DataWorks:Scheduling parameter formats

Usage

You define the assignment logic for a scheduling parameter by specifying a parameter name and parameter value in the Scheduling Parameter > scheduling configuration. After you define the parameter, you can reference it in your code using the ${parameter name} syntax. For detailed instructions, see Configure and use scheduling parameters.

• Use the system built-in parameters $bizdate and $cyctime to represent the business date and scheduled time. These parameters resolve to the following values:

  • $bizdate=${yyyymmdd}

  • $cyctime=$[yyyymmddhh24miss]

    The preceding examples show the parameter definitions for $bizdate (resolving to ${yyyymmdd}) and $cyctime (resolving to $[yyyymmddhh24miss]), and their preview results when the business date is 2025-10-16.

• If the default base time values do not meet your needs, use the ${...} and $[...] syntax to transform the two base times into custom time parameters.

Key differences between ${...} and $[...]

The ${...} and $[...] formats differ in their time baselines and calculation capabilities. Mixing them can lead to data errors.

Time formatting

Use the ${...} or $[...] formats to generate time parameters. Combine format codes such as yyyy, yy, mm, and dd to generate dates that are N years, months, or days before or after the business date.

Offset calculation

Offset calculation allows you to add or subtract time from a business date or scheduling time. You can apply offsets of N years, months, days, hours, or minutes relative to the time baseline. Hour and minute offsets are supported only for scheduling time. The offset capabilities of ${...} and $[...] differ because they support different levels of time precision.

1. ${...} offset calculation

   • Core capability: Supports integer offsets for years, months, weeks, and days.

     Important

     Offsets for hours and minutes are not supported. For example, ${yyyy-mm-dd-1/24} is an invalid syntax.

   • Syntax: ${<time_format><±N>}, where the unit of N is the smallest unit in the format, such as yyyymm or yyyymmdd.

     Requirement	Offset unit	Syntax	Example
     N years before/after	Year	${yyyy±N} or ${yy±N}	Get the previous year: ${yyyy-1}
     N months before/after	Month	${yyyymm±N}	Get the previous month: ${yyyymm-1}
     N weeks before/after	Week	${yyyymmdd±7*N}	Get the previous week: ${yyyymmdd-7*1}
     N days before/after	Day	${yyyymmdd±N}	Get the previous day: ${yyyymmdd-1}

2. $[...] offset calculation

   • Core capability: Supports fractional offsets for days, hours, and minutes.

     Important

     The $[...] format cannot use expressions such as $[yyyy-N] or $[mm-N] to retrieve dates from N years or months ago. To perform year or month offsets, you must use the add_months function.

   • Syntax: $[<time_format><±N>] , where N represents a fraction of a day: use N/24 for an N-hour offset and N/24/60 for an N-minute offset.

     Requirement	Offset unit	Syntax	Example
     N years before/after	Year	N years later: $[add_months(yyyymmdd,12*N)] N years earlier: $[add_months(yyyymmdd,-12*N)]	Get the previous year: $[add_months(yyyymmdd,-12)]
     N months before/after	Month	N months later: $[add_months(yyyymmdd,N)] N months earlier: $[add_months(yyyymmdd,-N)]	Get the previous month: $[add_months(yyyymmdd,-1)]
     N weeks before/after	Week	$[yyyymmdd±7*N]	Get the previous week: $[yyyymmdd-7*1]
     N days before/after	Day	$[yyyymmdd±N]	Get the previous day (yesterday): $[yyyymmdd-1]
     N hours before/after	Hour	Available formats: $[hh24miss±N/24], $[hh24±N/24] $[<custom_time_format>±N/24]	Get the previous hour in different formats: Month: $[mm-1/24] Year: $[yyyy-1/24] Year and month: $[yyyymm-1/24] Year, month, and day: $[yyyymmdd-1/24] Previous day and previous hour: $[yyyymmdd-1-1/24]
     N minutes before/after	Minute	Available formats: $[hh24miss±N/24/60] $[yyyymmddhh24miss±N/24/60] $[mi±N/24/60] $[<custom_time_format>±N/24/60]	Get the time 15 minutes before the scheduling time in different formats: $[yyyy-15/24/60] $[yyyymm-15/24/60] $[yyyymmdd-15/24/60] $[hh24-15/24/60] $[mi-15/24/60]
     Combined offset	Day + Hour	$[yyyymmdd±N±M/24], where N is the day offset and M is the hour offset.	Example: Get the time for the previous day and previous hour → $[yyyymmdd-1-1/24]

     Note

     • Cross-day handling: Hour and minute offsets may result in a time that crosses a day boundary. For details on how to handle this, see How to handle cross-day parameter replacement when offsetting by one hour.

     • Month-end calibration: When you apply a month offset to a month-end date, if the target month has fewer days, the result is automatically calibrated to the last day of that month. For example, subtracting one month from 2025-03-31 returns 2025-02-28 because February does not have 31 days.

Secondary transformation using engine functions

If built-in formatting and offset capabilities cannot produce the exact value you need (for example, the last day of the previous month), apply a secondary transformation using the node's engine functions or an assignment node.

See: Typical scenarios for secondary processing of scheduling parameter return values.

String concatenation

Use string concatenation to build structured date strings not supported by the built-in syntax. This method combines a date part generated by a scheduling parameter with a constant string.

Scenario 1: normal scheduling

In normal scheduling, parameter replacement is based on two time baselines: the business date and the scheduling time.

• ${...} (business date): The value is derived from the instance's business date.

• $[...] (scheduling time): The value is derived from the instance's scheduling time.

For example, consider a daily task named A scheduled to run at 00:00 with the following parameters:

• yesterday=${yyyymmdd}

• today=$[yyyymmddhh24miss]

The following table shows how these parameters are replaced for a specific instance:

Scenario 2: data backfill

During a data backfill, the parameter replacement logic changes based on the selected business date. This particularly affects parameters that depend on the scheduling time.

• ${...} (business date): The baseline is the manually selected business date.

• $[...] (scheduling time): The baseline is the manually selected business date + 1 day.

For example, if you backfill task A with 2025-03-15 as the business date: