Date Processing Functions¶

Date functions allow manipulating date values:

• FORMATDATE: The FORMATDATE function is used to transform date values into string-type values by using a specific format. It receives the following parameters:

  • A string-type value specifying the desired format to use to transform the date, for example “MM-dd-yyyy HH:mm”. This pattern follows the syntax specified by the class SimpleDateFormat of the Java API.

  • The date-type value to be formatted.

  • An optional string-type value specifying the name of the locale that has to be taken into account when performing the conversion.

  The return value is a string-type value representing the date parameter with the selected format.

• GETDAY: Receives an optional date-type argument and returns a long-type object that represents the day of the received date. If arguments are not received, a long-type object is created that represents the current day.

• GETHOUR: Receives an optional date-type argument and returns a long-type object that represents the time of the received date. If no arguments are received, a long-type object is created that represents the current time.

• GETMINUTE: Receives an optional date-type argument and returns a long-type object that represents the minutes of the received date. If no arguments are received, a long-type object is created that represents the current minutes.

• GETMILLISECOND: Receives an optional date-type argument and returns a long-type object that represents the milliseconds of the received date. If no arguments are received, a long-type object is created that represents the current milliseconds.

• GETMONTH: Receives an optional date-type argument and returns a long-type object that represents the month of the received date. If no arguments are received, a long-type object is created that represents the current month.

• GETSECOND: Receives an optional date-type argument and returns a long-type object that represents the seconds of the received date. If no arguments are received, a long-type object is created that represents the current seconds.

• GETYEAR: Receives an optional date-type argument and returns a long-type object that represents the year of the received date. If no arguments are received, a long-type object is created that represents the current year.

• NOW: This function does not accept any input argument, and creates a new date-type object containing the current date.

• TODATE: This allows for text strings representing dates to be converted into date-type elements. Three string-type arguments are given. The first represents a pattern to express dates. This pattern follows the syntax specified by the class SimpleDateFormat of the Java API. The second will be a date expressed according to that pattern. The third one is a string-type parameter which indicates the internationalization configuration that represents the “locale” of the date to process. As a result, a date-type element equivalent to the specified date is returned.