How can I change an entire column of dates into datetime format?

Hello,

I am trying to convert an entire column of dates into datetime format.

the first cell of the column reads as follows:

'1940/01/11 18:00:00+00'

I have tried the following code;

datetime(Table.ColumnName, 'InputFormat', 'dd-MMM-uuuu HH:mm:ss.SSS')

but keep getting an error and that it is Unable to convert the text to datetime using the

format 'dd-MMM-uuuu HH:mm:ss.SSS'.

Can someone let me know what I am doing wrong and provide a solution?

Thank you!!!

[Stephen23]

“Can someone let me know what I am doing wrong and provide a solution?“

Just to make it clear: the “+00“ bit at the end most likely indicates the timezone:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_zone

And not fractional seconds like you specified. The solution is to specify the timezone in the input format (i.e. Z or X or as a literal).

Answer 1

[Star Strider]

It appears to be UCT (or GMT in 1940).

Perhaps this (the 'InputFormat' descriptor must match the format of the string you want to convert) —

Table.ColumnName = '1940/01/11 18:00:00+00';
DT = datetime(Table.ColumnName, 'InputFormat', 'uuuu/MM/dd HH:mm:ss+00', 'Timezone','UCT')

Warning: 'UCT' specifies a time zone with a fixed offset from UTC, +00:00. This zone does not follow daylight saving time, and so may give unexpected results. See the datetime.TimeZone property for details about specifying time zones.

DT = datetime
   11-Jan-1940 18:00:00

EDIT — Be sure that this is 11 Jan and not 01 Nov. The day and month fields are ambiguous.

.

Answer 2

[Piiotr Botew]

You can use this format:

infmt =  'yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss+SSS';
date = '1940/01/11 18:00:00+00';
datetime(date, 'InputFormat', infmt)

ans = datetime
   11-Jan-1940 18:00:00

[Walter Roberson]

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/datetime.html#buhzxmk-1-Format

u, uu, ...ISO year. A single number designating the year. An ISO year value assigns positive values to CE years and negative values to BCE years, with 1 BCE being year 0.

Not sure why you say there is no such thing in the documentaiton ?