# Dot YMD Timestamp (24h)

Key: `datetime.timestamp.dot_ymd_24h`

Dot-separated Year.Month.Day with space and 24-hour time. Niche format found in some East Asian and Baltic systems.

Page: <https://meridian.online/docs/finetype/types/datetime/timestamp/dot_ymd_24h>

Format: `%Y.%m.%d %H:%M:%S`

Samples: `2024.01.15 14:30:00`, `2023.12.31 23:59:59`, `2024.06.01 08:15:30`

## Use it

Shell

```shell
finetype infer -i '2024.01.15 14:30:00' --mode column
# → datetime.timestamp.dot_ymd_24h
```

DuckDB

```sql
SELECT ft_infer('2024.01.15 14:30:00');
-- → 'datetime.timestamp.dot_ymd_24h'
```

Cast template: {col} is your column

```sql
strptime({col}, '%Y.%m.%d %H:%M:%S')
-- Format: %Y.%m.%d %H:%M:%S
```

## Background

### Origin

FineType defines this type itself, with the format string %Y.%m.%d %H:%M:%S: a four-digit year, two-digit month and two-digit day joined by dots, then a space and a 24-hour time with seconds.[[1]](https://github.com/meridian-online/finetype/blob/main/labels/definitions_datetime.yaml)

Writing the year first with dots between the parts has national roots: Wikipedia's list of date formats by country gives Hungary's form as yyyy. mm. (d)d.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_date_formats_by_country) Wikipedia's list of date formats by country says that in South Korea many people casually write dates as (yy)yy.(m)m.(d)d(.), although the national standard format is yyyy-mm-dd.[[2]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_date_formats_by_country)

Java's SimpleDateFormat documentation uses a dotted year-first pattern in its own examples, showing yyyy.MM.dd G 'at' HH:mm:ss z formatting as 2001.07.04 AD at 12:08:56 PDT.[[3]](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html)

### Use

The MQL5 TimeToString function converts a time value into a string of yyyy.mm.dd hh:mi format by default.[[4]](https://www.mql5.com/en/docs/convert/timetostring) The MQL5 reference says the TIME\_SECONDS flag of TimeToString gets the time as hh:mi:ss.[[4]](https://www.mql5.com/en/docs/convert/timetostring) When dotted year-first timestamps turn up in trading data, it is worth asking whether they came from code written in MQL5, and checking whether seconds were kept at all. (Meridian's view)

Wikipedia's article on date notation in South Korea says government documents shorten a date by replacing each unit suffix with a single period, writing 2001. 11. 29. with intervening spaces and a trailing period.[[5]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_and_time_notation_in_South_Korea)

## Sources

1. [finetype/labels/definitions\_datetime.yaml](https://github.com/meridian-online/finetype/blob/main/labels/definitions_datetime.yaml) — FineType
2. [List of date formats by country](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_date_formats_by_country) — secondary source
3. [SimpleDateFormat (Java Platform SE 8 )](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html) — documentation
4. [TimeToString - Conversion Functions - MQL5 Reference](https://www.mql5.com/en/docs/convert/timetostring) — documentation
5. [Date and time notation in South Korea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_and_time_notation_in_South_Korea) — secondary source

## How it's detected

Low prevalence. East Asian/Baltic niche.