# Slash YMD Timestamp (24h)

Key: `datetime.timestamp.slash_ymd_24h`

Slash-separated Year/Month/Day with space and 24-hour time. Standard in Japanese system logs and .NET ja-JP culture default.

Page: <https://meridian.online/docs/finetype/types/datetime/timestamp/slash_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.slash_ymd_24h
```

DuckDB

```sql
SELECT ft_infer('2024/01/15 14:30:00');
-- → 'datetime.timestamp.slash_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

In Japan, the most commonly used date format puts the year first, then the month and the day, followed by the weekday.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_and_time_notation_in_Japan) Wikipedia's article on date and time notation in Japan shows the all-numeric Gregorian date written with slashes between year, month and day.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_and_time_notation_in_Japan) The 24-hour notation is commonly used in Japan, especially in train schedules.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_and_time_notation_in_Japan) Wikipedia's article also notes that the 12-hour notation is common in Japan.[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_and_time_notation_in_Japan)

Microsoft's .NET documentation gives yyyy/MM/dd as the short date pattern of the ja-JP culture.[[2]](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.globalization.datetimeformatinfo.shortdatepattern)[[3]](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/base-types/standard-date-and-time-format-strings) In .NET's ja-JP culture, the short date format renders 15 June 2009 as 2009/06/15.[[3]](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/base-types/standard-date-and-time-format-strings)

### Use

MySQL permits a relaxed DATETIME string syntax in which any punctuation character may be used as the delimiter between date parts or time parts.[[4]](https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.4/en/date-and-time-literals.html) MySQL's manual gives '2012/12/31 11\*30\*45' as equivalent to '2012-12-31 11:30:45'.[[4]](https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.4/en/date-and-time-literals.html) MySQL raises a warning when a datetime value uses delimiters other than the dash for the date part and the colon for the time part.[[4]](https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.4/en/date-and-time-literals.html) Loading slash-separated timestamps into MySQL by relying on the relaxed syntax is a habit worth dropping; convert them to the dashed form on the way in. (Meridian's view)

Python's strptime treats the leading zero as optional for the %d, %m, %H, %M and %S directives.[[5]](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html) DuckDB's strptime function converts strings to timestamps according to a specified pattern.[[6]](https://duckdb.org/docs/current/sql/functions/dateformat.html) DuckDB's strptime function throws an error on failure.[[6]](https://duckdb.org/docs/current/sql/functions/dateformat.html) DuckDB's try\_strptime function returns NULL on failure.[[6]](https://duckdb.org/docs/current/sql/functions/dateformat.html) Parse with the explicit pattern %Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S rather than a locale default, and run the forgiving variant first so you can count the rows that do not fit before you commit to the strict one. (Meridian's view) The values carry no offset, so ask the source which time zone its clock was set to before you compare them with data from anywhere else. (Meridian's view)

## Sources

1. [Date and time notation in Japan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_and_time_notation_in_Japan) — secondary source
2. [DateTimeFormatInfo.ShortDatePattern Property (System.Globalization)](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.globalization.datetimeformatinfo.shortdatepattern) — documentation
3. [Standard date and time format strings - .NET](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/base-types/standard-date-and-time-format-strings) — documentation
4. [11.1.3 Date and Time Literals](https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.4/en/date-and-time-literals.html) — documentation
5. [datetime — Basic date and time types](https://docs.python.org/3/library/datetime.html) — documentation
6. [Date Format Functions](https://duckdb.org/docs/current/sql/functions/dateformat.html) — documentation

## How it's detected

Japanese system logs, .NET ja-JP culture.