Informix 3.3-How do I decipher date data type?

I am writing a small program that will unload an informix 3.3 '.dat' file. The only problem is the date type. If I do an 'od -bc' on the file, it shows it to be 4 bytes, the first two of which are usually '\\0'. I can't figure out how to use it. Any help appreciated. Darrel -- -------------------------------------------------------------- * Darrel L. Davis - darreld@access.digex.net (301)840-9023 * * * --------------------------------------------------------------