terraform/website/docs/configuration/functions/timestamp.html.md

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---
layout: "functions"
page_title: "timestamp - Functions - Configuration Language"
sidebar_current: "docs-funcs-datetime-timestamp"
description: |-
The timestamp function returns a string representation of the current date
and time.
---
# `timestamp` Function
-> **Note:** This page is about Terraform 0.12 and later. For Terraform 0.11 and
earlier, see
[0.11 Configuration Language: Interpolation Syntax](../../configuration-0-11/interpolation.html).
`timestamp` returns a UTC timestamp string in [RFC 3339](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3339) format.
In the Terraform language, timestamps are conventionally represented as
strings using [RFC 3339](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3339)
"Date and Time format" syntax, and so `timestamp` returns a string
in this format.
The result of this function will change every second, so using this function
directly with resource attributes will cause a diff to be detected on every
Terraform run. We do not recommend using this function in resource attributes,
but in rare cases it can be used in conjunction with
[the `ignore_changes` lifecycle meta-argument](../resources.html#ignore_changes)
to take the timestamp only on initial creation of the resource. For more stable
time handling, see the [Time Provider](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/time/).
Due to the constantly changing return value, the result of this function cannot
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be predicted during Terraform's planning phase, and so the timestamp will be
taken only once the plan is being applied.
## Examples
```
> timestamp()
2018-05-13T07:44:12Z
```
## Related Functions
* [`formatdate`](./formatdate.html) can convert the resulting timestamp to
other date and time formats.