diff --git a/runtime/datetime.c b/runtime/datetime.c
index ba2ed35aa..ddcc732ac 100644
--- a/runtime/datetime.c
+++ b/runtime/datetime.c
@@ -1080,7 +1080,42 @@ int getWeekdayNbr(struct syslogTime *ts)
 	return wday;
 }
 
+/* getOrdinal - 1-366 day of the year
+ * I've given little thought to leap seconds here.
+ */
+int getOrdinal(struct syslogTime *ts)
+{
+	int yday;
+	struct syslogTime yt;
+	time_t thistime;
+	time_t previousyears;
+	time_t seconds_into_year;
 
+	thistime = syslogTime2time_t(ts);
+
+	/* initialize a timestamp from the previous years */
+	yt.year = ts->year - 1;
+	yt.month = 12;
+	yt.day = 31;
+	yt.hour = 23;
+	yt.minute = 59;
+	yt.second = 59;
+	yt.secfracPrecision = 0;
+	yt.secfrac = 0;
+	yt.OffsetMinute = ts->OffsetMinute;
+	yt.OffsetHour = ts->OffsetHour;
+	yt.OffsetMode = ts->OffsetMode;
+	yt.timeType = TIME_TYPE_RFC3164; /* low-res time */
+
+	previousyears = syslogTime2time_t(&yt);
+
+	/* subtract seconds from previous years */
+	seconds_into_year = thistime - previousyears;
+
+	/* divide by seconds in a day and truncate to int */
+	yday = seconds_into_year / 86400;
+	return yday;
+}
 
 /* queryInterface function
  * rgerhards, 2008-03-05
diff --git a/runtime/datetime.h b/runtime/datetime.h
index c96f7eef0..64d26ee20 100644
--- a/runtime/datetime.h
+++ b/runtime/datetime.h
@@ -68,5 +68,6 @@ ENDinterface(datetime)
 PROTOTYPEObj(datetime);
 void applyDfltTZ(struct syslogTime *pTime, char *tz);
 int getWeekdayNbr(struct syslogTime *ts);
+int getOrdinal(struct syslogTime *ts);
 
 #endif /* #ifndef INCLUDED_DATETIME_H */
diff --git a/runtime/msg.c b/runtime/msg.c
index 66c3b7b5f..8f808329a 100644
--- a/runtime/msg.c
+++ b/runtime/msg.c
@@ -98,6 +98,46 @@ static char *two_digits[100] = {
 
 static char *wdayNames[7] = { "Sun", "Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri", "Sat" };
 
+/* Table of days in a year, needed for getYearDay */
+static char *daysInYear[366] = {
+	       "001", "002", "003", "004", "005", "006", "007", "008", "009",
+	"010", "011", "012", "013", "014", "015", "016", "017", "018", "019",
+	"020", "021", "022", "023", "024", "025", "026", "027", "028", "029",
+	"030", "031", "032", "033", "034", "035", "036", "037", "038", "039",
+	"040", "041", "042", "043", "044", "045", "046", "047", "048", "049",
+	"050", "051", "052", "053", "054", "055", "056", "057", "058", "059",
+	"060", "061", "062", "063", "064", "065", "066", "067", "068", "069",
+	"070", "071", "072", "073", "074", "075", "076", "077", "078", "079",
+	"080", "081", "082", "083", "084", "085", "086", "087", "088", "089",
+	"090", "091", "092", "093", "094", "095", "096", "097", "098", "099",
+	"100", "101", "102", "103", "104", "105", "106", "107", "108", "109",
+	"110", "111", "112", "113", "114", "115", "116", "117", "118", "119",
+	"120", "121", "122", "123", "124", "125", "126", "127", "128", "129",
+	"130", "131", "132", "133", "134", "135", "136", "137", "138", "139",
+	"140", "141", "142", "143", "144", "145", "146", "147", "148", "149",
+	"150", "151", "152", "153", "154", "155", "156", "157", "158", "159",
+	"160", "161", "162", "163", "164", "165", "166", "167", "168", "169",
+	"170", "171", "172", "173", "174", "175", "176", "177", "178", "179",
+	"180", "181", "182", "183", "184", "185", "186", "187", "188", "189",
+	"190", "191", "192", "193", "194", "195", "196", "197", "198", "199",
+	"200", "201", "202", "203", "204", "205", "206", "207", "208", "209",
+	"210", "211", "212", "213", "214", "215", "216", "217", "218", "219",
+	"220", "221", "222", "223", "224", "225", "226", "227", "228", "229",
+	"230", "231", "232", "233", "234", "235", "236", "237", "238", "239",
+	"240", "241", "242", "243", "244", "245", "246", "247", "248", "249",
+	"250", "251", "252", "253", "254", "255", "256", "257", "258", "259",
+	"260", "261", "262", "263", "264", "265", "266", "267", "268", "269",
+	"270", "271", "272", "273", "274", "275", "276", "277", "278", "279",
+	"280", "281", "282", "283", "284", "285", "286", "287", "288", "289",
+	"290", "291", "292", "293", "294", "295", "296", "297", "298", "299",
+	"300", "301", "302", "303", "304", "305", "306", "307", "308", "309",
+	"310", "311", "312", "313", "314", "315", "316", "317", "318", "319",
+	"320", "321", "322", "323", "324", "325", "326", "327", "328", "329",
+	"330", "331", "332", "333", "334", "335", "336", "337", "338", "339",
+	"340", "341", "342", "343", "344", "345", "346", "347", "348", "349",
+	"350", "351", "352", "353", "354", "355", "356", "357", "358", "359",
+	"360", "361", "362", "363", "364", "365", "366"};
+
 /* The following is a table of supported years. This permits us
  * to avoid dynamic memory allocation. Note that the time-based
  * algos need to be upgraded after the year 2099 in any case.
@@ -1657,6 +1697,8 @@ getTimeReported(msg_t * const pM, enum tplFormatTypes eFmt)
 		return two_digits[(int)pM->tTIMESTAMP.OffsetMinute];
 	case tplFmtTZOffsDirection:
 		return (pM->tTIMESTAMP.OffsetMode == '+')? "+" : "-";
+	case tplFmtOrdinal:
+		return daysInYear[getOrdinal(&pM->tTIMESTAMP)];
 	}
 	ENDfunc
 	return "INVALID eFmt OPTION!";
@@ -1768,6 +1810,8 @@ static char *getTimeGenerated(msg_t * const pM, enum tplFormatTypes eFmt)
 		return two_digits[(int)pM->tRcvdAt.OffsetMinute];
 	case tplFmtTZOffsDirection:
 		return (pM->tRcvdAt.OffsetMode == '+')? "+" : "-";
+	case tplFmtOrdinal:
+		return daysInYear[getOrdinal(&pM->tRcvdAt)];
 	}
 	ENDfunc
 	return "INVALID eFmt OPTION!";
diff --git a/template.c b/template.c
index 29c46a275..74ede25db 100644
--- a/template.c
+++ b/template.c
@@ -726,6 +726,8 @@ static void doOptions(unsigned char **pp, struct templateEntry *pTpe)
 			pTpe->data.field.eDateFormat = tplFmtTZOffsMin;
 		 } else if(!strcmp((char*)Buf, "date-tzoffsdirection")) {
 			pTpe->data.field.eDateFormat = tplFmtTZOffsDirection;
+		 } else if (!strcmp((char*)Buf, "date-ordinal")) {
+			pTpe->data.field.eDateFormat = tplFmtOrdinal;
 		 } else if(!strcmp((char*)Buf, "lowercase")) {
 			pTpe->data.field.eCaseConv = tplCaseConvLower;
 		 } else if(!strcmp((char*)Buf, "uppercase")) {
@@ -1591,6 +1593,8 @@ createPropertyTpe(struct template *pTpl, struct cnfobj *o)
 				datefmt = tplFmtTZOffsMin;
 			} else if(!es_strbufcmp(pvals[i].val.d.estr, (uchar*)"tzoffsdirection", sizeof("tzoffsdirection")-1)) {
 				datefmt = tplFmtTZOffsDirection;
+			} else if(!es_strbufcmp(pvals[i].val.d.estr, (uchar*)"ordinal", sizeof("ordinal")-1)) {
+				datefmt = tplFmtOrdinal;
 			} else {
 				uchar *typeStr = (uchar*) es_str2cstr(pvals[i].val.d.estr, NULL);
 				errmsg.LogError(0, RS_RET_ERR, "invalid date format '%s' for property",
diff --git a/template.h b/template.h
index bbf230a09..95ff2faeb 100644
--- a/template.h
+++ b/template.h
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ enum tplFormatTypes { tplFmtDefault = 0, tplFmtMySQLDate = 1,
 		      tplFmtWDayName = 8, tplFmtYear = 9, tplFmtMonth = 10, tplFmtDay = 11,
 		      tplFmtHour = 12, tplFmtMinute = 13, tplFmtSecond = 14,
 		      tplFmtTZOffsHour = 15, tplFmtTZOffsMin = 16, tplFmtTZOffsDirection = 17,
-		      tplFmtWDay = 18};
+		      tplFmtWDay = 18, tplFmtOrdinal = 19};
 enum tplFormatCaseConvTypes { tplCaseConvNo = 0, tplCaseConvUpper = 1, tplCaseConvLower = 2 };
 enum tplRegexType { TPL_REGEX_BRE = 0, /* posix BRE */
 		    TPL_REGEX_ERE = 1  /* posix ERE */