DATE

 ───DATE(──┬─────────┬─)──────
             └─option──┘

DATE returns, by default, the local date in the format: dd mon yyyy (for example, 27 Aug 1988), with no leading zero or blank on the day. For mon, the first three characters of the English name of the month will be used.

The following options (of which only the capitalized letter is needed, all others are ignored) can be used to obtain alternative formats:

Basedate

Returns the number of complete days (that is, not including the current day) since and including the base date, January 1, 0001, in the format: dddddd (no leading zeros). The expression DATE(B)//7 returns a number in the range 0-6, where 0 is Monday and 6 is Sunday.

┴╓: The origin of January 1, 0001 is based on the Gregorian calendar. Though this calendar did not exist prior to 1582, Basedate is calculated as if it did: 365 days per year, an extra day every four years except century years, and leap centuries if the century is divisible by 400. It does not take into account any errors in the calendar system that created the Gregorian calendar originally.

Days
Returns the number of days, including the current day, so far in this year in the format: ddd (no leading zeros)
European
Returns date in the format: dd/mm/yy.
Language
Returns date in an implementation and language dependent or local date format. In the OS/2 operating system, the Language format is dd Month yyyy. If no local format is available, the default format is returned.

┴╓: This format is intended to be used as a whole; REXX programs should not make any assumptions about the form or content of the returned string.

Month
Returns full English name of the current month, for example, August
Normal
Returns date in the default format: dd mon yyyy
Ordered
Returns date in the format: yy/mm/dd (suitable for sorting, and so on.)
Sorted
Returns date in the format: yyyymmdd (suitable for sorting, and so on.)
Usa
Returns date in the format: mm/dd/yy
Weekday
Returns the English name for the day of the week, in mixed case. For example, Tuesday.

Here are some examples:

DATE( )        ->    '27 Aug 1988'  /*  perhaps  */DATE('B')      ->    725975
DATE('D')      ->    240
DATE('E')      ->    '27/08/88'
DATE('L')      ->    '27 August 1988'
DATE('M')      ->    'August'
DATE('N')      ->    '27 Aug 1988'
DATE('O')      ->    '88/08/27'
DATE('S')      ->    '19880827'
DATE('U')      ->    '08/27/88'
DATE('W')      ->    'Saturday'

┴╓: The first call to DATE or TIME in one expression causes a time stamp to be made which is then used for all calls to these functions in that expression. Therefore, if multiple calls to any of the DATE and/or TIME functions are made in a single expression, they are guaranteed to be consistent with each other.

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