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Date/time masks

A date/time mask serves one of two purposes, depending on the context in which it is used:

  • It determines the format of the output of various functions. For example, in the timetostring function, the date/time mask indicates the format to use for the string output. If the date/time mask is "hh:tt:ss" and the time value is equivalent to 24 seconds past 9:12 a.m., the string output is 09:12:24.
  • It guides the conversion from a string representation of a value to the internal form of that value. For example, in the stringtotime function, the date/time mask indicates the format of the input string so that it will be correctly converted to a time value. If the input string is "05/06/1995", the date/time mask "mm/dd/yyyy" indicates that the substring "05" represents the month, rather than the day.

A date/time mask is a string expression containing any valid combination of components and, optionally, separators. Because the date/time mask is a string, you must surround it with double-quotes.

For usage examples, see date/time mask samples.

Components

Following are the components allowed in a date/time mask. Where applicable, the valid range of each component is listed.

Component Meaning

dd

Two-digit day of the month (1–31).

ddd

Three-digit day of the year (1–366).

mm

One- or two-digit month (1–12).

mon

Three-letter abbreviation of the month (Jan–Dec).

month

Full name of the month (January–December).

yy

Two-digit year (00–99).
CAUTION  We strongly recommend using the four-digit component (yyyy) rather than the two-digit component. With the two-digit component, internally the first two digits are assumed to be "20," which might not be your intention. In addition, using the four-digit component clearly identifies the century and eliminates any ambiguity problems.

yyyy

Four-digit year (0000–9999).

w

One-digit day of the week (0–6, 0 = Sunday, 6 = Saturday).

day

Three-letter abbreviation of the day (Sat–Sun).

dayname

Full name of the day (Sunday–Saturday).

hh

Hour of day (0–23).

tt

Minute of hour (0–59).

ss

Second of minute (0–59).

am

Indicates the time as am or pm (as opposed to a 24-hour clock).

Separators

The following symbols are valid separators. Using separators is optional.

,

.

/

-

<

>

?

:

|

^

;

"

[

]

{

}

_

=

@

%

+

(

)

*

&

#

<space>

Samples

In all the examples, the time is equivalent to:

Tuesday, June 7, 2000 at 32 seconds after 2:05 p.m.

Mask Results

"mon. dd, yyyy"

Jun. 7, 2000

"month dd, yyyy"

June 7, 2000

"mon dd, yy (day)"

Jun 7, 00 (Wed)

''hhttss"

140532

"hh:tt am"

02:05 pm

"dd-mm-yy, hh:tt"

7-6-00, 14:05

"mm/dd/yyyy, hh:tt:ss am"

6/7/2000, 02:05:032 pm

"ddd, hh:tt:ss"

166, 14:05:32

"tt:ss am"

05:32 pm