D

Converts dates to storage format and vice versa. When NLS is enabled, the locale default date format overrides any default date format set in the msg.text file.

Syntax

D [years.digits] [delimiter skip] [separator] [format.options 
[ modifiers ] ] [ E ] [ L ]

years.digits indicates the number of digits of the year to output. The default is 4. On input years.digits is ignored. If the input date has no year, the year is taken from the system date.

delimiter is any single nonnumeric character used as a field delimiter in the case where conversion must first do a group extraction to obtain the internal date. It cannot be the system delimiter.

skip must accompany the use of delimiter and is the number of delimited fields to skip in order to extract the date.

separator is the character used to separate the day, month, and year on output. If you do not specify separator, the date is converted in the form 01 DEC 1999. On input separator is ignored. If NLS is enabled and you do not specify years.digits or separator, the default date form is 01 DEC 1999.

format.options is up to six options that define how the date is output (they are ignored on input). Each format option can have an associated modifier, described below. Format options can only be used in certain combinations as described below. The options are as follows:

Y [ n ] outputs the year number as n digits.
YA outputs the name of the Chinese calendar year only. If NLS is enabled, uses the YEARS field in the Time/Date locale.
M outputs the month only as a number from 1 through 12.
MA outputs only the month's name. If NLS is enabled, uses the MONS field in the Time/Date locale. You can use any combination of uppercase and lowercase letters for the month; IBM® InfoSphere™ DataStage® checks the combination against the ABMONS field, otherwise the MONS field.
MB outputs the abbreviated month name. If NLS is enabled, uses the ABMONS field in the Time/Date locale; otherwise, uses the first three characters of the month name.
MR outputs the month number in Roman numerals.
D outputs the day of the month as a number from 1 through 31.
W outputs the day of the week as a number from 1 through 7, where Monday is 1. If NLS is enabled, uses the DAYS field in the Time/Date locale, where Sunday is 1.
WA outputs the day by name. If NLS is enabled, uses the DAYS field in the Time/Date locale, unless modified by the format modifiers, f1, f2, and so forth.
WB outputs the abbreviated day name. If NLS is enabled, uses the ABDAYS field in the Time/Date locale.
Q outputs the quarter of the year as a number from 1 through 4.
J outputs the day of the year as a number, 1 through 366.
N outputs the year number within the current era. If NLS is enabled, uses the ERA STARTS field in the Time/Date locale.
NA outputs the era name corresponding to the current year. If NLS is enabled, uses the ERA NAMES or ERA STARTS fields in the Time/Date locale.
Z outputs the time zone name.

The following shows which format options can be used together:

Use this option...: With these options...
Y: M, MA, D, J, [modifiers]
YA: M, MA, D, [modifiers]
M: Y, YA, D, [modifiers]
MA: Y, YA, D, [modifiers]
MB: Y, YA, D, [modifiers]
D: Y, M, [modifiers]
N: Y, M, MA, MB, D, WA, [modifiers]
NA: Y, M, MA, MB, D, WA, [modifiers]
W: Y, YA, M, MA, D
WA: Y, YA, M, MA, D
WB: Y, YA, M, MA, D
Q
J: Y, [modifiers]
Z: [modifiers]

[ modifiers ] modify the output formats for the data specified by format.options. You can specify up to six modifiers, separated by commas. The commas indicate which format.option each modifier is associated with, therefore you must include all the commas, even if you want to specify only one modifier (see examples). They can be any of the following values:

n displays n characters. It is used with the D, M, Y, W, Q and J numeric options. It is used with MA, MB, WA, WB, YA, N, "text" text options.
A[n] displays the month as n alphabetic characters. It is used with the Y, M, W, and N options.
Z[n] suppresses leading zeros and displays as n digits. It works as n with numeric options.
E toggles day/month/year and month/day/year format for dates.
L displays month or day names as lowercase. The default is uppercase.

Value Returned by the Status Function

If you input an invalid date to this code, it returns a valid internal date but flags the anomaly by assigning a Status function value of 3. For example, 02/29/99 is interpreted as 03/01/99, and 09/31/93 is interpreted as 10/01/93. If the input date is a null value, Status is assigned a value of 3 and no conversion occurs.

Examples

The following examples show the effect of various D conversion codes with the Iconv function:

Conversion Expression: Internal Value
X = Iconv("31 DEC 1967", "D"): X = 0
X = Iconv("27 MAY 97", "D2"): X = 10740
Iconv("05/27/97", "D2/"): X = 10740
X = Iconv("27/05/1997", "D/E"): X = 10740
X = Iconv("1997 5 27", "D YMD"): X = 10740
X = Iconv("27 MAY 97", "D DMY[,A3,2]"): X = 10740
X = Iconv("5/27/97", "D/MDY[Z,Z,2]"): X = 10740
X = Iconv("27 MAY 1997", "D DMY[,A,]"): X = 10740
X = Iconv("97 05 27", "DYMD[2,2,2]"): X = 10740

The following examples show the effect of various D conversion codes with the Oconv function:

Conversion Expression: External Value
X = Oconv(0, "D"): X = "31 DEC 1967"
X = Oconv(10740, "D2"): X = "27 MAY 97"
X = Oconv(10740, "D2/"): X = "05/27/97"
X = Oconv(10740, "D/E"): X = "27/05/1997"
X = Oconv(10740, "D-YJ"): X = "1997-147"
X = Oconv(10740, "D2*JY"): X = "147*97"
X = Oconv(10740, "D YMD"): X = "1997 5 27"
X = Oconv(10740, "D MY[A,2]"): X = "MAY 97"
X = Oconv(10740, "D DMY[,A3,2]"): X = "27 MAY 97"
X = Oconv(10740, "D/MDY[Z,Z,2]"): X = "5/27/97"
X = Oconv(10740, "D DMY[,A,]"): X = "27 MAY 1997"
X = Oconv(10740, "DYMD[2,2,2]"): X = "97 05 27"
X = Oconv(10740, "DQ"): X = "2"
X = Oconv(10740, "DMA"): X = "MAY"
X = Oconv(10740, "DW"): X = "2"
X = Oconv(10740, "DWA"): X = "TUESDAY"