DOC: FORMAT$ Dates mm/dd/yy Gives MM-DD-YY in VB for MS- DOS

ID: Q102045

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Visual Basic Standard and Professional Editions for MS-DOS, version 1.0

SUMMARY

The FORMAT$ function uses the date separator as defined by the current country setting in MS-DOS. In the USA, that means it uses the dash or hyphen character (-) when printing dates instead of the forward slash '/'.

MORE INFORMATION

When printing date information, the FORMAT$ function replaces the slash '/' with the current country setting for the date separator. In the USA, the default MS-DOS date separator is the dash (-). Here's an example:


   PRINT FORMAT$(NOW, "mm/dd/yy")     ' prints 06-23-93

You can force FORMAT$ to use the slash (/) by preceding it with a backslash (\). Here's an example:


   PRINT FORMAT$(NOW, "mm\/dd\/yy")   ' prints 06/23/93

The Visual Basic for MS-DOS Help file topic 'Sample Date and Time Formats' shows the following example, which is incorrect for the USA:


   FORMAT$ Expression   Display         ' Will Display
   ------------------   -------------   ' -------------
   m/d/yy               12/7/58         ' 12-7-58
   m/d/yy h:mm          12/7/58 20:50   ' 12-7-58 20:50

To display the expected date format, use the backslash (\) in conjunction with the forward slash (/). The backslash is an operator that displays the next character in a format string.

Additional query words: Vbmsdos kbVBp100


Keywords          : kbdocfix 
Version           : MS-DOS:1.0
Platform          : MS-DOS 
Issue type        :

Last Reviewed: May 24, 1999