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Code Keys/PySpark Academy/Module 08/Lesson 60
PYSPARK • LESSON 60

Parsing Timestamps with to_timestamp()

How do we parse detailed event date-time strings into native TimestampType fields?

Intermediate⏱ 2 Minutes⭐ 330 XP
🤔 THE QUESTION

How do we parse detailed event date-time strings into native TimestampType fields?

💡 WHAT IS IT?

to_timestamp(col, format) parses date and time strings into Spark TimestampType with microsecond precision.

🎯 WHAT IS IT USED FOR?

Event time processing, windowed streaming aggregations, and sessionization pipelines.

💻 EXAMPLE
from pyspark.sql.functions import col, to_timestamp

df = df.withColumn("event_time", to_timestamp(col("raw_time"), "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"))

🎯 Mission Objectives

Practice typing production-grade PySpark code for Parsing Timestamps with to_timestamp().

  • ✓ Import to_timestamp function
  • ✓ Parse timestamp format pattern
  • ✓ Cast to native TimestampType
🚀 Start Mission
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