Function: toDate()
Converts a standard PhixFlow date string (e.g. 20120521 or 20120521.172108) into a true date, or a non-standard date string into a true date if supplied with a format pattern.
Returns the date if dateString is a true date.
Returns null if dateString is null.
Syntax
toDate(dateString)
toDate(dateString, formatString)
| Argument | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| dateString | String | String to be converted into a date. |
| formatString | String | Optional argument that which allows for a date and time pattern string to represent the format of dateString. |
Examples
toDate("20100714")
Returns the date 14/07/2010.
toDate(in.ChargeDate,"yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss")
where in.ChargeDate has the value "2002/12/09 09:03:42", returns the date/time 09/12/2002 09:03:42
toDate(in.ChargeDate,"yyyy MMM d, HH-mm-ss")
where in.ChargeDate has the value "2002 Dec 9, 09-03-42", returns the date/time 09/12/2002 09:03:42
toDate("2010.July.04 AD 12:08 PM","y.MMM.d G h:m a")
Returns the date/time 04/07/2010 12:08:00
Date Format Pattern
The following values are available for use in dateFormat patterns:
| Symbol | Meaning | Presentation | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| G | era | text | AD |
| C | century of era (>=0) | number | 20 |
| Y | year of era (>=0) | year | 1996 |
| x | weekyear | year | 1996 |
| w | week of weekyear | number | 27 |
| e | day of week | number | 2 |
| E | day of week | text | Tuesday; Tue |
| y | year | year | 1996 |
| D | day of year | number | 189 |
| M | month of year | month | July; Jul; 07 |
| d | day of month | number | 10 |
| a | halfday of day | text | PM |
| K | hour of halfday (0~11) | number | 0 |
| h | clockhour of halfday (1~12) | number | 12 |
| H | hour of day (0~23) | number | 0 |
| k | clockhour of day (1~24) | number | 24 |
| m | minute of hour | number | 30 |
| s | second of minute | number | 55 |
| S | fraction of second | number | 978 |
| z | time zone | text | Pacific Standard Time; PST |
| Z | time zone offset/id | zone | -0800; -08:00; America/Los_Angeles |
| ' | escape for text | delimiter | |
| '' | single quote | literal | ' |
The number of letters used in the pattern determines the format.
- Text: If the number of pattern letters is 4 or more, the full form is used; otherwise a short or abbreviated form is used if available.
- Number: The minimum number of digits. Shorter numbers are zero-padded to this amount.
- Year: Numeric presentation for year and weekyear fields are handled specially. For example, if the count of 'y' is 2, the year will be displayed as the zero-based year of the century, which is two digits.
- Month: 3 or over, use text, otherwise use number.
- Zone: 'Z' outputs offset without a colon, 'ZZ' outputs the offset with a colon, 'ZZZ' or more outputs the zone id.
- Zone names: Time zone names ('z') cannot be parsed.
- Any characters in the pattern that are not in the ranges of ['a'..'z'] and ['A'..'Z'] will be treated as quoted text. For instance, characters like ':', '.', ' ', '#' and '?' will appear in the resulting time text even they are not embraced within single quotes.