FORMATDATE Function

Returns a date formatted as a string.

Category: Date and Time
Returned data type: String
Note: The returned value is a string with the date formatted as a string.

Syntax

formatdate(<datevar,format>)

Required Arguments

<datevar>

a date that needs to be formatted; this can be specified as field name

<format>

a string that represents the format that needs to be applied; this can be specified as fixed string, field name, or expression

Details

The format parameter can include any string, but the following strings are replaced with the specified values:

Note: The format parameters are case sensitive.

The formatdate function dates should be in the format specified by ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss:ms) to avoid ambiguity. Remember that date types must start with and end with the # sign (for example, #12-February-2010#).

Examples

Example 1

// Declare a date variable and initialize

// it to a value

date dateval

dateval = #2010-02-12#

// Declare the formatted date variable

string fmtdate

fmtdate = formatdate(dteval, "MM/DD/YY")

Results: 02/12/10

Example 2

// Declare a date variable and initialize

// it to a value

date dateval

dateval = #2010-02-12#

// Declare the formatted date variable

string fmtdate

fmtdate = formatdate(dateval, "DD MMM YYYY")

Results: February 12, 2010 12 Feb 2010

Example 3

// Declare a date variable and initialize

// it to a value

date dateval

dateval = #2010-02-12#

// Declare the formatted date variable

string fmtdate

fmtdate = formatdate(dateval, "MMMM DD, YYYY")

Results: February 12, 2010

Example 4

day_string=formatdate('date',"DD");

month_string=formatdate('date',"MM");

year_string=formatdate('date',"YYYY");

 

int_number='date';

date_string=formatdate(int_number,"MMM DD,YYYY");

 

df_date='date';

Results:

Example #4 Results