[Date] casts a date string as a Lasso date data type, constructs a date from parameters, or returns the current date/time when used without parameters.

Each part of a date can be specified using -Year, -Month, -Day, -Hour, -Minute, and -Second. However, these parameters should not be used in conjunction with a string parameter and -Format parameter.

To cast a date string as a Lasso date data type, the date string should either be in a Lasso date string format or should be in the format specified by the -Format keyword/value parameter. The following Lasso date string formats are recognized without the use of the -Format parameter.

mm/dd/yyyy
mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm
mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss
mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss GMT
yyyy-mm-dd
yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss
yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss GMT
yyyymmddhhmmss
yyyymmddThh:mm:ss
day, mon dd yyyy hh:mm:ss zone
day, mon dd hh:mm:ss zon yyyy

When used, the -Format parameter uses the following keyword/value parameters to indicate the format of the date string.

%D U.S. date format (mm/dd/yyyy).
%Q MySQL date format (yyyy-mm-dd).
%q MySQL timestamp format (yyyymmddhhmmss).
%r 12-hour time format (hh:mm:ss [AM/PM]).
%T 24-hour time format (hh:mm:ss).
%Y 4-digit year.
%y 2-digit year.
%m Month number (1=January, 12=December).
%B Full English month name (e.g. "January").
%b Abbreviated English month name (e.g. "Jan").
%d Day of month (1-31).
%w Day of week (1=Sunday, 7=Saturday).
%A Full English weekday name (e.g. "Wednesday").
%a Abbreviated English weekday name (e.g. "Wed").
%H 24-hour time hour (0-23).
%h 12-hour time hour (1-12).
%M Minute (0-59).
%S Second (0-59).
%p AM/PM for 12-hour time.
%G GMT time zone indicator.
%z Time zone offset in relation to GMT (e.g. -0800).
%% A percent sign.

By default, all input is assumed to be zero padded to two characters. For example, 02/03/2002.

A hyphen - between the % and the letter code instructs Lasso not to look for padding. For example, 2/3/2002

An underscore _ between the % and the letter instructs Lasso to to look for padding with spaces. For example, 2/ 3/2002.

[Date]

[Date:'Base Date']

[Date:'Base Date', -Format='Date Format']

[Date: -Year=Year,
-Month=Month,
-Day=Day,
-Hour=Hour,
-Minute=Minute,
-Second=Second,
-DateGMT]

The -DateFormat parameter in LDML 5.0 changed to -Format in LDML 6.0. The %q format was added in 7.0.3.

The three uses of the tag are mutually exclusive. Either the tag should be used as [Date] to fetch the current date, or with a string and optional -Format to cast a string to date, or with parameters for each part of the date. Mixing the different methods by specifying a string date and individual date parameters can cause unexpected errors.

To import a date field from MySQL:

Use the [Date] tag with an appropriate -DateFormat parameter. The format for MySQL dates is %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S. The following example imports a date from a field named Modified_Date.

The return value is the date formatted in Lasso date string format.

[Date: (Field: 'Modified_Date'), -Format='%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S']

3/4/2001 12:34:56