The DATE subroutine obtains the current date as set within the system. The call to DATE takes the following form:

CALL DATE (buf)

buf

Is a 9-byte variable, array, array element, or character substring.

The date is returned as a 9-byte ASCII character string taking the following form:

dd-mmm-yy

dd

Is the 2-digit date.

mmm

Is the 3-letter month specification.

yy

Is the last two digits of the year.

If buf is numeric type and smaller than 9 bytes, data corruption can occur.

If buf is character type, its associated length is passed to the subroutine. If buf is smaller than 9 bytes, the subroutine truncates the date to fit in the specified length. Note that if a CHARACTER array is passed, the subroutine stores the date in the first array element, using the element length-not the length of the entire array. For example, consider the following:

CHARACTER*1 DAY(9)
 . . .
CALL DATE(DAY)