dttostr#

Purpose#

Converts a matrix containing dates in DT scalar format to a string array.

Format#

sa = dttostr(x, fmt)#

Parameters:

x (NxK matrix) – Contains dates in DT scalar format
fmt (String or ExE conformable string array) – Contains date/time format characters.

Returns:

sa (NxK string array) – Date in character string format.

Examples#

Example 1#

dt = 201202;
print dttostr(dt, "QQ-YYYY");

produces the output:

Q1-2012

Example 2#

event_dt = 20191122063122;
s = dttostr(event_dt, "YYYY-MO-DD HH:MI:SS");
print ("The event occurred at: " $+ s);

produces the output:

The event occurred at: 2019-11-22 06:31:22

Example 3#

b_day = 19840228;
print dttostr(b_day, "Her birthday is DD-MO-YR");

produces the output:

Her birthday is 28-02-84

Example 4#

x = { 19120317060424, 19370904010928, 19510221031129 };
s = dttostr(x, "YYYY-MO-DD");

produces s equal to:

1912-03-17
1937-09-04
1951-02-21

Using the same x from above:

s = dttostr(x, "MO/DD/YYYY");

produces s equal to:

03/17/1912
09/04/1937
02/21/1951

Continuing with the same x from above:

string fmt = { "YYYY-QQ", "YYYY-QQ-DD", "DD/MO/YYYY" };
s = dttostr(x, fmt);

produces s equal to:

1912-Q1
1937-Q3-04
21/02/1951

Remarks#

For more formatting options, see dttostrc().

The DT scalar format is a double precision representation of the date and time. In the DT scalar format, the number

20120703105031

represents 10:50:31 or 10:50:31 AM on July 3, 2012. dttostr() converts a date in DT scalar format to a character string using the format string in fmt.

The following formats are supported:

YYYY	4 digit year
YR	Last two digits of year
QQ	Quarter of the year. This is calculated from the month number.
MO	Number of month, 01-12
DD	Day of month, 01-31
HH	Hour of day, 00-23
MI	Minute of hour, 00-59
SS	Second of minute, 00-59

A complete DT scalar format number will have 14 digits all to the left of the decimal point. However, dttostr() will accept numbers with fewer digits. It will assume that the first four digits are the year, the next two the month and so on.