github.com/hugorut/terraform@v1.1.3/website/docs/language/functions/timestamp.mdx (about)

     1  ---
     2  page_title: timestamp - Functions - Configuration Language
     3  description: |-
     4    The timestamp function returns a string representation of the current date
     5    and time.
     6  ---
     7  
     8  # `timestamp` Function
     9  
    10  `timestamp` returns a UTC timestamp string in [RFC 3339](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3339) format.
    11  
    12  In the Terraform language, timestamps are conventionally represented as
    13  strings using [RFC 3339](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3339)
    14  "Date and Time format" syntax, and so `timestamp` returns a string
    15  in this format.
    16  
    17  The result of this function will change every second, so using this function
    18  directly with resource attributes will cause a diff to be detected on every
    19  Terraform run. We do not recommend using this function in resource attributes,
    20  but in rare cases it can be used in conjunction with
    21  [the `ignore_changes` lifecycle meta-argument](/language/meta-arguments/lifecycle#ignore_changes)
    22  to take the timestamp only on initial creation of the resource. For more stable
    23  time handling, see the [Time Provider](https://registry.terraform.io/providers/hashicorp/time/).
    24  
    25  Due to the constantly changing return value, the result of this function cannot
    26  be predicted during Terraform's planning phase, and so the timestamp will be
    27  taken only once the plan is being applied.
    28  
    29  ## Examples
    30  
    31  ```
    32  > timestamp()
    33  2018-05-13T07:44:12Z
    34  ```
    35  
    36  ## Related Functions
    37  
    38  * [`formatdate`](/language/functions/formatdate) can convert the resulting timestamp to
    39    other date and time formats.