# Format datetime from system.tag.queryTagHistory **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Created:** [May 17, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/format-datetime-from-system-tag-querytaghistory/90577 "2024-05-17T20:13:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Craig\_webber](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/craig_webber/32/62546_2.png) [@Craig\_webber](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Craig_webber)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 8:13pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/format-datetime-from-system-tag-querytaghistory/90577/1 "2024-05-17T20:13:50Z")
I am running some tag queries against a postgres TimeScaleDB My data is coming back with millisecond resolution when I run 1 minute average queries: "t\_stamp","XXXXX", "2024-05-04 00:02:00.028","0.2266050743890813", "2024-05-04 04:52:04.088","5.7324847185309595" There is a slight drift in the seconds of the timestamps and this is causing the data team that uses these CSV exports problems I need to get all the time stamps to just be in the yyyyMMdd HH:mm format . what are my options to get this done ? I don't see any way to format the timestamp in the query. I am really hoping I dont have to loop through the returned data set and modify each row as these queries usually have 3-4million rows. ---
**Author:** ![Transistor](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/transistor/32/3380_2.png) [@Transistor](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Transistor)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 8:16pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/format-datetime-from-system-tag-querytaghistory/90577/2 "2024-05-17T20:16:13Z")
Why are your timestamps coming back as strings? Can you post your query? See [Wiki - how to post code on this forum](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/wiki-how-to-post-code-on-this-forum/77831). ---
**Author:** ![KathyApplebaum](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kathyapplebaum/32/7261_2.png) [@KathyApplebaum](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/KathyApplebaum)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 8:46pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/format-datetime-from-system-tag-querytaghistory/90577/3 "2024-05-17T20:46:28Z")
If your datatype is really timestamp, it should be coming back as a long. It could be that whatever you're using to view the data is doing some autoformatting for you (for example, if you're displaying it in something that expects a date). If it really is a long, and you really need a formatted date, postgres can format it in the query by using the [to\_char(timestamp) function](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/functions-formatting.html). ---
**Author:** ![Craig\_webber](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/craig_webber/32/62546_2.png) [@Craig\_webber](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Craig_webber)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 8:47pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/format-datetime-from-system-tag-querytaghistory/90577/4 "2024-05-17T20:47:32Z")
Oh cant get the query right now but what I pasted above for the timestamps is after I run The dataset.toCSV() hopefully that answers your question ---
**Author:** ![Craig\_webber](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/craig_webber/32/62546_2.png) [@Craig\_webber](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Craig_webber)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 8:50pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/format-datetime-from-system-tag-querytaghistory/90577/5 "2024-05-17T20:50:05Z")
Is this an option when im using system.tag.queryTagHistory() ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 9:12pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/format-datetime-from-system-tag-querytaghistory/90577/6 "2024-05-17T21:12:07Z")
Make sure that your start timestamp for your query has no seconds or milliseconds, and that the end timestamp for your query ends with :59.999. The return size should be exactly the number of minutes in that span. ---
**Author:** ![KathyApplebaum](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kathyapplebaum/32/7261_2.png) [@KathyApplebaum](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/KathyApplebaum)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2024, 9:29pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/format-datetime-from-system-tag-querytaghistory/90577/7 "2024-05-17T21:29:42Z")
doh, you're right. I blame it on being Friday afternoon of a verrrrry long week. ---
**Author:** ![Craig\_webber](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/craig_webber/32/62546_2.png) [@Craig\_webber](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Craig_webber)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2024, 6:23pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/format-datetime-from-system-tag-querytaghistory/90577/8 "2024-05-21T18:23:01Z")
Thanks this was the answer. this is exactly how I fixed it: self.view.custom.startTime and self.view.custom.endTime are date/time components ```python startTime = system.date.parse(self.view.custom.startTime.formattedValue, "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm") endTime = system.date.parse(self.view.custom.endTime.formattedValue, "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm") ```