Extract times from text
Paste or upload text to find 12-hour times with AM/PM and 24-hour times. The tool keeps optional seconds and converts each match to HH:MM or HH:MM:SS in 24-hour format.
How to extract times
- Type or paste text into the input area. Extraction runs again as the text changes.
- Select Upload to choose a
.txt,.csv, or.logfile. You can also drop a file on the input area. - Read the extracted rows below the input. With empty input, the table shows “Paste text to see extracted times.”
Filter and export the results
Each result row contains Format, Raw Match, Normalized (24h), Seconds, and Source Context. The context is shortened: it includes up to 40 characters before and after the match, collapses whitespace, and uses ellipses when source text was cut.
- Use Format to choose All formats, 12-hour, or 24-hour.
- Enable Unique times only to keep the first occurrence of each normalized value.
- Changing these filters changes the displayed rows, not the source text.
If no match remains, the table shows “No times found.”
Select Copy to place the filtered rows, including a header, on the clipboard as tab-separated text. Select CSV to download the rows as times.csv. Neither action produces output when there are no rows.
What the extractor recognizes
The extractor recognizes syntactically valid ranges only. For 12-hour times, the hour must be 1–12 with an AM/PM marker. Examples include 9:30 AM, 12:05:42 pm, 3pm, and 7:00 p.m.. For 24-hour times, hours run from 00 to 23, minutes from 00 to 59, and optional seconds from 00 to 59. Other human-written forms or invalid ranges may not be detected.
Overlapping 12-hour and 24-hour matches are prevented from counting the same text span twice. The tool does not extract dates, interpret meaning, resolve timezone abbreviations, or convert between timezones. Use the Date Extractor for date expressions.
Limitations and text handling
The extraction logic runs in browser JavaScript with regular expressions and FileReader. The page’s extraction code does not submit entered text to the tool server. This does not establish an absolute privacy guarantee for the page, which also loads analytics scripts.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What time formats does the extractor recognize?
It detects valid 12-hour times with AM/PM, such as 9:30 AM, 12:05:42 pm, and 3pm, plus valid 24-hour times such as 14:30 and 23:59:09. Seconds are optional.
How are times normalized?
Each match becomes a 24-hour HH:MM value, or HH:MM:SS when seconds appear in the original match. For example, 9:30 PM becomes 21:30.
Does this tool handle dates or timezones?
No. It extracts clock-time expressions only. It does not extract dates, resolve timezone abbreviations, or convert between timezones. Use the Date Extractor for dates.
Is my data safe when I paste it here?
The extraction logic runs in your browser, and the page’s extraction code does not submit entered text to the tool server. The page also loads analytics scripts, so the implementation does not support an absolute privacy guarantee.
How does the tool avoid double-counting a time?
When a 12-hour match is found, its text span is excluded from the 24-hour pattern. For example, 9:30 AM is counted once rather than also being treated as a bare 24-hour fragment.