Date masks tell the driver how a date is stored in a text file. When a value is inserted into a text file, the date is formatted so that it matches the mask. When reading a text file, the driver converts the formatted date into a date data type.

The following table lists the symbols to use when specifying the date mask.

Table 1. Date Masks for Text Driver
Symbol Description
m Output the month’s number (1–12).
mm Output a leading zero if the month number is less than 10.
mmm, Mmm, MMM Output the three-letter abbreviation for the month depending on the case of the Ms (for example, jan, Jan, JAN).
mmmm, Mmmm, MMMM Output the name of the full month depending on the case of the Ms (for example, january, January, JANUARY).
d Output the day number (1–31).
dd Output a leading zero if the day number is less than 10.
ddd, Ddd, DDD Output the three-letter day abbreviation depending on the case of the Ds (for example, mon, Mon, MON).
dddd, Dddd, DDDD Output the name of the full day depending on the case of the Ds (for example, monday, Monday, MONDAY).
yy Output the last two digits of the year.
yyyy Output the full four digits of the year.
J Output the Julian value for the date. The Julian value is the number of days since 4712 BC.
\ - .  :  , (space) Special characters used to separate the parts of a date.
\ Output the next character. For example, if the mask is mm/dd/yyyy \A\D, the value appears as 10/01/2003 AD in the text file.
"string", 'string' Output the string in the text file.

The following table shows some example date values, masks, and how the date appears in the text file.

Table 2. Date Mask Examples
Date Mask Value
2003-10-01 yyyy-mm-dd 2003-10-01
m/d/yy 10/1/03
Ddd, Mmm dd, yyyy Fri, Oct 01, 2003