Time templates - how to display human-readable timestamp?

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1

Hi, I have a 3D printer ETA that I want to display as a part of a markdown panel.

Problem is, the markdown panel displays it like this:

Screenshot 2023-08-16 at 10.27.18
Screenshot 2023-08-16 at 10.27.18742×108 12.2 KB

How can I get a human-readable timestamp? Simple Hours:Minutes?

I have this in the markdown panel:
ETA is approx. {{states ('sensor.klipper_print_eta') }} remaining

How can I get the short form? Thanks!

EDIT: I have rewritten the post, I want a human-readable “it will be done at Hours:Minutes” time, not “in XX minutes”. Sorry for the confusion.

2

Many many simialr requests, there are various solutions and one that is not widely known
Have a look here, initial setup is a bit iffy but then it is very nice (imo)
Easy Time Macros for Templates! - Share your Projects! - Home Assistant Community (home-assistant.io)

1 Like
3

It was working as I wanted it to up to sometime last year, there had to be some sort of breaking change.

4

For as far as I can see, your eta sensor is a timestamp in the future. It’s unlikely that it will give the time left. So I guess you have to calculate it. I don’t have an ETA sensor, but I guess something like this should work:

{{ 
   int( (states('sensor.klipper_print_eta') - now()).seconds / 60 )
}}

I assume your sensor value is an actual datetime value and not a string.

5

It you add the class timestamp then it will behave the same in SOME cards, probably not in markdown. Use the macro as an idea

6

It does give time left, see the second screenshot. Those two are the same sensor in two different contexts. Your code gives me "TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for -: 'str' and 'datetime.datetime'"
Thanks.

7

I’m sorry, I have confused everyone. What I want in the markdown card is the time (o’clock), not time remaining. I’ll reword the OP.

8

No… there’s no breaking change here. You’re looking at the under the hood state, which has always been a timestamp. It’s because you’re outputting the value from a template and HA doesn’t know how to format it. Been like this from day 1. You have to make it friendly using a template. Hence why I made the easy time library.

9

So there was probably a change in the sensor itself (Klipper 3D printer integration). The markdown panel was originally displaying a human readable time and I have not made any changes to it. Thanks for clarification.

10

thanks but for a non-programmer, this is impenetrable

11

Agree it is a bit more then jinja template…but not much. As with many areas where you want to make it ‘yours’ you’d have to use a bit more techy stuff. Actually, easy_time macro’s reduce a lot of complexity.
Anyhow, my 2cts …good luck :slight_smile: