GL_DATE environment variable
The GL_DATE environment variable specifies custom display formats of values for DATE columns.
Important: GL_DATE is
evaluated when it is used, rather than when it is set. If it is invalid,
the operation that called it fails.
- Element
- Description
- string
- Formatting directives that specify the display format for GL_DATE values. You can use any formatting directive that formats dates.
A display format in GL_DATE can contain
the following characters:
- One or more white space characters, which the CTYPE category of the locale specifies.
- An ordinary character (other than the % symbol or a white-space character).
- A formatting directive, which is composed of the % symbol followed by a conversion character that specifies the required replacement.
The
following table lists the formatting directives that are not based
on era. The following table lists the
formatting directives.
| Formatting directives | Description |
|---|---|
| %a | Is replaced by the abbreviated weekday name as defined in the locale. |
| %A | Is replaced by the full weekday name as defined in the locale. |
| %b | Is replaced by the abbreviated month name as defined in the locale. |
| %B | Is replaced by the full month name as defined in the locale. |
| %C | Is replaced by the century number (the year divided by 100 and truncated to an integer) as an integer (00 through 99). |
| %d | Is replaced by the day of the month as an integer (01 through 31). A single digit is preceded by a zero (0). |
| %D | Is the same as the %m/%d/%y format. |
| %e | Is replaced by the day of the month as a number (1 through 31). A single digit is preceded by a space. |
| %h | Is the same as the %b formatting directive. |
| %iy | Is replaced by the year as a two-digit number (00 - 99) for both reading and printing. It is the formatting directive specific to HCL OneDB for %y. |
| %iY | Is replaced by the year as a four-digit number (0000 - 9999) for both reading and printing. It is the formatting directive specific to HCL OneDB for %Y. |
| %m | Is replaced by the month as a number (01 through 12). |
| %n | Is replaced by a newline character. |
| %t | Is replaced by the TAB character. |
| %w | Is replaced by the weekday as a number (0 through 6); 0 represents the locale equivalent of Sunday. |
| %x | Is replaced by a special date representation that the locale defines. |
| %y | Requires that the year is a two-digit number (00 through 99) for both reading and printing. |
| %Y | Requires that the year is a four-digit number (0000 through 9999) for both reading and printing. |
| %% | Is replaced by % (to allow % in the format string). |
White space or other nonalphanumeric characters must
show between any two formatting directives. For example, if you use
a U.S. English locale, you might want to format an internal DATE value
for 03/05/1997 in the ASCII string format that the following example
shows:
Mar 05, 1997 (Wednesday)To do
so, set the GL_DATE environment variable as follows:
%b %d, %Y (%A)If
a GL_DATE format does not correspond to any of
the valid formatting directives, the behavior of the HCL OneDB product
when it tries to format is undefined.
Important: The setting
of the DBDATE variable takes precedence over
that of the GL_DATE environment variable and
over the default DATE formats that CLIENT_LOCALE specifies.