diff --git a/docsite/rst/playbooks_filters.rst b/docsite/rst/playbooks_filters.rst
index 70cd908d9b1..cd317895b54 100644
--- a/docsite/rst/playbooks_filters.rst
+++ b/docsite/rst/playbooks_filters.rst
@@ -461,6 +461,25 @@ To escape special characters within a regex, use the "regex_escape" filter::
     # convert '^f.*o(.*)$' to '\^f\.\*o\(\.\*\)\$'
     {{ '^f.*o(.*)$' | regex_escape() }}
 
+.. versionadded:: 2.0
+
+To format a date using a string (like with the shell date command), use the "strftime" filter::
+
+    # Display year-month-day
+    {{ '%Y-%m-%d' | strftime }}
+
+    # Display hour:min:sec
+    {{ '%H:%M:%S' | strftime }}
+
+    # Use ansible_date_time.epoch fact
+    {{ '%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S' | strftime(ansible_date_time.epoch) }}
+
+    # Use arbitrary epoch value
+    {{ '%Y-%m-%d' | strftime(0) }}          # => 1970-01-01
+    {{ '%Y-%m-%d' | strftime(1441357287) }} # => 2015-09-04
+
+.. note:: To get all string possibilities, check https://docs.python.org/2/library/time.html#time.strftime
+
 A few useful filters are typically added with each new Ansible release.  The development documentation shows
 how to extend Ansible filters by writing your own as plugins, though in general, we encourage new ones
 to be added to core so everyone can make use of them.
diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/filter/core.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/filter/core.py
index 39303af4b6e..8ab9e69f4b2 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/filter/core.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/filter/core.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ from functools import partial
 import operator as py_operator
 from random import SystemRandom, shuffle
 import uuid
+import time
 
 import yaml
 from jinja2.filters import environmentfilter
@@ -99,6 +100,15 @@ def bool(a):
     else:
         return False
 
+def strftime(string_format, second = None):
+    ''' return a date string using string. See https://docs.python.org/2/library/time.html#time.strftime for format '''
+    if second is not None:
+        try:
+            second = int(second)
+        except:
+            raise errors.AnsibleFilterError('Invalid value for epoch value (%s)' % second)
+    return time.strftime(string_format, time.localtime(second))
+
 def quote(a):
     ''' return its argument quoted for shell usage '''
     return pipes.quote(a)
@@ -283,6 +293,9 @@ class FilterModule(object):
             # value as boolean
             'bool': bool,
 
+            # date formating
+            'strftime': strftime,
+
             # quote string for shell usage
             'quote': quote,
 
diff --git a/test/integration/roles/test_filters/tasks/main.yml b/test/integration/roles/test_filters/tasks/main.yml
index a94bb8c6559..6341205a730 100644
--- a/test/integration/roles/test_filters/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/test/integration/roles/test_filters/tasks/main.yml
@@ -68,3 +68,15 @@
         - '"0.10 GB" == 102400000|human_readable(unit="G")'
         - '"0.10 Gb" == 102400000|human_readable(isbits=True, unit="G")'
 
+- name: Check strftime
+  tags: "strftime"
+  assert:
+    that:
+        # epoch(1111111111) = 2005-03-18
+        - '"2005" == "%Y"|strftime(1111111111)'
+        - '"03"   == "%m"|strftime(1111111111)'
+        - '"18"   == "%d"|strftime(1111111111)'
+        # epoch(0) = 1970-01-01
+        - '"1970" == "%Y"|strftime(0)'
+        - '"01"   == "%m"|strftime(0)'
+        - '"01"   == "%d"|strftime(0)'