datestr

Convert date and time to string format.

Syntax

  • dateAsString = datestr(dateVector)

  • dateAsString = datestr(dateNumber)

  • dateAsString = datestr(..., formatOut)

  • dateAsString = datestr(dateAsStringIn)

  • dateAsString = datestr(dateAsStringIn, formatOut, pivotYear)

  • dateAsString = datestr(..., 'local')

Input argument

  • dateVector - Date vectors or matrix.

  • dateNumber - Serial date numbers: An array of positive double-precision floating-point numbers.

  • formatOut - character vector, string scalar or integer value (-1 default): Output format for representing dates and times

  • dateAsStringIn - character vector, cell array or string array: text denoting dates and times to convert.

  • pivotYear - integer value: present minus 50 years (default).

  • 'local' - returns the date in the language of the current locale.

Output argument

  • dateAsString - character vector or two-dimensional character array: text denoting dates and time.

Description

dateAsString = datestr(dateVector) converts date vectors into text that represents the corresponding dates and times. It returns a character array with m rows, where m is the number of date vectors in dateVector.

dateAsString = datestr(dateNumber) converts serial date numbers into text representing dates and times. The output is a character array with m rows, where m is the number of date numbers in dateNumber.

dateAsString = datestr(..., formatOut) allows you to specify the format of the output text using formatOut. You can apply this option with any of the previous input types.

dateAsString = datestr(dateAsStringIn) converts the input string dateAsStringIn into a text format of day-month-year hour:minute:second. All dates in dateAsStringIn must follow the same format.

dateAsString = datestr(dateAsStringIn, formatOut, pivotYear) converts dateAsStringIn into the format specified by formatOut, while using an optional pivotYear to interpret two-digit years.

dateAsString = datestr(..., 'local') returns the date in the language of the system's current locale. If 'local' is omitted, the default language is US English. The 'local' option can be used with any of the previous syntaxes, and must be the last argument in the sequence.

Supported format conversion:

dd-mmm-yyyy HH:MM:SS 10-Mar-2010 16:48:17

dd-mmm-yyyy 10-Mar-2010

mm/dd/yyyy 03/10/2010

mm/dd/yy 03/10/00

mm/dd 03/10

mmm.dd,yyyy HH:MM:SS Mar.10,2010 16:48:17

mmm.dd,yyyy Mar.10,2010

yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM:SS 2010-03-10 16:48:17

yyyy-mm-dd 2010-03-10

yyyy/mm/dd 2000/03/10

HH:MM:SS 16:48:17

HH:MM:SS PM 3:48:17 PM

HH:MM 16:48

HH:MM PM 3:35 PM

If format is not specified, the default format is dd-mmm-yyyy.

If format is specified and not using predefined format, the format must be specified as a character vector or string scalar composed of symbolic identifiers.

The format of the input text for representing dates and times, expressed as a character vector or string scalar composed of symbolic identifiers.

Symbolic Identifier
Description
Example

yyyy

Year in full

1995, 2012

yy

Year in two digits

89, 01

QQ

Quarter year using letter Q and one digit

Q1

mmmm

Month using full name

March, December

mmm

Month using first three letters

Mar, Dec

mm

Month in two digits

04, 12

m

Month using capitalized first letter

M, D

dddd

Day using full name

Monday, Tuesday

ddd

Day using first three letters

Mon, Tue

dd

Day in two digits

06, 21

d

Day using capitalized first letter

M, T

HH

Hour in two digits (no leading zeros when symbolic identifier AM or PM is used)

06, 6 AM

MM

Minute in two digits

11, 01

SS

Second in two digits

06, 59

FFF

Millisecond in three digits

056

AM or PM

AM or PM inserted in text representing time

5:46:02 PM

Examples

dateVector = [2019, 4, 2, 9, 7, 18];
datestr(dateVector)
dateVector = [2019, 4, 2, 9, 7, 18];
formatOut = 'mm/dd/yy';
datestr(dateVector, formatOut)
datestr(now, 'mmmm dd, yyyy HH:MM:SS.FFF AM')
datestr('06:33 PM','HH:MM')
datestr('06:33','HH:MM PM')
formatOut = 'dd mmm yyyy';
datestr(datenum('18-05-45','dd-mm-yy',1900),formatOut)
datestr(datenum({'09/17/2017';'06/14/1906';'10/29/2014'}, 'mm/dd/yyyy')))
dateStringIn = '5/17/56';
formatOut = 1;
pivotYear = 1900;
datestr(dateStringIn, formatOut, pivotYear)
pivotYear = 2000;
datestr(dateStringIn,formatOut, pivotYear)

See also

datenum, datevec.

History

Version
Description

1.8.0

initial version

Author

Allan CORNET

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