How to format a time as text

str.format_time(time_value, format, timezone) returns a time as a string. Two things differ from what you may expect: the time is in seconds, while time, time_close and timenow are in milliseconds, and the format is a layout, not a list of letter codes.

//@lipi=2
indicator("Last bar time", overlay=true)
if barstate.islast {
    stamp = str.format_time(math.floor(time / 1000), "2006-01-02 15:04", "UTC")
    label.new(bar_index, high, stamp)
}

Seconds, not milliseconds

Divide a Lipi time by 1000 and round down: math.floor(time / 1000). Passing time itself compiles, because it is an integer, but the result is a date tens of thousands of years from now: the function reads the number as seconds.

//@lipi=2
indicator("Time in milliseconds", overlay=true)
if barstate.islast {
    label.new(bar_index, high, str.format_time(time, "2006-01-02 15:04"))
}

That script compiles and shows the wrong year. Nothing in the compiler flags it.

The layout

Write the layout as the date 2006-01-02 15:04:05 (a Monday, January 2, 2006, 3:04:05 PM) would appear in the format you want. The parts of that reference date are the codes:

Part	Code	Part	Code
year	`2006`	hour, 24-hour	`15`
month number	`01`	hour, 12-hour	`03`
month name	`Jan` or `January`	minute	`04`
day of month	`02`	second	`05`
weekday name	`Mon` or `Monday`	AM/PM	`PM`

So "2006-01-02 15:04" gives 2026-10-25 14:30, "02 Jan 15:04" gives 25 Oct 14:30 and "Mon 03:04 PM" gives Sun 02:30 PM.

The time zone

The third argument is optional and defaults to "UTC". Give it as "UTC+3", "UTC-5" or "GMT+0530" (hours, or hours and minutes), or as an IANA name such as "America/New_York". syminfo.timezone is the instrument’s own zone. An unknown zone makes the result na, not an error.

//@lipi=2
indicator("Time in the exchange zone", overlay=true)
if barstate.islast {
    label.new(bar_index, high, str.format_time(math.floor(time / 1000), "02 Jan 15:04", syminfo.timezone) + " " + syminfo.timezone)
}

The mistake to avoid

Passing the milliseconds of time straight in, as above. Divide by 1000 first. See Sessions and intervals and Text and markers.

Manual

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Reference

How to format a time as text

Seconds, not milliseconds

The layout

The time zone

The mistake to avoid

​Seconds, not milliseconds

​The layout

​The time zone

​The mistake to avoid

Seconds, not milliseconds

The layout

The time zone

The mistake to avoid