Parse Dates with DataWeave

These DataWeave examples define a function (fun) in the DataWeave header to normalize date separators (/, ., and -) within different date formats so that all of them use the same separator (-). Before you begin, note that 2.x versions of DataWeave are used by Mule 4 apps. For DataWeave in Mule 3 apps, refer to DataWeave version 1.2 examples. For other DataWeave versions, you can use the version selector in the DataWeave table of contents.

The examples use these functions:

replace so that all dates match a single pattern.
mapObject to run through the date elements. The script applies the normalizing function to each date.
as (in the second DataWeave script) to change the data type of the values to a Date type with a specific date format.

Example: Returns Dates as String Types

DataWeave Script:

%dw 2.0
output application/xml
fun normalize(date) = (date) replace "/" with "-" replace "." with "-"
---
dates: (payload.dates mapObject {
    normalized_as_string: normalize($)
})dataweave

Input XML Payload:

<dates>
  <date>26-JUL-16</date>
  <date>27/JUL/16</date>
  <date>28.JUL.16</date>
</dates>xml

Output XML:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='US-ASCII'?>
<dates>
  <normalized_as_string>26-JUL-16</normalized_as_string>
  <normalized_as_string>27-JUL-16</normalized_as_string>
  <normalized_as_string>28-JUL-16</normalized_as_string>
</dates>xml

Example: Returns Dates as Date Types