Name: dateFormat

Type: function

Syntax: the [ long | abbr[rev[iated]] | short ] [ english | system ] dateFormat

Summary: <return|Returns> a <string> describing a given date format using the syntax described below.

Introduced: 1.1

OS: mac,windows,linux,ios,android

Platforms: desktop,server,web,mobile

Example:
put the long dateFormat into stringToParse

Returns: The <dateFormat> <function> <return|returns> a string.

Description:
Use the <dateFormat> <function> to obtain the general format of the date for further processing.

The <dateFormat> <function> returns a <string> containing one or more formatting incantations, each of which describes a part of the requested date <format>. The possible incantations are as follows:

%a
Abbreviated weekday name:  the abbreviated day of the week, as reported by the <weekdayNames> function

%A
Full weekday name:  the full day of the week, as reported by the weekdayNames function

%b
Abbreviated month name:  the abbreviated month name, as reported by the monthNames function

%B
Full month name:  the full month name, as reported by the monthNames function

%d
Day of the month:  the day of the month as a number

%m
Month number:  the number of the month

%y
Two-digit year:  the year as a two-digit number

%Y
Four-digit year:  This incantation indicates the year as a four-digit number (including the century)

%w
Day of the week:  A number between 1 and 7

>*Note:* The <dateFormat> differs from other date/time functionality in that the default is to return information relative to the system locale. i.e. the dateFormat is equivalent to the system dateFormat

References: string (keyword), long (keyword), english (keyword), short (keyword), system (keyword), abbreviated (keyword), useSystemDate (property), convert (command), monthNames (function), format (function), date (function), weekdayNames (function), return (glossary), function (control_st)

Tags: math
