Datetime Dts

Thanks, all for your quick responses. To clarify, I am setting the DBTIME environment variable (for SCO Unix, Informix 5.0something SE) as follows: export DBTIME="%Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S" When I try to enter (i.e. add or even query) date data formatted 1994/01/01 09:00:00 in a datetime field, Informix returns an error message like "Error in data". When however I try "1994-01-01 09:00:00" Informix is happy. And yes, why can't I format the data any way I want? Without recourse to any- thing more than SQL? (or am I just being a spoiled brat?) Yours, Nick Nobbe nnob@seq1.loc.gov