A date/time mask can serve one of two purposes: Determines the format of the output of various functions or guides the conversion from a string representation of a value to the internal form of that value.
Following are two ways that a date/time mask can be used:
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 the information about date/time mask samples.
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). 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). |
xs:datetime | Indicates the date and time in XML format as described by W3C XML Schema and ISO 8601. The format is: CCYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss All fields must be present and can optionally be preceded by a sign and leading figures, if needed, and followed by fractional digits for the seconds and a time zone. The time zone can be specified using the letter "Z" which identifies UTC or by the difference of time with UTC. |
The following symbols are valid separators. Using separators is optional.
Separator symbol | Separator symbol | Separator symbol |
---|---|---|
, | . | / |
- | < | > |
? | : | | |
^ | ; | " |
[ | ] | { |
} | _ | = |
@ | % | + |
( | ) | * |
& | # | <space> |
Mask | Results |
---|---|
|
Jun. 8, 2000 |
|
June 8, 2000 |
|
Jun 8, 00 (Wed) |
|
140532 |
|
02:05 pm |
|
8-6-00, 14:05 |
|
6/8/2000, 02:05:032 pm |
|
167, 14:05:32 |
|
05:32 pm |
|
2000-06-08T14:05:32 |