User Guide

DateFormat 557

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))#

Date and time values in database query results can vary in sequence and formatting unless you use

functions to format them. To ensure that application users correctly understand displayed dates

and times, Macromedia recommends that you use this function and the

LSDateFormat,

TimeFormat, and LSTimeFormat functions to format resultset values. For more information and

examples, see TechNote 22183, "ColdFusion Server (5 and 4.5.x) with Oracle: Formatting Date and

Time Query Results," on the Macromedia website at www.coldfusion.com/Support/

KnowledgeBase/SearchForm.cfm.

Note: The DateFormat function is best used for formatting output, not for formatting input. For

formatting input, use one of the date/time creation functions (for example,

CreateDate) instead.

Example

<body>

<h3>DateFormat Example</h3>

<p>Today’s date is <cfoutput>#todayDate#</cfoutput>.

<p>Using DateFormat, we can display that date in different ways:

<ul>

<li>#DateFormat(todayDate)#

<li>#DateFormat(todayDate, "mmm-dd-yyyy")#

<li>#DateFormat(todayDate, "mmmm d, yyyy")#

<li>#DateFormat(todayDate, "mm/dd/yyyy")#

<li>#DateFormat(todayDate, "d-mmm-yyyy")#

<li>#DateFormat(todayDate, "ddd, mmmm dd, yyyy")#

<li>#DateFormat(todayDate, "short")#

<li>#DateFormat(todayDate, "medium")#

<li>#DateFormat(todayDate, "long")#

<li>#DateFormat(todayDate, "full")#

</ul>

</cfoutput>