemarker to display these values as formatted dates.

Example: Numeric Month → Month Abbreviation

${row.MONTHNUM?date('M')?string('MMM')}

Sample Output:

Jan, Feb, Oct, Nov

Example: Numeric Month → Full Month Name

${row.MONTHNUM?date('M')?string('MMMM')}

Sample Output:

January, February, October, November

Notes

These formats can be customized to meet your localization or styling needs using the SimpleDateFormat symbols. Refer to Java’s SimpleDateFormat documentation for the full list of formatting options.