Date Pictures

When you load data, the date-format picture specifies how the HPL formats the input data before it writes the data into a database. When you extract data from a database, the date-format picture specifies how the HPL reformats the date before it writes the date to the output.

The date control characters are M, D, and Y. The following table provides definitions of these control characters.

Character

Definition

D

Day value

H

Hour value

M

Month value or minute value

S

Second value

Y

Year value

You can use Informix DATETIME strings, such as YYYY/MM/DD HH:MM:SS.

The following table shows some examples of date picture strings.