DBCENTURY environment variable
Use the DBCENTURY environment variable to specify how to expand literal DATE and DATETIME values that are entered with abbreviated year values. To avoid problems in expanding abbreviated years, applications should require entry of 4-digit years, and should always display years as four digits.
When DBCENTURY is not set (or is set
to R), the first two digits of the current year are
used to expand 2-digit year values. For example, if today's date is 09/30/2003,
then the abbreviated date 12/31/99 expands to 12/31/2099,
and the abbreviated date 12/31/00 expands to 12/31/2000.
| Setting | Algorithm |
|---|---|
| R = Current® | Use the first two digits of the current year to expand the year value. |
| P = Past | Expanded dates are created by prefixing the abbreviated year value with 19 and 20. Both dates are compared to the current date, and the most recent date that is earlier than the current date is used. |
| F = Future | Expanded dates are created by prefixing the abbreviated year value with 20 and 21. Both dates are compared to the current date, and the earliest date that is later than the current date is used. |
| C = Closest | Expanded dates are created by prefixing the abbreviated year value with 19, 20, and 21. These three dates are compared to the current date, and the date that is closest to the current date is used. |
Settings are case sensitive, and no error is issued
for invalid settings. If you enter f (for example),
then the default (R) setting takes effect. The P and F settings
cannot return the current date, which is not in the past or future.
Years entered as a single digit are prefixed with 0 and then expanded. Three-digit years are not expanded. Pad years earlier than 100 with leading zeros.