CToD(), DToC(), DToS()

These functions convert character strings to dates, dates to characters, and dates to character strings in system (YYYYMMDD) format, respectively. All the functions respect the settings of CENTURY, DATE and MARK, so make no assumptions about the placement of particular characters or the exact delimiters used, unless you explicitly SET them first.

Usage

dRetVal = CTOD( cDate )
cRetVal = DTOC( dDate | tDateTime [, 1 ] )
cRetVal = DTOS( dDate | tDateTime )

CTOD() converts a character expression to a date. CTOD() lets you omit zeros before numbers and translates any of the common delimiters ( /, -, . ) regardless of the current setting of DATE or MARK.DTOC() converts a date or datetime to a character string, using the current DATE, MARK and CENTURY format. The optional 1 in the second parameter (actually, any parameter will do—logical, numeric, string, or even .NULL.!) outputs the string in DTOS() format (see below) rather than the current default. Only the date portion of a datetime variable is returned—see TTOC() to get the full datetime value in character form. Without the second parameter, the return value of DTOC() can vary from 8 to 10 characters, depending on the settings of CENTURY. DTOS() converts a date or datetime to a character string of the format YYYYMMDD. This is a format handy for creating indexes, since all dates get listed chronologically. Only the date portion of a datetime variable is returned—see TTOC() to get the full datetime value in character form.

Example

cSetDate = SET("DATE")
SET DATE MDY
dRetVal = CTOD(ltrim(str(nMonth))+"/01/1900")
SET DATE &cSetDate
 
cRetVal = DTOC(datetime())
cRetVal = DTOS(DATE())