Data Type Formatting

Each field in the PARS templates has an expected data type. The following table provides the required formatting and a few examples of each data type.

Data Type	Required Formatting	Examples
Boolean	`TRUE` or `FALSE`	`TRUE`
Code	Human readable identifier using uppercase letters (`A-Z`) numbers (`0-9`) underscores (`_`) dashes (`-`) Please do not include spaces, lowercase letters, or other symbols.	`NEFSC_MA-RI_202202_COX01` `SOUNDTRAP-53423`
Code List	Comma-separated list of `Code`s within a single string. Be sure to enclose the list in double quotes within the CSV file so it is not separated into multiple columns.	`"RIWH,FIWH,BLWH"`
Date	Date as `YYYY-MM-DD`	`2025-03-26`
Float	Decimal number	`72.56281`
Integer	Integer number	`1`
Text	Text string (no character limit)	`Recorder lost at sea`
Timestamp	Date and time in one of the following ISO-8601 formats (seconds and milliseconds are optional): `YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM±HHMM` `YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS±HHMM` `YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS.SSS±HHMM` Must include timezone suffix in `±HHMM`, `±HH` or `Z` (for UTC) formats. For example: `YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS±HHMM` `YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS±HH` `YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SSZ`	`2025-03-26T15:34Z` `2025-03-26T15:34:27+04` `2025-03-26T15:34:27-0500` `2025-03-26T15:34:27.921-0500`
Timezone	Timezone as UTC offset in one of the following formats: `UTC` `UTC±H` `UTC±HH` `UTC±HHMM`	`UTC` `UTC+4` `UTC+04` `UTC-0500`
URL	Valid web address (must begin with `https://`)	`https://www.example.com`