Date and Time Functions

The eServices Field Codes include the following date/time functions:

[+] Date

Date

Description
Returns a Date/Time constructed from individual components or a string.
Syntax
Date(Year, Month, Day [, Hour[, Minute[, Second ]]])
Or
Date(String[, String])

Date String

Argument	Description
First argument	The string to parse.
Second argument	Optional. The locale that must be used to parse the first segment. Some examples include: en_US for English (United States), en_GB for English (United Kingdom), and fr_FR for French (France). See See Values for fieldcode-format-locale Option for a complete list.

Important

Date(String[, String]) is not recommended. See the “Remarks” section.

Remarks

• When using the first syntax function, the optional arguments each default to 0 if omitted. For example, <$Date(1965, 11, 23)$> is equivalent to <$Date(1965, 11, 23, 0, 0, 0)$>.
• When using the second syntax function, the date is constructed by parsing the first string. If the optional argument is omitted, first the E-mail Server fieldcode-format-locale option (See fieldcode-format-locale) in the email-processing section is used if present. Otherwise, the platform locale is used. For example:
  
  • <$Date("November 23, 1965 9:03 AM")$> if the fieldcode-format-locale option or platform locale is set to en_US.
  • <$Date(“23 novembre 1965 21:03:00”, “fr_FR”)$>

Important

Avoid using this second syntax function, since it successively tries multiple Date/Time patterns in order to parse the first argument and so consumes a great deal of CPU time. Also, these patterns are not very lenient. For example, <$Date(“November 23, 1965, at 9:03 AM”)$> will not parse due to the word at. This method of constructing Date/Time values is less exact than specifying the individual components directly, and may yield incorrect results if the day appears before the month.

[+] Day

Day

Description
Returns the numeric day component of a Date/Time (1 to 31) .
Syntax
Day(DateTime )

[+] Hour12

Hour12

Description
Returns the numeric hour component of a Date/Time based on a 12-hour clock (1 to 12) .
Syntax
Hour12(DateTime )

[+] Hour24

Hour24

Description
Returns the numeric hour component of a Date/Time based on a 24-hour clock (0 to 23) .
Syntax
Hour24(DateTime )

[+] IsAm

IsAm

Description
Returns a Boolean indicating whether a specified Date/Time is AM (between midnight and noon). True indicates AM and False indicates PM.
Syntax
IsAm(DateTime )

[+] IsPm

IsPm

Description
Returns a Boolean indicating whether a specified Date/Time is PM (between noon and midnight). True indicates PM and False indicates AM.
Syntax
IsPm(DateTime )

[+] Minute

Minute

Description
Returns the numeric minute component of a Date/Time (0–59) .
Syntax
Minute(DateTime )

[+] Month

Month

Description
Returns the numeric month component of a Date/Time (1–12) .
Syntax
Month(DateTime )

[+] MonthName

MonthName

Description
Converts a month number or a Date/Time to a month name.
Syntax
MonthName(Arg[, String])

MonthName String

Argument	Description
First argument	If it is a numeric value (1 to 12 ), it is converted to the appropriate month name. If it is a Date/Time, the month number is extracted and converted.
Second argument	Optional. The locale that must be used to format the first argument. Some examples include: en_US for English (United States), en_GB for English (United Kingdom), and fr_FR for French (France). See See Values for fieldcode-format-locale Option for a complete list.

Remarks
If the optional argument is omitted, first the E-mail Server fieldcode-format-locale option (See fieldcode-format-locale) in the email-processing section is used if present. Otherwise, the platform locale is used.

[+] MonthNameShort

MonthNameShort

Description
The same as the MonthName, but this returns an abbreviated version of the month name instead.

Syntax
MonthNameShort(Arg[, String])

MonthNameShort String

Argument	Description
First argument	If it is a numeric value (1 to 12 ), it is converted to the appropriate abbreviated name. If it is a Date/Time, the month number is extracted and converted.
Second argument	Optional. The locale that must be used to format the first argument. Some examples include: en_US for English (United States), en_GB for English (United Kingdom), and fr_FR for French (France). See See Values for fieldcode-format-locale Option for a complete list.

Remarks
If the optional argument is omitted, first the E-mail Server fieldcode-format-locale option (See fieldcode-format-locale) in the email-processing section is used if present. Otherwise, the platform locale is used.

[+] Second

Second

Description
Returns the numeric second component of a Date/Time (0–59) .
Syntax
Second (DateTime )

[+] Time

Time

Description
Returns a Date/Time constructed from individual time components.
Syntax
Time ([Hour, [Minute, [Second ]]])
Remarks
The date components of the result (year, month, and day) are set to the current system date. The optional arguments default to 0 if omitted. If all the optional arguments are omitted, then the time is set to the current system time.

Important

The examples in the Examples of Time String table assume that the current system date is November 23, 2003, @ 09:03:10.

Examples of Time String

Example	Result
<$Time()$>	2003-11-23 09:03:10
<$Time(15)$>	2003-11-23 15:00:00
<$Time(15, 23, 10)$>	2003-11-23 15:23:10

[+] TimeGMT

TimeGMT()

Description
Returns a Date/Time set to the current system time and converted to GMT (Greenwich mean time), also called Universal Time Coordinated, or UTC.
Syntax
TimeGMT()

[+] ToTimeZoneDate

ToTimeZoneDate

Returns a Date/Time constructed from a string and a time zone.
Syntax
ToTimeZoneDate(DateString, TimeZoneString)
Remarks
This date is constructed by parsing the <DateString> string and using the specified time zone <TimeZoneString> . Examples include the following:
<$ToTimeZoneDate(Date(“November 23, 1965 9:03 AM”), “America/Los_Angeles”)$>
<$ToTimeZoneDate(Date(“11/23/65 9:03:00”), “Europe/Paris”)$>

[+] Weekday

Weekday

Description
Returns the numeric weekday component of a Date/Time (0 = Sunday to 6 = Saturday).
Syntax
Weekday (DateTime )

[+] WeekdayName

WeekdayName

Description
Converts a number of a Date/Time to a weekday name.
Syntax
WeekdayName(Arg[, String])

WeekdayName String

|- valign="top" | rowspan="1" colspan="1" | Argument
| rowspan="1" colspan="1" | Description
|- valign="top" | rowspan="1" colspan="1" | First argument
| rowspan="1" colspan="1" | If it is a numeric value (0 to 6 ), it is converted to the appropriate weekday name. If it is a Date/Time, the weekday number is extracted and converted.
|- valign="top" | rowspan="1" colspan="1" | Second argument
| rowspan="1" colspan="1" | Optional. The locale that must be used to format the first argument. Some examples include: en_US for English (United States), en_GB for English (United Kingdom), andfr_FR for French (France). See See Values for fieldcode-format-locale Option for a complete list.
|} Remarks
If the optional argument is omitted, first the E-mail Server fieldcode-format-locale option (See fieldcode-format-locale) in the email-processing section is used if present. Otherwise, the platform locale is used.

[+] WeekdayNameShort

WeekdayNameShort

Description
The same as WeekdayName but this returns an abbreviated weekday name instead.
Syntax
WeekdayNameShort(Arg[, String])

WeekdayNameShort String

|- valign="top" | rowspan="1" colspan="1" | Argument
| rowspan="1" colspan="1" | Description
|- valign="top" | rowspan="1" colspan="1" | First argument
| rowspan="1" colspan="1" | If it is a numeric value (0 to 6 ), it is converted to the appropriate abbreviated weekday name. If it is a Date/Time, the weekday number is extracted and converted.
|- valign="top" | rowspan="1" colspan="1" | Second argument
| rowspan="1" colspan="1" | Optional. The locale that must be used to format the first argument. Some examples include: en_US for English (United States), en_GB for English (United Kingdom), and fr_FR for French (France). See See Values for fieldcode-format-locale Option for a complete list.
|} Remarks
If the optional argument is omitted, first the E-mail Server fieldcode-format-locale option (See fieldcode-format-locale) in the email-processing section is used if present. Otherwise, the platform locale is used.

[+] Year

Year

Description
Returns the numeric year component of a Date/Time with the century.
Syntax
Year (DateTime )

[+] YearShort

YearShort

Description
Returns the numeric year component of a Date/Time without the century (0 – 99 ).
Syntax
YearShort (DateTime )