Informix Guide to GLS Functionality GLS Fundamentals

You can set environment variables to override the following end-user formats in the client locale:

• End-user format of date and time (DATE, DATETIME) values
• End-user format of monetary (MONEY) values

This section explains how to customize these end-user formats. For an introduction to end-user formats, see End-User Formats.

The GLS locales define end-user formats for dates and times, which you do not usually need to change. However, you can customize end-user formats for DATE and DATETIME values (for example, 10-27-97 for the date 10/27/97) with the following environment variables.

A date or time end-user format string specifies a format for the manipulation of internal DATE or DATETIME values as a literal string.

Tip: When you set these environment variables, you do not affect the internal format of the DATE and DATETIME values within a database.

The GL_DATE and GL_DATETIME environment variables support formatting directives that allow you to specify an end-user format. A formatting directive has the form %x (where x is one or more conversion characters).

The GL_DATE and GL_DATETIME environment variables provide support for alternative dates and times such as era-based (Asian) formats. These alternative formats support dates such as the Taiwanese Ming Guo year and the Japanese Imperial-era dates.

Tip: The DBDATE and DBTIME environment variables also provide some support for era-based dates.

To specify era-based formats for DATE and DATETIME values, use the E conversion modifier, as follows:

• For either GL_DATE or GL_DATETIME, E can appear in several formatting directives.

For a list of valid formatting conversions for eras, see Alternative Time Formats.

• For DBDATE, E can appear in the format specification.

Informix products use the following precedence to determine the end-user format for an internal DATE value:

1. DBDATE
2. GL_DATE
3. Information that the client locale defines (CLIENT_LOCALE, if it is set)
4. Default date format = %m/%d/%iy (if DBDATE and GL_DATE are not set, and no locale is specified)

Informix products use the following precedence to determine the end-user format for an internal DATETIME value:

1. DBDATE and DBTIME
2. GL_DATETIME
3. Information that the client locale defines (CLIENT_LOCALE, if it is set)
4. Default DATETIME format = %iY-%m-%d %H:%M:%S (if CLIENT_LOCALE, DBTIME and GL_DATETIME are not set)

For more information on these formatting directives, see GL_DATE and GL_DATETIME.

The GLS locales contain end-user formats, which you do not usually need to change. However, you can set the DBMONEY environment variable to customize the appearance of the currency notation. For information on the DBMONEY environment variable, see the Informix Guide to SQL: Reference.

A monetary end-user format string specifies a format for the manipulation of internal DECIMAL, FLOAT, and MONEY values as monetary literal strings. Informix products use the following precedence to determine the end-user format for a MONEY value:

1. DBMONEY
2. Information that the client locale defines

CLIENT_LOCALE identifies the client locale; if it is not set, the client locale is the default locale.

3. Default currency notation = $,.

If DBMONEY is not set, and no locale is specified, the currency symbol is the dollar sign, the thousands separator is the comma, and the decimal separator is the period.