# Truncate String?

**URL:** <https://discourse.nodered.org/t/truncate-string/95947>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [12 March 2025 14:07 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/truncate-string/95947 "2025-03-12T14:07:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![damica51](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@damica51](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/damica51)\
**Post date:** [12 March 2025 14:07 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/truncate-string/95947/1 "2025-03-12T14:07:25Z")

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![Sample](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/1/c/1c0b739d49b322c0625f8e8bb64a594f5b6d9426.jpeg)  
The msg.datetime is a string and I am trying to get rid of the last 5 char.  
I just want the Date and Time. I want to get rid of what the green arrow is pointing to.

Thanks for any help

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**Author:** ![jbudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5f8ce5/32.png) [@jbudd](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/jbudd)\
**Post date:** [12 March 2025 14:38 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/truncate-string/95947/2 "2025-03-12T14:38:22Z")

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Maybe like this?

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/3X/c/7/c72b2c09c0992ed9cd6ab96316468a0689a87808.png)

Where did that timestamp come from? It's not a very helpful format.

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**Author:** ![E1cid](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/user_avatar/discourse.nodered.org/e1cid/32/77971_2.png) [@E1cid](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/E1cid)\
**Post date:** [12 March 2025 14:39 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/truncate-string/95947/3 "2025-03-12T14:39:58Z")

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Try

```auto
value: msg.dateTime.slice(0,-5)

```

if the timestamp is a string. [String.prototype.slice() - JavaScript | MDN](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/String/slice)

You could also use substring() or substr()

Otherwise you will need to convert the time object to a string using toISOString() [Date - JavaScript | MDN](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![damica51](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@damica51](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/damica51)\
**Post date:** [12 March 2025 16:46 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/truncate-string/95947/4 "2025-03-12T16:46:00Z")

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Worked very well. Thank You.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex026/uploads/nodered/original/1X/d073cd938eafa2e558d7c2cd59003b3ef4963033.png) [@system](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [26 March 2025 16:46 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/truncate-string/95947/5 "2025-03-26T16:46:13Z")

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