DOC: FORMAT$ Dates mm/dd/yy Gives MM-DD-YY in VB for MS- DOS (102045)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual Basic for MS-DOS
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Standard Edition for Windows 2.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Standard Edition for Windows 3.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows 2.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows 3.0
This article was previously published under Q102045

SUMMARY

The FORMAT$ function uses the date separator as defined by the current country setting in MS-DOS. In the USA, that means it uses the dash or hyphen character (-) when printing dates instead of the forward slash '/'.

MORE INFORMATION

When printing date information, the FORMAT$ function replaces the slash '/' with the current country setting for the date separator. In the USA, the default MS-DOS date separator is the dash (-). Here's an example: 
   PRINT FORMAT$(NOW, "mm/dd/yy")     ' prints 06-23-93
You can force FORMAT$ to use the slash (/) by preceding it with a backslash (\). Here's an example: 
   PRINT FORMAT$(NOW, "mm\/dd\/yy")   ' prints 06/23/93
The Visual Basic for MS-DOS Help file topic 'Sample Date and Time Formats' shows the following example, which is incorrect for the USA: 
   FORMAT$ Expression   Display         ' Will Display
   ------------------   -------------   ' -------------
   m/d/yy               12/7/58         ' 12-7-58
   m/d/yy h:mm          12/7/58 20:50   ' 12-7-58 20:50
To display the expected date format, use the backslash (\) in conjunction with the forward slash (/). The backslash is an operator that displays the next character in a format string.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/16/2005
Keywords:kbdocfix KB102045
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