eg: select str_to_date('2014-12-21 12%3A34%3A56', '%Y-%m-%d %H%%3A%i%%3A%s'); select unix_timestamp('2007-11-30 10:30%3A19', '%Y-%m-%d %H:%i%%3A%s'); This also enable us to extract column fields from HDFS file path with contains '%'.