Home » Beware of slashes when formatting dates

Beware of slashes when formatting dates

You probably use the Format function to format date, for example:

    ? Format(Now, "mm/dd/yyyy")      ' => 08/01/2001    ? Format(Now, "mm+dd+yyyy")      ' => 08+01+2001

It seems that this is everything you need to know, right? However, the story is quite different when regional settings set a different date separator. Let’s say that “-” is the end user’s date separator. The result from the slash character in Format is now different:

    ? Format(Now, "mm/dd/yyyy")      ' => 08-01-2001  (the new separator!)    ? Format(Now, "mm+dd+yyyy")      ' => 08+01+2001

In most cases this behavior doesn’t break your code: after all the end user will see dates formatted her own way. But if you’re using the result in a SQL statement, you must comply with the database settings, and use the slash. The simplest way to ensure that the result uses the slash separator is to use another character and then replace it with the slash:

? Replace(Format(Now, "mm_dd_yyyy"),"_","/")   ' => 08/01/2001

About Our Editorial Process

At DevX, we’re dedicated to tech entrepreneurship. Our team closely follows industry shifts, new products, AI breakthroughs, technology trends, and funding announcements. Articles undergo thorough editing to ensure accuracy and clarity, reflecting DevX’s style and supporting entrepreneurs in the tech sphere.

See our full editorial policy.