Specifies the format for the display of Date and DateTime expressions.
SET DATE [TO] AMERICAN | ANSI | BRITISH | FRENCH | GERMAN | ITALIAN | JAPAN | TAIWAN | USA | MDY | DMY | YMD| SHORT | LONG
Here are the settings and the resulting date formats:
| Setting | Format |
|---|---|
| AMERICAN | mm/dd/yy |
| ANSI | yy.mm.dd |
| BRITISH/FRENCH | dd/mm/yy |
| GERMAN | dd.mm.yy |
| ITALIAN | dd-mm-yy |
| JAPAN | yy/mm/dd |
| TAIWAN | yy/mm/dd |
| USA | mm-dd-yy |
| MDY | mm/dd/yy |
| DMY | dd/mm/yy |
| YMD | yy/mm/dd |
| SHORT | Short date format determined by the Windows Control Panel short date setting. |
| LONG | Long date format determined by the Windows Control Panel long date setting. |
 Note |
|---|
| When SET DATE is set to SHORT or LONG, a date before {^1601-01-01} is invalid and generates an error. |
The default date setting is AMERICAN.
The SET DATE setting also determines how the date appears in datetime expressions.
If DATE is set to SHORT or LONG, the SET CENTURY, SET MARK, SET HOURS, and SET SECONDS settings are ignored.
SET DATE is scoped to the current data session.
Reference
DATE( ) FunctionDATETIME( ) Function
SET CENTURY Command
SET DATASESSION Command
SET MARK TO Command
SET SYSFORMATS Command
SET Command Overview
Other Resources
Commands (Visual FoxPro)Language Reference (Visual FoxPro)