You use picture strings (templates that indicate the format of the input data or the desired format of the output data) for several of the date and time callable services.
| Picture terms | Explanations | Valid values | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Y
YY YYY ZYY YYYY |
One-digit year
Two-digit year Three-digit year Three-digit year within era Four-digit year |
0-9
00-99 000-999 1-999 1582-9999 |
Y valid for output only.
YY assumes range set by CEESCEN. YYY/ZYY used with <JJJJ>, <CCCC>, and <CCCCCCCC>. |
| <JJJJ> | Japanese Era name in Kanji characters with UTF-16 hexadecimal encoding | Heisei (NX'5E736210')
Showa (NX'662D548C') Taisho (NX'59276B63') Meiji (NX'660E6CBB') |
Affects YY field: if <JJJJ> is specified, YY means the year within Japanese Era. For example, 1988 equals Showa 63. |
| MM
ZM |
Two-digit month
One- or two-digit month |
01-12
1-12 |
For output, leading zero suppressed. For input, ZM treated as MM. |
| RRRR
RRRZ |
Roman numeral month | Ibbb-XIIb (left justified) | For input, source string is folded to uppercase. For output, uppercase only. I=Jan, II=Feb, ..., XII=Dec. |
| MMM
Mmm MMMM...M Mmmm...m MMMMMMMMMZ Mmmmmmmmmz |
Three-char month, uppercase
Three-char month, mixed case Three-20 char mo., uppercase Three-20 char mo., mixed case Trailing blanks suppressed Trailing blanks suppressed |
JAN-DEC
Jan-Dec JANUARYbb-DECEMBERb Januarybb-Decemberb JANUARY-DECEMBER January-December |
For input, source string always folded to uppercase. For output, M generates uppercase and m generates lowercase. Output is padded with blanks (b) (unless Z specified) or truncated to match the number of Ms, up to 20. |
| DD
ZD DDD |
Two-digit day of month
One- or two-digit day of mo. Day of year (Julian day) |
01-31
1-31 001-366 |
For output, leading zero is always suppressed. For input, ZD treated as DD. |
| HH
ZH |
Two-digit hour
One- or two-digit hour |
00-23
0-23 |
For output, leading zero suppressed. For input, ZH treated as HH. If AP specified, valid values are 01-12. |
| MI | Minute | 00-59 | |
| SS | Second | 00-59 | |
| 9
99 999 |
Tenths of a second
Hundredths of a second Thousandths of a second |
0-9
00-99 000-999 |
No rounding |
| AP
ap A.P. a.p. |
AM/PM indicator | AM or PM
am or pm A.M. or P.M. a.m. or p.m. |
AP affects HH/ZH field. For input, source string always folded to uppercase. For output, AP generates uppercase and ap generates lowercase. |
| W
WWW Www WWW...W Www...w WWWWWWWWWZ Wwwwwwwwwz |
One-char day-of-week
Three-char day, uppercase Three-char day, mixed case Three-20 char day, uppercase Three-20 char day, mixed case Trailing blanks suppressed Trailing blanks suppressed |
S, M, T, W, T, F, S
SUN-SAT Sun-Sat SUNDAYbbb-SATURDAYb Sundaybbb-Saturdayb SUNDAY-SATURDAY Sunday-Saturday |
For input, Ws are ignored. For output, W generates uppercase and w generates lowercase. Output padded with blanks (unless Z specified) or truncated to match the number of Ws, up to 20. |
| All others | Delimiters | X'01'-X'FF'
(X'00' is reserved for “internal” use by the date and time callable services) |
For input, treated as delimiters between the month, day, year, hour, minute, second, and fraction of a second. For output, copied exactly as is to the target string. |
| Note: Blank characters are indicated by the symbol b. | |||
The following table defines Japanese Eras used by date and time services when <JJJJ> is specified.
| First date of Japanese Era | Era name | Era name in Kanji with UTF-16 hexadecimal encoding | Valid year values |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1868-09-08 | Meiji | NX'660E6CBB' | 01-45 |
| 1912-07-30 | Taisho | NX'59276B63' | 01-15 |
| 1926-12-25 | Showa | NX'662D548C' | 01-64 |
| 1989-01-08 | Heisei | NX'5E736210' | 01-999 (01 = 1989) |