
>>-DATE--(--+--------+--)--------------------------------------><
'-option-'
returns, by default, the local date in the format: dd mon yyyy (day
month year—for example, 13 Mar 1992), with no leading
zero or blank on the day. If the active language has an abbreviated
form of the month name, then it is used (for example, Jan, Feb, and so on).
You can use the following
options to obtain specific formats.
(Only the capitalized and highlighted letter is needed; all characters
following it are ignored.)
- Base
- returns the number of complete days (that is, not including
the current day) since and including the base date, 1 January 0001,
in the format: dddddd (no leading zeros or blanks). The expression DATE('B')//7 returns a number in the range 0–6 that corresponds to the current day of the week, where 0 is
Monday and 6 is Sunday.
Thus, this function can be used
to determine the day of the week independent of the national language
in which you are working.
Note: The base date of 1 January
0001 is determined by extending the current Gregorian calendar backward
(365 days each year, with an extra day every year that is divisible
by 4 except century years that are not divisible by 400). It does
not take into account any errors in the calendar system that created
the Gregorian calendar originally.
- Century
- returns the number of days, including the current day, since
and including January 1 of the last year that is a multiple of 100
in the format: ddddd (no leading zeros). Example: A call
to DATE(C) on 13 March 1992 returns 33675, the number of
days from 1 January 1900 to 13 March 1992. Similarly, a call to DATE(C)
on 2 January 2000 returns 2, the number of days from 1
January 2000 to 2 January 2000.
- Days
- returns the number of days, including the current day, so far
in this year in the format: ddd (no leading zeros or blanks).
- European
- returns date in the format: dd/mm/yy.
- Julian
- returns date in the format: yyddd.
- Month
- returns full English name of the current month, for example, August.
- Normal
- returns date in the format: dd mon yyyy. This is the default.
- Ordered
- returns date in the format: yy/mm/dd (suitable for
sorting, and so forth).
- Standard
- returns date in the format: yyyymmdd (suitable for
sorting, and so forth).
- Usa
- returns date in the format: mm/dd/yy.
- Weekday
- returns the English name for the day of the week, in mixed case,
for example, Tuesday.
Here are some examples, assuming today is 13 March 1992:
DATE() -> '13 Mar 1992'
DATE('B') -> 727269
DATE('C') -> 33675
DATE('D') -> 73
DATE('E') -> '13/03/92'
DATE('J') -> 92073
DATE('M') -> 'March'
DATE('N') -> '13 Mar 1992'
DATE('O') -> '92/03/13'
DATE('S') -> '19920313'
DATE('U') -> '03/13/92'
DATE('W') -> 'Friday'
Note: The first call to DATE or TIME in one clause causes
a time stamp to be made that is then used for all calls
to these functions in that clause. Therefore, multiple calls to any
of the DATE or TIME functions or both in a single expression or clause
are guaranteed to be consistent with each other.