naturaldate function

naturaldate(

DATE

PATTERN

)

The naturaldate( function converts a number representing a date into text using “natural” formatting.

Parameters

This function has two parameters:

date – is the number you want to conver to text. This number is treated as the number of days since January 1, 4713 B.C.

pattern – is text that contains three patterns for formatting the date (see Date Patterns), separated by semicolons. The first pattern should specify just the day of the week, for example Day or DayOfWeek (or an alternate capitalization). The second pattern should specify the month and day, for example Mon dd. The third pattern should specify the complete date, for example MM/DD/YY. If this parameter is omitted, the function will default to the patterns:

Day;Mon dd;MM/DD/YY

Description

This function converts a number representing a date into text using “natural” formatting. The examples below assume today’s date is December 15, 2014.

naturaldate(today()) ☞ Today
naturaldate(today()+1) ☞ Tue
naturaldate(today()+10) ☞ Next Thu
naturaldate(today()+100) ☞ Mar 25
naturaldate(today()+200) ☞ 07/03/15
naturaldate(today()-1) ☞ Sun
naturaldate(today()-5) ☞ Last Wed
naturaldate(today()-50) ☞ Oct 26
naturaldate(today()-200) ☞ 05/29/14

You can customize the output by supplying your own patterns. In these examples, the output is all upper case.

naturaldate(today(),"DAY;MON DD;MM/DD/YY") ☞ TODAY
naturaldate(today()+1,"DAY;MON DD;MM/DD/YY") ☞ TUE
naturaldate(today()+10,"DAY;MON DD;MM/DD/YY") ☞ NEXT THU
naturaldate(today()+100,"DAY;MON DD;MM/DD/YY") ☞ MAR 25
naturaldate(today()+200,"DAY;MON DD;MM/DD/YY") ☞ 07/03/15
naturaldate(today()-1,"DAY;MON DD;MM/DD/YY") ☞ SUN
naturaldate(today()-5,"DAY;MON DD;MM/DD/YY") ☞ LAST WED
naturaldate(today()-50,"DAY;MON DD;MM/DD/YY") ☞ OCT 26
naturaldate(today()-200,"DAY;MON DD;MM/DD/YY") ☞ 05/29/14

Note: In Panorama 6 there was a separate function if you wanted to supply your own patterns – naturaldatepattern(. Now the naturaldate( function can also include a second parameter with patterns, so the naturaldatepattern( function is superfluous. However, it is still included for compatibility with older databases.

See Also

calendardate( -- helps in creating monthly calendars.
calendarday( -- helps in creating monthly calendars.
Date Patterns -- control how dates are displayed or converted to text.
date( -- converts text into a number representing a date.
datepattern( -- converts a number representing a date into text. The function uses a pattern to control how the date is formatted (see Date Patterns).
datevalue( -- converts integer values for year, month and day into a number representing a date.
dayofweek( -- computes the day of the week, with Sunday being 0, Monday 1, etc.
dayvalue( -- extracts the day from a date as a numeric value.
firstdayofweek( -- returns the user's preference for first day of the week.
groupdatepattern( -- converts a number representing a date into text in a special format for use with the summarytable( and crosstab( functions. The function uses a pattern to control how the date is formatted (see Date Patterns).
month1st( -- computes the first day of a month.
monthlength( -- computes the length (number of days) of a month.
monthmath( -- takes a date and computes the date that is one or more months before or after the original date.
monthvalue( -- extracts the month from a date as a numeric value.
quarter1st( -- computes the first day of a quarter.
quartervalue( -- extracts the quarter from a date as a numeric value.
regulardate( -- extracts a regular date (number of days from January 1, 4713 B.C.) from a superdate.
superdate( -- converts a regular date and a regular time into a superdate.
superdatepattern( -- converts a number containing a superdate to text, allowing you to specify the patterns for both the date and the time conversion to text.
superdatesecondsstr( -- converts a number containing a superdate to text, including the seconds.
superdatestr( -- converts a number containing a superdate (date + time) to text.
supernow( -- returns the number representing the current date and time as a superdate.
today( -- returns a number corresponding to today's date.
week1st( -- computes the first day of a week (Sunday).
weekvalue( -- extracts the week from a date as a numeric value.
year1st( -- computes the first day of a year.
yearvalue( -- extracts the year from a date as a numeric value.

History

Version	Status	Notes
10.0	Updated	Carried over from Panorama 6.0, but now combines the naturaldate( and naturaldatepattern( functions into a single function. Also, the breakpoint for full dates is now +/- 120 days, instead of 180 days. This function is also much faster than it was in Panorama 6.0.