Absolute Date Input Formats

Dates are specified as quoted character strings. You can specify a date by itself or together with a time value. If you enter a date without specifying the time, no time is displayed on output. For more information about date and time display, see Date and Time Display Formats.

The legal formats for absolute date values are determined by the setting of II_DATE_FORMAT, summarized in the following table. If II_DATE_FORMAT is not set, the US formats are the default input formats. II_DATE_FORMAT can be set on a session basis; for information on setting II_DATE_FORMAT, see the System Administrator Guide.

II_DATE_FORMAT Setting	Valid Input Formats	Output
US (default format)	mm/dd/yyyy dd-mmm-yyyy mm-dd-yyyy yyyy.mm.dd yyyy_mm_dd mmddyy mm-dd mm/dd	dd-mmm-yyyy
MULTINATIONAL	dd/mm/yyyy and all US formats except mm/dd/yyyy	dd/mm/yy
ISO	yymmdd ymmdd yyyymmdd mmdd mdd and all US input formats except mmddyy	yymmdd
SWEDEN/FINLAND	yyyy-mm-dd all US input formats except mm-dd-yyyy	yyyy-mm-dd
GERMAN	dd.mm.yyyy ddmmyy dmmyy dmmyyyy ddmmyyyy and all US input formats except yyyy.mm.dd and mmddyy	dd.mm.yyyy
YMD	mm/dd yyyy-mm-dd mmdd yymdd yymmdd yyyymdd yyyymmdd yyyy-mmm-dd	yyyy-mmm-dd
DMY	dd/mm dd-mm-yyyy ddmm ddmyy ddmmyy ddmyyyy ddmmyyyy dd-mmm-yyyy	dd-mmm-yyyy
MDY	mm/dd mm-dd-yyyy mmdd mddyy mmddyy mddyyyy mmddyyyy mmm-dd-yyyy	mmm-dd-yyyy

Year defaults to the current year. In formats that include delimiters (such as forward slashes or dashes), you can specify the last two digits of the year. The first two digits default to the current century (2000). For example, if you enter