User Guide

448 Chapter 3: ColdFusion Functions
DateFormat
Description
Formats a date value using U.S. date formats. For international date support, use LSDateFormat.
Returns
A text string representing the date formatted according to the mask. If no mask is specified,
returns the value in dd-mmm-yy format.
Category
Date and time functions
Function syntax
DateFormat("date" [, "mask" ])
See also
Now, CreateDate, LSDateFormat, LSParseDateTime, LSTimeFormat, TimeFormat,
ParseDateTime
History
ColdFusion MX: Added support for the following mask attribute options: short, medium, long,
and
full.
Parameters
Usage
When passing a date/time object as a string, you must enclose it in quotation marks. Otherwise, it
is interpreted as a numeric representation of a date/time object.
Note: You can pass the CreateDate function or Now function as the date parameter of this function;
for example: #DateFormat(CreateDate(2001, 3, 3))#
Parameter Description
date Date/time object, in the range 100 AD–9999 AD.
mask Characters that show how ColdFusion displays a date:
• d: Day of the month as digits; no leading zero for single-digit days.
• dd: Day of the month as digits; leading zero for single-digit days.
• ddd: Day of the week as a three-letter abbreviation.
• dddd: Day of the week as its full name.
• m: Month as digits; no leading zero for single-digit months.
• mm: Month as digits; leading zero for single-digit months.
• mmm: Month as a three-letter abbreviation.
• mmmm: Month as its full name.
• y: Year as last two digits; no leading zero for years less than 10.
• yy: Year as last two digits; leading zero for years less than 10.
• yyyy: Year represented by four digits.
• gg: Period/era string. Ignored. Reserved.
The following masks tell how to format the full date and cannot be combined with
other masks:
• short: equivalent to m/d/y
• medium: equivalent to mmm d, yyyy
• long: equivalent to mmmm d, yyyy
• full: equivalent to dddd, mmmm d, yyyy