20240601T123456Z

20240601T123456Z is a timestamp string following the ISO 8601 standard, using the basic format to denote a precise moment in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

The date portion, 20240601, corresponds to June 1, 2024, and the time portion, 123456, corresponds to 12:34:56. The trailing Z indicates that the time is in UTC. There are no separators in this representation.

Applications include data interchange, log entries, and file naming; advantages include compactness and lexicographic sortability; potential pitfalls include misinterpretation if the Z is omitted or if regional formatting is assumed.

In programming contexts, parsing requires appropriate format strings, for example in Python: use datetime.strptime with "%Y%m%dT%H%M%SZ" or libraries like dateutil. The Z denotes zero offset from UTC, and without it the time zone would be unspecified. Some systems may also represent the same moment with an offset like "+00:00" or with separators, as in the extended ISO 8601 format.

This timestamp represents a point in time rather than an event; one may assign it to a record, a build, or a data release to indicate when the entry was created. See also ISO 8601, UTC, and time formatting variations for related conventions.