The formats are as follows. Exactly the components shown here must be present, with exactly this punctuation. Note that the "T" appears literally in the string, to indicate the beginning of the time element, as specified in ISO 8601.
| Date type | Scheme | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Year | YYYY | 1997 |
| Year and month | YYYY-MM | 1997-07 |
| Complete date | YYYY-MM-DD | 1997-07-16 |
| Complete date plus hours and minutes | YYYY-MM-DDThh:mmTZD | 1997-07-16T19:20+01:00 |
| Complete date plus hours, minutes and seconds | YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssTZD | 1997-07-16T19:20:30+01:00 |
| Complete date plus hours, minutes, seconds and a decimal fraction of a second | YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss.sTZD | 1997-07-16T19:20:30.45+01:00 |
YYYY = four-digit year
MM = two-digit month (01=January, etc.)
DD = two-digit day of month (01 through 31)
hh = two digits of hour (00 through 23) (am/pm NOT allowed)
mm = two digits of minute (00 through 59)
ss = two digits of second (00 through 59)
s = one or more digits representing a decimal fraction of a second
TZD = time zone designator (Z or +hh:mm or -hh:mm)