> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.pentaho.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.pentaho.com/pdia-data-integration/9.3-data-integration/pdi-transformation-steps-reference-overview/common-formats.md).

# Common Formats

Fields used by PDI transformation steps and job entries have common masks for converting the formats of data values from your original input source or to your target output. For example, you may have a date field in a record of a database that is formatted to be `MMddyyyy` and another field in an input text file formatted to `ddMMyy`. You can apply a mask to either field to match the other.


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