Appendix P
Date and Time Format Specifiers
A program uses date and time format specifiers to determine how dates and times are represented as strings. For example, the Date object’s ToString method returns a string representing a date and time. An optional parameter to this method tells the object whether to format itself as in 8/20/2012, 08.20.12 A.D., or Monday, August 20, 2012 2:37:18 pm.
Visual Basic provides two kinds of specifiers that you can use to determine a date and time value’s format: standard format specifiers and custom format specifiers.
STANDARD FORMAT SPECIFIERS
A standard format specifier is a single character that you use alone to indicate a standardized format. For example, the format string d indicates a short date format (as in 8/20/2012).
The following table lists standard format specifiers that you can use to format date and time strings. The results depend on the regional settings on the computer. The examples shown in this table are for a typical computer in the United States.
| SPECIFIER | MEANING | EXAMPLE |
| d | Short date. | 8/20/2012 |
| D | Long date. | Monday, August 20, 2012 |
| t | Short time. | 2:37 PM |
| T | Long time. | 2:37:18 PM |
| f | Full date/time with short time. | Monday, August 20, 2012 2:37 PM |
| F | Full date/time with long time. | Monday, August 20, 2012 2:37:18 PM |
| g | General date/time with short time. | 8/20/2012 2:37 PM |
| G | General date/time with long time. | 8/20/2012 2:37:18 PM |
| m or M | Month and date. | August 20 |
| r or R | RFC1123 pattern. Formatting does not convert ... |
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