Syntax

FormatDate ( date, internal-date-format )

Parameters

date

A number representing the input date. The number is the number of seconds elapsed since midnight, January 1, 1970. To retrieve this number, use any of the following functions: Today(), TodateEx(), GetFirstDate(), GetLastDate(), or DateRoll().

Date-time attribute properties of a member can also be used to retrieve this number. For example,

• Product.currentmember.[Intro Date] returns the product introduction date for the current product in context.

• [Cola].[Intro Date] returns the product introduction date for Cola.

internal-date-format

One of the following literal strings (excluding ordered-list numbers and parenthetical examples) indicating a supported date format.

1. "mon dd yyyy" (Example: mon = Aug)

2. "Month dd yyyy" (Example: Month = August)

3. "mm/dd/yy"

4. "mm/dd/yyyy"

5. "yy.mm.dd"

6. "dd/mm/yy"

7. "dd.mm.yy"

8. "dd-mm-yy"

9. "dd Month yy"

10. "dd mon yy"

11. "Month dd, yy"

12. "mon dd, yy"

13. "mm-dd-yy"

14. "yy/mm/dd"

15. "yymmdd"

16. "dd Month yyyy"

17. "dd mon yyyy"

18. "yyyy-mm-dd"

19. "yyyy/mm/dd"

20. "Long format" (Example: "WeekDay, Mon dd, yyyy")

21. "Short format" (Example: "m/d/yy")

Notes

• Using an invalid input date returns an error.

• Using extra whitespace not included in the internal format strings returns an error.

• This function interprets years in the range 1970 to 2029 for yy format. Therefore, if the function is invoked using a date format mm/dd/yy for June 20, 2006, the returned date string is "06/20/06".

Example

The following query returns the first 10 day sales for all Colas products since their release date in the market California.

WITH MEMBER 
 Measures.[first 10 days sales] AS 
  'SUM(
     LastPeriods(-10, 
      StrToMbr(
       FormatDate("Mon dd yyyy", Product.CurrentMember.[Intro Date]) 
          )
         )
  , Sales)'
SELECT
 {[first 10 days sales]} 
ON COLUMNS,
 {Colas.Children}
ON ROWS
FROM MySamp.basic
WHERE (California, Actual);