Specifies the format dBASE Plus uses for the display and entry of dates.

Syntax

SET DATE [TO]
AMERICAN | ANSI | BRITISH | FRENCH | GERMAN | ITALIAN | JAPAN | USA | MDY | DMY | YMD

TO

Included for readability only; TO has no affect on the operation of the command.

AMERICAN | ANSI | BRITISH | FRENCH | GERMAN | ITALIAN | JAPAN | USA | MDY | DMY | YMD

The options correspond to the following formats:

Option

Format

AMERICAN

MM/DD/YY

ANSI

YY.MM.DD

BRITISH

DD/MM/YY

FRENCH

DD/MM/YY

GERMAN

DD.MM.YY

ITALIAN

DD-MM-YY

JAPAN

YY/MM/DD

USA

MM-DD-YY

MDY

MM/DD/YY

DMY

DD/MM/YY

YMD

YY/MM/DD

Description

SET DATE determines how dBASE Plus displays dates; and how literal date strings, like those in curly braces ({ }), are interpreted. If SET CENTURY is ON, dBASE Plus displays all formats with a 4-digit year.

The default for SET DATE is set by the Regional Settings in the Windows Control Panel. To change the default, set the DATE parameter in PLUS.ini. To do so, either use the SET command to specify the setting interactively, or enter the DATE parameter directly in PLUS.ini.

SET DATE overrides any prior SET MARK setting. However, you can use SET MARK after SET DATE to change the date separator character.