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 | One-digit year | 0-9 | Y valid for output only. YY assumes range set by CEESCEN. YYY/ZYY used with <JJJJ>, <CCCC>, and <CCCCCCCC>. |
| YY | Two-digit year | 00-99 | |
| YYY | Three-digit year | 000-999 | |
| ZYY | Three-digit year within era | 1-999 | |
| YYYY | Four-digit year | 1582-9999 | |
| <JJJJ> | Japanese Era name in Kanji characters with UTF-16 hexadecimal encoding | Heisei (NX'5E736210') | Affects YY field: if <JJJJ> is specified, YY means the year within Japanese Era. For example, 1988 equals Showa 63. |
| Showa (NX'662D548C') | |||
| Taisho (NX'59276B63') | |||
| Meiji (NX'660E6CBB') | |||
| MM | Two-digit month | 01-12 | For output, leading zero suppressed. For input, ZM treated as MM. |
| ZM | One- or two-digit month | 1-12 | |
| RRRR | 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. |
| RRRZ | |||
| MMM | Three-character month, uppercase | JAN-DEC | 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. |
| Mmm | Three-character month, mixed case | Jan-Dec | |
| MMMM...M | 3–20-character month, uppercase | JANUARYbb-DECEMBERb | |
| Mmmm...m | 3–20-character month, mixed case | Januarybb-Decemberb | |
| MMMMMMMMMZ | Trailing blanks suppressed | JANUARY-DECEMBER | |
| Mmmmmmmmmz | Trailing blanks suppressed | January-December | |
| DD | Two-digit day of month | 01-31 | For output, leading zero is always suppressed. For input, ZD treated as DD. |
| ZD | One- or two-digit day of month | 1-31 | |
| DDD | Day of year (Julian day) | 001-366 | |
| HH | Two-digit hour | 00-23 | For output, leading zero suppressed. For input, ZH treated as HH. If AP specified, valid values are 01-12. |
| ZH | One- or two-digit hour | 0-23 | |
| MI | Minute | 00-59 | |
| SS | Second | ||
| 9 | Tenths of a second | 0-9 | No rounding |
| 99 | Hundredths of a second | 00-99 | |
| 999 | Thousandths of a second | 000-999 | |
| AP | AM/PM indicator | AM or PM | AP affects HH/ZH field. For input, source string always folded to uppercase. For output, AP generates uppercase and ap generates lowercase. |
| ap | am or pm | ||
| A.P. | A.M. or P.M. | ||
| a.p. | a.m. or p.m. | ||
| W | One-character day-of-week | S, M, T, W, T, F, S | 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. |
| WWW | Three-character day, uppercase | SUN-SAT | |
| Www | Three-character day, mixed case | Sun-Sat | |
| WWW...W | 3–20-character day, uppercase | SUNDAYbbb-SATURDAYb | |
| Www...w | 3–20-character day, mixed case | Sundaybbb-Saturdayb | |
| WWWWWWWWWZ | Trailing blanks suppressed | SUNDAY-SATURDAY | |
| Wwwwwwwwwz | Trailing blanks suppressed | Sunday-Saturday | |
| 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.