Numeric format masks
The numeric format masks use a number of characters that create special editing effects to the output: • 8 digit, zero fill to the right of the decimal point, trim leading blanks (left justify the number) • 9 digit, zero fill to the right of the decimal point, space fill to the left Let #Unit_Price = 10.459 Let #Quantity = 10 Let #Total = 104.59 Let #Credit_Balance = -50.00 Print #Unit_Price (1,1) edit 9999.99 Print #Quantity (1,+3) edit 9999.99 Print #Total (1,+3) edit 9999.99 Print #Credit_Balance (1,+3) edit 9999.99 ! The output will be: 10.46 10.00 104.59 -50.00 ! Please note that SQR performed decimal rounding for #Unit_Price
• 0 digit, zero fill to the left • B treated as a “9” but if a value is zero the output is printed blank • $ dollar sign, optionally floats to the right Let #Unit_Price = 10.459 Let #Quantity = 10 Let #Total = 104.59 Let #Credit_Balance = -50.00 Print #Unit_Price (1,1) edit $$$$.99 Print #Quantity (1,+3) edit 9999 Print #Total (1,+3) edit $$$$.99 Print#Credit_Balance (1,+3) edit $$$$.99 ! The output will be: $10.46 10 $104.59 $-50.00 • V implied decimal point Let #Total = 12104.59 Print #Total (1,1) edit $,$$$,$$$V99 ! The output will be: $12,10459 • MI if placed at the end of the mask, causes a minus to be displayed at the right of a negative number • PR if placed at the end of the mask, causes angle brackets (< >) to be displayed around a negative number • PS if placed at the end of the mask, causes parentheses to be displayed around a negative number • NA if placed at the end of the mask, causes “N/A” to be displayed if the numeric column variable is NULL • NU if placed at the end of the mask, causes blanks to be displayed if the numeric column variable is NULL • E denotes scientific format. The number of 9s after the decimal point determines the number of significant digits displayed • .(dot) denotes decimal point • ,(comma) denotes comma.
Date and time format masks
Date format masks are used not only for printing, but also in the date manipulation built-in functions. As with the text or numeric masks, the date format masks use different characters to control the display of date format fields: • YYYY 4-digit year; YYY, 3-digit year (the current millennium is assumed); YY, 2-digit year (the current century is assumed); Y, 1-digit year (the current century and decade are assumed)
• RR 2-digit year, the century is calculated as follows: – if RR is between 00 and 49 and the 2-digit current year is between 00 and 49, the current century is assumed – if RR is between 50 and 99 and the 2-digit current year is between 50 and 99, the current century is assumed – if RR is between 00 and 49 and the 2-digit current year is between 50 and 99, the next century is assumed – if RR is between 50 and 99 and the 2-digit current year is between 00 and 49, the century before the current one is assumed • Q quarter of year (1–4) • WW week of year (1–53). W week of month (1–5) • DDD day of year (1–366). DD day of month (1–31). D day of week (1–7) starting from Sunday. DAY name of day. DY abbreviated name of day • MONTH full name of month. MON abbreviated name of month. MM 2-digit month (1–12) • RM Roman numeral month (I–XII) • CC century • BC or AD BC / AD indicator • HH, MI, SS hour (based on 24 hour clock), minute (0–59), second (0–59). • NNNNNN fractions of second (the precision depends on the computer, operating system, and database used) • AM or PM meridian indicator • | used to concatenate different masks
Any other characters in a date mask are treated as parts of a constant and will be included in the output field as text. If you would like to include in this text some characters that are special date mask characters from the previous list, you have to precede the entire text with a backslash (\).
The masks DAY, MONTH, MON, AM, PM, BC, and AD are case-sensitive and follow the case of the mask entered. For example, if the month is January, the mask MON results in JAN, the mask Mon results in Jan.