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**DEFORMAT(**//string// [,//picture//]**)**

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| **DEFORMAT** | Removes formatting characters from a numeric string. |
| //string// | A string expression containing a numeric string. |
| //picture// | A picture token, or the label of a CSTRING variable containing a picture token. If omitted, the picture for the //string// parameter is used. If the //string// parameter was not declared with a picture token, the return value will contain only characters that are valid for a numeric constant. The maximum length is 255 (@S255). |

The **DEFORMAT** procedure removes formatting characters from a numeric string, returning only the numbers contained in the string. When used with a date or time //picture //(except those containing alphabetic characters), it returns a STRING containing the Clarion Standard Date or Time.

| **Return Data Type:** | STRING |

**Example:**

** !DEFORMAT('$1,234.56')          returns 1234.56**

** !DEFORMAT('309-53-9954')        returns 309539954**

** !DEFORMAT('40A1-7',@P##A1-#P)   returns 407**

** !DEFORMAT('-10000')             returns -10000**

** !DEFORMAT(' -10000')            returns 10000**

**!Get phone number for modem to dial:**

**DialString = 'ATDT1' &amp; ****DEFORMAT****(Phone,@P(###)###-####P) &amp; '<;13,10>'**

**ClarionDate = ****DEFORMAT****(dBaseDate,@D1)   !Clarion Standard date from mm/dd/yy string**

**Data = '45,123'                         !Assign a formatted number to a string**

**Number = ****DEFORMAT****(Data)                 !then remove non-numeric characters**

**See Also:**

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

[[standard date.htm|Standard Date]]

[[standard time.htm|Standard Time]]

[[picture tokens.htm|Picture Tokens]]