Formatting rule for time (DateTime)

Formatting rule for time DateTime specifies the text (formatted) form of the time. A properly created formatting rule allows bidirectional conversion between a text representation and a value of the DateTime type without loss of information.

Formatting rule contains both constant items (e.g. separators inside time) and individual time items. The time items can be in any order. Each time item (day, hour, minute, etc.) has an identifier (character: D, H, M, etc.).

The time entry is indicated in the formatting rule by the percent sign %, thus distinguishing it from constant items (separators). This is followed by an optional number of digits (where the asterisk * indicates the minimum required size with no zeros from the left, e.g., instead of 01.01. it would be 1.1.). The time entry is terminated with the mandatory time entry identifier.

For example: "%Y.%m.%d %H:%M:%S.%T"

Syntax of one time item: %[*|1-9]id

Time items:

Y - year (e.g. 2022) [4 digits].
See the PmDateObject.GetYear method.

y - Only the last two digits of the year (e.g. 21) [2 digits].

m - month (1-12) [2 digits].
See the PmDateObject.GetMonth method.

d - day (1-31) [2 digits].
See the PmDateObject.GetDay method.

H - hour (0-23) [2 digits].
See the PmDateObject.GetHour method.

M - minute (0-59) [2 digits].
See the PmDateObject.GetMinute method.

S - second (0-59) [2 digits].
See the PmDateObject.GetSecond method.

T - millisecond (0-999) [3 digits].
The number of digits here means the precision after the decimal separator, so 1=tenths, 2=hundredths, and 3=thousandths.
See the PmDateObject.GetMillisecond method.

D - day of year (1-366) [3 digits].
It works only for converting the time (DateTime) to the text form.
See the PmDateObject.GetDayOfYear method.

Wi - week of year (1-53) [2 digits] according to ISO 8601.
It works only for converting the time (DateTime) to the text form.
See the PmDateObject.GetWeekOfYear method.

ws - day of the week starting on Sunday (0-6) [1 digit].
It works only for converting the time (DateTime) to the text form.
See the PmDateObject.GetWeekday method.

wm - day of the week starting on Monday (1-7) [1 digit] according to ISO 8601.
It works only for converting the time (DateTime) to the text form.

Note! Time items do not all have to be entered. But then the information is lost in the text form. When converting back from text to DateTime it must not miss items from the date part (year, month, day). Other missing items are considered to be 0.

Examples for DateTime 2022.07.01 09:03:01.500:
"%Y.%m.%d %H:%M:%S.%T" will be "2022.07.01 09:03:01.500"
"%Y.%*m.%*d %H:%M:%S.%T" will be "2022.7.1 09:03:01.500"
"%Y%m%d%H%M%S%T" will be "20220701090301500"
"%Y.%m.%d" will be "2022.07.01"
"%Y/%Wi" will be "2022/26"