Postman TodayDate variable to get past dates

[mattschmitt (matt)]

Hi, so I’m stuck on creating a new variable for a past date. I currently have a global variable:
pm.globals.set(“todayDate”,parseInt(moment().format(“YYYYMMDD”)))

Instead of creating a bunch of different global variables for 5 days back, 10 days back and so on I was wondering what I can do with my todayDate variable to set a new local variable as 10 days back?

I know i could just do something like this: pm.globals.set(“yesterdayDate”,parseInt(moment().subtract(1, ‘days’).format(“YYYYMMDD”)))
but was thinking i could use my todayDate variable and manipulate that ?

Thanks!

[bpricilla (Pricilla B)]

@mattschmitt Welcome to the Community

You can use dynamic past date if there’s no specific req to the past date here. This will create new past data for every run

pm.environment.set("randompastdate", pm.variables.replaceIn('{{$randomDatePast}}'));
 let pastdate = pm.environment.get("randompastdate");
pastdate = moment(pastdate);
pm.environment.set("pastdate", pastdate.format("YYYYMMDD"));

@mattschmitt

I know i could just do something like this: pm.globals.set(“yesterdayDate”,parseInt(moment().subtract(1, ‘days’).format(“YYYYMMDD”)))
but was thinking i could use my todayDate variable and manipulate that ?

Yes we can do like this.

var pdate = new Date();
pdate.setDate(pdate.getDate()-1);
pastdate = moment(pdate);
pm.environment.set("pastdate", pastdate.format("YYYYMMDD"));

So it depends on your req, Please let me know if you are still facing any issues

[mattschmitt (matt)]

@bpricilla Thanks for the response. Sorry I’m pretty new to this but I have to get 10 days back from todaysDate so it does have to be a specific date.

What i have below does not work but could i do something along the lines of it do you know ?

// pm.variables.set(“tenDaysBack”, pm.globals.get(“todayDate”).subtract(10, ‘days’).format(“YYYYMMDD”))

[bpricilla (Pricilla B)]

@mattschmitt No problem I thought any past date would work for you.

So please try the below snippet then:

const moment = require('moment');
const today = moment();
var todayDate = today.format('YYYYMMDD');
pm.globals.set("todayDate", todayDate);

var tenDaysBack = moment().subtract(10, 'days');
//console.log(tenDaysBack);
pm.globals.set("tenDaysBack", tenDaysBack.format('YYYYMMDD'));

Please let me know if you still face any issues here

[mattschmitt (matt)]

@bpricilla thanks so much for the help ! That works great ! your the best !

[sean.keegan]

People helping people! I love to see it

@mattschmitt if the above suggestion from @bpricilla worked for you, would you mind marking it as the solution so others can find it quickly?

[bpricilla (Pricilla B)]

Great to hear Cheers!! Happie Testing

[sherrinjac (Sherrin)]

I placed the snippet in Pre-request Script.
And added extra line to it pm.collectionVariables.set(“startDate”,“todayDate”);

In the body, i am using this line
“startDate”:“{{startDate}}”,

But its not picking it correctly, as, in console, I see as “startDate”:todayDate

[amit (Amit Singh)]

Hey @sherrinjac

And added extra line to it pm.collectionVariables.set(“startDate”,“todayDate”);

Most likely you wanted the following instead:

pm.collectionVariables.set("startDate", todayDate);

See the lack of quotes (") around todayDate

If you are facing some other issue, I would suggest opening a new topic

[sherrinjac (Sherrin)]

@amit

pm.collectionVariables.set("startDate", todayDate);

Thank you very much. It worked.

[chantal-decraie]

Hi @bpricilla the method “substract” is not working for me . I’m getting the error: your variable.substract is not a function….

Please advice!

// 1. Create a moment object for now

let now = require('moment');

const time = now().format(("YYYY-MM-DD") + "T" + ("HH:mm:ss")).split("+02:00")[0] + ".000Z";

//2. put this in the environment variable to be able to reuse this in as much places as possible

pm.environment.set('currentDate', time);

let momentPodPrevious = now();

let prevResultpod = momentPodPrevious.substract('days', 1);

pm.environment.set('momentPodPrev', prevResultpod);

Thank you!

[danny-dainton]

Hey @chantal-decraie

Welcome to the Postman Community!

It looks like you have a slight typo on that function name substract, should be subtract.

I used the new Agent Mode to help me out and quickly find the issue in the script.

Once I confirmed the change, it saved and sent the request for me

[chantal-decraie]

oh my days! @danny-dainton thank you! you’re so right it’s fixed.

Have a nice day!