Printing Date/Time Values

Dates can be printed with fmt by using the %at format. The t code indicates a time is being printed, and the a flag indicates that the next argument is a strftime()-style format string. Following that is a time argument. Example: <fmt "%at" "%B" "now"> where "%B" is the strftime()-style string (indicating the month should be printed). A capital T may be used instead of lower-case t to change the timezone to Universal Time (GMT/UTC) instead of local time for output. These strftime() codes are available:

%a for the abbreviated weekday name (e.g. Sun, Mon, Tue, etc.)
%A for the full weekday name (e.g. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc.)
%b for the abbreviated month name (e.g. Jan, Feb, Mar, etc.)
%B for the full month name (e.g. January, February, March, etc.)
%c for the preferred date and time representation.
%d for the day of the month as a decimal number (range 01 through 31).
%H for the hour as a decimal number using a 24-hour clock (range 00 through 23).
%I for the hour as a decimal number using a 12-hour clock (range 01 through 12).
%j for the day of the year as a decimal number (range 001 through 366).
%m for the month as a decimal number (range 01 through 12).
%M for the minute as a decimal number (range 00 through 59).
%p for AM or PM, depending on the time.
%S for the second as a decimal number (range 00 through 60; 60 to allow for possible leap second if implemented).
%U for the week number of the current year as a decimal number, starting with the first Sunday as the first day of the first week (range 00 through 53).
%W for the week number of the current year as a decimal number, starting with the first Monday as the first day of the first week (range 00 through 53).
%w for the day of the week as a decimal, Sunday being 0.
%x for the preferred date representation without the time.
%X for the preferred time representation without the date.
%y for the year as a decimal number without a century (range 00 through 99).
%Y for the year as a decimal number including the century.
%Z for the time zone or name or abbreviation.
%% for a literal `%' character.

Since fmt arguments are typecast if needed (here), the date argument can be a Texis date or counter type, or a Texis-parseable date string. For example, to print today's date in the form month/day/year:

<fmt "%at" "%m/%d/%y" "now">

Or to print the title and insertion date of books matching a query, in the style "February 20, 1997" (assuming id is a Texis counter field):

<SQL "select id, Title from books where Desc like $query">
    <fmt "%at" "%B %d, %Y" $id>  $Title
  </SQL>

If the strftime() string is composed entirely of strftime()-specific codes, none of which have meaning as <fmt> codes, and there is only one argument given, then the initial %at may be omitted. For example, to print today's year, either of these statements may be used:

<fmt "%at" "%Y" "now">
  <fmt       "%Y" "now">

The second statement eliminates the %at, because %Y is a strftime()-only code (not valid in <fmt>). Note: Due to potential confusion and conflicts between strftime() and <fmt> codes - especially as more codes/flags are added to the latter - use of this shorthand is discouraged. Always use the a flag and a t or T code.

To use a default strftime() format, eliminate the a flag and its corresponding strftime() format argument:

<fmt "%t" "now">

This will print today's date in a default format.

CAVEATS
As dates are printed using the standard C library, not all strftime() codes are available or behave identically on all platforms.