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[[date pictures.htm#datepix|Quick List]]

[[date pictures.htm#user-defineddatepictures|User-defined Date Pictures]]

===== Predefined Date Pictures =====

**@Dn **[**s**] [//direction //[//range//] ] [**B**]

{{blk2blue.jpg|blk2blue.jpg}}

| **@D** | All date pictures begin with @D |
| **n** | Determines the date picture format. Date picture formats range from 1 through 18. A leading zero (0) indicates a zero-filled day or month. |
| **s** | A separation character between the month, day, and year components. If omitted, the slash ( / ) is used. |
| . (period) | Produces periods |
| ` (grave accent) | Produces commas |
| - (hyphen) | Produces hyphens |
| _ (underscore) | Produces spaces |
| //direction// | A right or left angle bracket (> or <;) that specifies the "Intellidate" direction (> indicates future, <; indicates past) for the //range// parameter. Valid only on ENTRY date pictures with two-digit years. |
| //range// | An integer constant in the range of zero (0) to ninety-nine (99) that specifies the "Intellidate" century for the //direction// parameter. Valid only on ENTRY date pictures with two-digit years. If omitted, the default value is 80. |
| **B** | Specifies that the format displays as blank when the value is zero. |

There are 18 predefined Date Pictures with the modifiers described above. You can also define your own custom Date Pictures. The literal text in picture tokens can contain any Unicode characters.

Dates may be stored in numeric variables (typically a LONG), a DATE field, or in a STRING type declared with a date picture. A date stored in a numeric type is referred as a "Clarion Standard Date." The stored value is the number of days since December 28, 1800. The date picture token converts the value into one of the date formats.

The century for dates in any Picture with a two-digit year is resolved using "Intellidate" logic. Date pictures that do not specify //direction// and //range// parameters assume the date falls in the range of the next 19 or previous 80 years. The //direction// and //range// parameters allow you to change this default. The //direction// parameter specifies whether the //range// specifies the future or past value. The opposite //direction// then receives the opposite value (100-//range)// so that any two-digit year results in the correct century.

For example, the picture @D1>60 specifies using the appropriate century for each year 60 years in the future and 39 years in the past. If the current year is 1996, when the user enters "5/01/40," the date is in the year 2040, and when the user enters "5/01/60," the date is in the year 1960.

For those date pictures which contain month names, the actual names are customizable in an Environment file (.ENV). See the Internationalization section for more information.

**Examples:**

<code>
Picture Format               Result

@D1      mm/dd/yy             10/31/59
@D1>40   mm/dd/yy             10/31/59
@D01     mm/dd/yy             01/01/95
@D2      mm/dd/yyyy           10/31/1959
@D3      mmm dd,yyyy          OCT 31,1959
@D4      mmmmmmmmm dd, yyyy   October 31, 1959
@D5      dd/mm/yy             31/10/59
@D6      dd/mm/yyyy           31/10/1959
@D7      dd mmm yy            31 OCT 59
@D8      dd mmm yyyy          31 OCT 1959
@D9      yy/mm/dd             59/10/31
@D10     yyyy/mm/dd           1959/10/31
@D11     yymmdd               591031
@D12     yyyymmdd             19591031
@D13     mm/yy                10/59
@D14     mm/yyyy              10/1959
@D15     yy/mm                59/10
@D16     yyyy/mm              1959/10
@D17                          Windows Control Panel setting for Short Date
@D18                          Windows Control Panel setting for Long Date

 Alternate separators     

@D1.     mm.dd.yy             Period separator
@D2-     mm-dd-yyyy           Dash separator
@D5_     dd mm yy             Underscore produces space separator
@D6`     dd,mm,yyyy           Grave accent produces  comma separator

</code>

===== Coming in a future release =====

===== User-Defined Date Pictures =====

In addition to the 18 predefined Date pictures you can construct your custom Date Picture using the following meta-symbols.

**All user-defined date pictures begin with @D  and end with uppercase D.** The character % can be equal to C (Capitalize), L (Lower case) or U (Upper case). The optional parts of the meta-symbols are enclosed in square brackets [ ]:

| d[*] | Day of Month, one digit (only supports days 1-9) |
| dd | Day of Month, two digits always |
| M[*] | Month number, one digit (only supports January..September) |
| MM | Month number, always two digits |
| MMM[%] | Abbreviated Month name |
| MMMM[%] | Full month name |
| MMMMM[%] | Month name; the maximum length is determined by the number of M's in the Picture (must be 5 or more) |
| yy | 2 digit year |
| yyyy | 4 digit year |
| W[%] | Day of Week abbreviation; the maximum length is determined by the longest value for the current codepage |
| WW[%] | Day of Week abbreviation; maximum length is 2 |
| WWW[%] | Day of Week abbreviation; maximum length is 3 |
| WWWW[%] | Day of Week full name; the maximum length is determined by the longest value for the current codepage |
| WWWWW[%] | Day of Week full name; the maximum length is determined by the number of W's in the Picture (must be 5 or more) |

Meta-symbol based date pictures must begin and end with uppercase D characters (not counting optional range value and B modifier).

=====  =====

All characters enclosed in double-quotes are treated as literals. To include double-quote  as a literal character, two subsequent double-quote characters must be used.

Contents of meta-symbol based @D can't begin with the following combination of characters:

<;digit>

*<;digit>

_<;digit>

<;decimal digit>

If the Picture needs to be started with any of these literal characters, they must be placed between double-quote characters.

Examples:

| @D*8 | *3 FEB 2019 |
| @Ddd MMMMC yyyy, WWWWCD | 03 February 2019, Sunday |
| @Ddd-MM yyyy, WWWWCD | 03-02 2019, Sunday |
| @DWWWWC dd MMMMC yyyyD | Sunday 03 February 2019 |
| @D"Today is" WWWWC dd MMMMC yyyyD | Today is Sunday 03 February 2019 |
| @D"Today is" WWWWC dd MMMMU yyyyD | Today is Sunday 03 FEBRUARY 2019 |

**See Also:**

[[standard date.htm|Standard Date]]

[[format  return formatted numbers into a picture .htm|FORMAT]]

[[deformat  return unformatted numbers from string .htm|DEFORMAT]]

[[internationalization.htm|Environment Files]]