PMDF User's Guide
OpenVMS Edition
PMDF-USR-VMS-6.0

Control the formatting of dates in directory listings and message displays.

restrictions

Requires SYSPRV or SYSNAM privilege to show information about users other than yourself.

Syntax

SET DATE_FORMAT

SET NODATE_FORMAT

SHOW DATE_FORMAT

Qualifiers	Defaults
/DAY=option	None
/MONTH=option	None
/SYSTEM_DEFAULT	None
/TEXT=text	None
/UIC="[g,m]"	None
/USER=username	None
/YEAR=digits	None

PARAMETERS

None.

DESCRIPTION

With SET and SHOW DATE_FORMAT commands, you may control the presentation of dates in directory listings generated with the DIRECTORY command and in the folder name, message number, date line shown when each message is displayed. The dates in actual message header lines will not be affected by this command.

The format to use for displaying a date is specified through the use of the /DAY, /MONTH, and /YEAR qualifiers. The order in which those qualifiers appear on the command line designates the order in which the day, month, and year appear in displayed dates. Additional text such as slashes, commas, spaces, etc. which is to appear in a date may be specified with the /TEXT qualifier.

By default, the date format specified by any LIB$DT_FORMAT logical is used. If that logical is not defined, then the default format

EMAIL> SET DATE_FORMAT/DAY=NUMERIC=BLANK_FILL/TEXT="-"
               /MONTH=ABBREVIATED=UPPERCASE/TEXT="-"/YEAR

is used. In the above example, the command is wrapped onto the second line for typographic reasons; the command must be entered as a single line.

QUALIFIERS

/DAY[=type[=option]]

Specifies the position of the day of the week or month in displayed dates. The accepted types are

ABBREVIATED	Display the weekday name, abbreviated to three letters.
ALPHABETIC	Display the weekday name.
NUMERIC	Display the day of the month.

The ABBREVIATED and ALPHABETIC types accept the options UPPERCASE, LOWERCASE, and CAPITALIZED. The NUMERIC type accepts the option BLANK_FILLED, ZERO_FILLED, and NO_FILL.

/MONTH[=type[=option]]

Specifies the position of the month in displayed dates. The accepted types are

ABBREVIATED	Display the month name, abbreviated to three letters.
ALPHABETIC	Display the month name.
NUMERIC	Display the month of the year.

The ABBREVIATED and ALPHABETIC types accept the options UPPERCASE, LOWERCASE, and CAPITALIZED. The NUMERIC type accepts the option BLANK_FILLED, ZERO_FILLED, and NO_FILL.

/SYSTEM_DEFAULT

The setting is the system-wide default for users who have not themselves selected a date format with SET DATE_FORMAT. When used with SET NODATE_FORMAT, removes the system-wide default.

/TEXT=text

Specifies text to show in displayed dates.

/YEAR[=digits]

Specifies the position of year in displayed dates. The optional digits value specifies how many digits of the year to display. If not specified, then four digits will be shown.

Examples

Shown below are several different formattings of the date January 31, 1994 along with the qualifiers to the SET DATE_FORMAT command required to achieve each of the formats shown.

31-JAN-1994	/DAY=NUM=BLANK_FILL/TEXT="-"/MONTH=ABBREV=UPPER/TEXT="-"/YEAR
1994.01.31	/YEAR/TEXT=./MONTH=NUM=ZERO_FILL/TEXT=./DAY=NUM=ZERO_FILL
Jan 31, 1994	/MONTH=ABBREV=CAP/TEXT=" "/DAY=NUM=NO_FILL/TEXT=", "/YEAR
1/31/1994	/MONTH=NUME=NO_FILL/TEXT="/"/DAY=NUM=NO_FILL/TEXT="/"/YEAR
94.01.31	/YEAR=2/TEXT=./MONTH=NUM=ZERO_FILL/TEXT=./DAY=NUM=ZERO_FILL