# Time as part of animation file filename
**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/time-as-part-of-animation-file-filename/14598
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [May 10, 2024, 5:01pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/time-as-part-of-animation-file-filename/14598 "2024-05-10T17:01:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MarkY](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/MarkY)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2024, 5:01pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/time-as-part-of-animation-file-filename/14598/1 "2024-05-10T17:01:15Z")
Hello.
I am trying to get paraview to add the time step as the suffix to the animation file name instead of using the standard numerical suffix specified by: .%04d in the Suffix Format option. I tried a few things like {time:f} which did not work. Is there a way to reference the current timestep with something like .%07t ?
Kind regards,
Mark
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### Author:  [@danlipsa](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/danlipsa)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2024, 10:39pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/time-as-part-of-animation-file-filename/14598/2 "2024-05-13T22:39:40Z")
Mark,
I am not sure I understand what you are asking. The default specification uses the time step and formats it using the printf type specs: .%04d
means it is going to save something like: test.0001.png, test.0002.png, …
You can change the suffix used, for instance, using an \_ instead of a . and using 3 digits for time step instead of 4:
\_%03d
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### Author:  [@MarkY](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/MarkY)
#### Post date: [May 13, 2024, 11:28pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/time-as-part-of-animation-file-filename/14598/3 "2024-05-13T23:28:24Z")
Hello Dan.
I appreciate your reply. What I am intending is that instead of the time step the file be save with the time of the time step:
In the case of the screen shot above it would save it as say test-651.144.png, test-651.236.png, … for example. Instead of test.00066.png, test.00067.png… In some cases a number of digits will be required if the times are only 10e-6 s apart for example…
MTY
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### Author:  [@danlipsa](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/danlipsa)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2024, 2:41pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/time-as-part-of-animation-file-filename/14598/4 "2024-05-14T14:41:19Z")
Yes, this will have to be added - it does not seem to be supported at the moment.
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### Author:  [@MarkY](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/MarkY)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2024, 3:01pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/time-as-part-of-animation-file-filename/14598/5 "2024-05-14T15:01:48Z")
Ok… Cool… I will stop trying to use dereference key combos that mean nothing… 😅
Mark
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### Author:  [@danlipsa](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/danlipsa)
#### Post date: [May 14, 2024, 3:37pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/time-as-part-of-animation-file-filename/14598/6 "2024-05-14T15:37:40Z")
@cory.quammen