Separator characters in date fields

To define separator characters in date fields, use the Specification box in the field's General settings.

You do not have to specify separator characters such as slash (/), period (.), comma (,), hyphen (-) and space ( ) that can appear on an invoice in a date field.

If you do not specify separator characters, the specification DDMMYY can mean:

  • 251299
  • 25/12/99
  • 25-12-99
  • 25 12 99 (Note that spaces in dates are not included in the output string for the date.)

However, because a slash (/) can easily be confused with the number one (1) during interpretation, we recommend that you specify separator characters using the X format character, as shown below.

To specify one or more specific separator characters, put them in brackets after the X.

Examples:

X[:] a colon

X[:*.] a colon, asterisk or period

X[ ] a space

X[] no separator characters are allowed

Example

DDX[:]MMX[:]YYYY Matches this date: 24:11:2000

DX[.]MMMMYYYY Matches this date: 18. November 2002