# Help with Telegraf CSV timestamp parsing

**URL:** <https://community.influxdata.com/t/help-with-telegraf-csv-timestamp-parsing/16412>\
**Category:** Telegraf\
**Created:** [October 20, 2020, 10:09pm UTC](https://community.influxdata.com/t/help-with-telegraf-csv-timestamp-parsing/16412 "2020-10-20T22:09:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alatteri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@alatteri](https://community.influxdata.com/u/alatteri)\
**Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 10:09pm UTC](https://community.influxdata.com/t/help-with-telegraf-csv-timestamp-parsing/16412/1 "2020-10-20T22:09:41Z")

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Hello,

I have data in CSV with a timestamp formatted as: 16.10.2020 17:06:47.852892 -0700  
I can’t figure out the proper syntax for the csv\_timestamp\_format.  
Any help greatly appreciated.

This is what I have currently:  
csv\_timestamp\_format = “02.01.2006T15:04:05.000000Z-0700” it errors with:

[inputs.file] Error in plugin: parsing time “16.10.2020 17:06:22.830618 -0700” as “02.01.2006T15:04:05.000000Z-07:00”: cannot parse " 17:06:22.830618 -0700" as "T

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**Author:** ![Anaisdg](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex023/user_avatar/community.influxdata.com/anaisdg/32/6401_2.png) [@Anaisdg](https://community.influxdata.com/u/Anaisdg)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 2:43pm UTC](https://community.influxdata.com/t/help-with-telegraf-csv-timestamp-parsing/16412/2 "2020-10-23T14:43:28Z")

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Hello @alatteri,  
You want your timestamp to look like

```auto
2018-09-13T13:03:28Z

```

(or a timestamp with higher precision like ` 2018-09-13T13:03:280000000Z` if you’re using ns precision)  
What is the -0700 supposed to mean in your data?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alatteri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/43a26b/32.png) [@alatteri](https://community.influxdata.com/u/alatteri)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://community.influxdata.com/t/help-with-telegraf-csv-timestamp-parsing/16412/3 "2020-10-23T15:15:25Z")

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Hi Anaisdg,

Thanks for that info. I believe the -0700 is the timezone.