convert

Type

command

Summary

Changes a date, a time, or a date and time to a specified format.

Syntax

convert <dateAndTime> [from <format> [and <format>]] to <format> [and <format>]

Description

Use the convert command to change a date or time to a format that's more convenient for calculation or display.

The dateItems format is a comma-separated list of numbers:

• the year
• the month number
• the day of the month
• the hour in 24-hour time
• the minute
• the second
• the numeric day of the week where Sunday is day 1, Monday is day 2, and so forth

The convert command can handle dates in dateItems format where one or more of the items is out of the normal range. This means you can add arbitrary numbers to an item in the dateItems and let the convert command handle the calculations that span minute, hour, day, month, and year boundaries.

For example, suppose you start with 9:30 AM, convert that time to dateItems format, then add 45 minutes to item 5 (the minute) of the resulting value. This gives you 75 as the minute. When you convert the value to any other time format, the convert command automatically converts "75 minutes" to "1 hour and 15 minutes" :

    convert \"9:30 AM\" to dateItems
    add 45 to item 5 of it
    convert it to time -- yields \"10:15 AM\"

You can optionally use the english, standard, or system keyword before the short, abbreviated, or long date or time.

The english keyword will convert to the US date and time formats, the standard keyword will convert to ISO 8601 standard date and time formats, and the system keyword will use the date and time formats in the user's current system preferences.

If one of these keywords is not provided, then the english keyword will be assumed unless useSystemDate is true, in which case system will be assumed.

The internet date, seconds, and dateItems formats are invariant and do not change according to the user's preferences.

note

The convert command assumes all dates / times are in local time except for 'the seconds', which is taken to be universal time.

note

If you convert a date without a time to a form that includes the time, the time will be given as midnight local time.

note

The range of dates that the convert command can handle is limited by the operating system's date routines. In particular, Windows systems are limited to dates after 1/1/1970.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
dateAndTime	string	A string or container with a date, a time, or a date and time separated by a space, tab, or return character.
format		One of the following (examples are February 17, 2017 at 10:13:21 PM, in the Eastern time zone, using US date and time formats): If you specify both a date and time format, they can be in either order and must be separated by a space. The resulting date and time are in the order you provided, separated by a space. If you specify seconds or dateItems, you can request only one format. "short date": 2/17/17 "abbreviated date": Thu, Feb 17, 2017 "long date": Thursday, February 17, 2017 "short time": 10:13 PM "abbreviated time": 10:13 PM "long time": 10:13:21 PM "internet date": Thu, 17 Feb 2017 22:13:21 -0500 "seconds": the number of seconds since the start of the epoch "dateItems": 2017,2,17,22,13,21,5

Examples

convert "11/22/2016" to long english date
put it

convert the internet date from internet date to system date

local lastChangedTime
put the date && the long time into lastChangedTime
convert lastChangedTime to abbreviated time and long date

convert the date && the time to seconds
put it

Related

command: sort container

function: time, dateFormat, milliseconds, date

glossary: format, keyword, variable, command, container

keyword: dateItems, system, long, short, string, seconds, abbreviated, internet, english, standard, it

operator: is a

property: useSystemDate, centuryCutoff, twelveHourTime

Compatibility and Support

Introduced

LiveCode 1.0

OS

mac

windows

linux

ios

android

web

Platforms

desktop

server

mobile