dBASE Plus features native support for dates, including date arithmetic. To specify a literal date, enclose the date in curly braces. The order of the day, month, and year depends on the current setting of SET DATE, which derives its default setting from the Regional Settings in the Windows Control Panel. For example, if SET DATE is MDY (month/day/year), then the literal date:

{10/02/97}

is October 2nd, 1997. The way dBASE Plus handles two-digit years depends on the setting of SET EPOCH. The default is to interpret two-digit years between 50 and 99 as a year in the 1900s. Two digit years between 00 and 49 will be interpreted as a year in the 2000s. Curly braces with nothing between them represent a special date value, known as a blank date.