add toDate function

date.go

@@ -69,3 +69,8 @@ func dateAgo(date interface{}) string {
 	duration := time.Since(t) / time.Second * time.Second
 	return duration.String()
 }
+
+func toDate(fmt, str string) time.Time {
+	t, _ := time.ParseInLocation(fmt, str, time.Local)
+	return t
+}

date_test.go

@@ -27,3 +27,10 @@ func TestAgo(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Error(err)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestToDate(t *testing.T) {
+	tpl := `{{toDate "2006-01-02" "2017-12-31" | date "02/01/2006"}}`
+	if err := runt(tpl, "31/12/2017"); err != nil {
+		t.Error(err)
+	}
+}

docs/date.md

@@ -74,3 +74,15 @@ Same as htmlDate, but with a timezone.
 htmlDate (now) "UTC"
 ```
 
+## toDate
+
+`toDate` converts a string to a date. The first argument is the date layout and
+the second the date string. If the string can't be convert it returns the zero
+value.
+
+This is useful when you want to convert a string date to another format
+(using pipe). The example below converts "2017-12-31" to "31/12/2017".
+
+```
+toDate "2006-01-02" "2017-12-31" | date "02/01/2006"
+```

functions.go

@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ var genericMap = map[string]interface{}{
 	"dateInZone":     dateInZone,
 	"dateModify":     dateModify,
 	"ago":            dateAgo,
+	"toDate":         toDate,
 
 	// Strings
 	"abbrev":     abbrev,