DATE TIME to STRING Conversion

The classes TIME, DATE, and DATE_TIME provide a query formatted_out which can be used to retrieve a string containing the date or time in a format specified by a string or format conversion codes that the caller provides as an argument. The conversion is done in the DATE_TIME_CODE_STRING class. So for example, if a DATE instance referenced by my_date has a value of February 3, 2008, then applying the query: my_date.formatted_out ("[0]dd mmm yyyy") will return the string: 03 FEB 2008

The following table lists format conversion codes.

Code	Description
dd	day - numeric
[0]dd	day - numeric (padded with '0' to 2 figures)
ddd	day - text (3 letters e.g "MON", "TUE")
yyyy	year - numeric (4 figures)
yy	year - numeric (2 figures)
mm	month - numeric
[0]mm	month - numeric (padded with '0' to 2 figures)
mmm	month - text (3 letters e.g "DEC", "JAN")
hh	hour - numeric (24 hour clock scale by default)
[0]hh	hour - numeric (padded with '0' to 2 figures)
hh12	hour - numeric (12 hour clock scale)
mi	minute - numeric
[0]mi	minute - numeric (padded with '0' to 2 figures)
ss	seconds - numeric
[0]ss	seconds - numeric (padded with '0' to 2 figures)
ff<n>	fractional seconds - numeric (precise to <n> figures)
am	meridiem indicator. Includes "AM" for ante meridiem times (before noon) and "PM" for post meridiem times (after noon).
':', '/', '-' and ',	separators e.g. "03/FEB/08"

These are some examples of output with their associated format code:

Code	Output
yy/mm/dd	08/2/3
mmm-[0]dd-yy	FEB-03-08
dd,mm,yyyy	3,2,2008
hh-mi-ss	13-6-32
hh12,mi,ss	1,6,32
hh12:[0]mi:[0]ss:ff2 am	1:06:32.25 PM
[0]hh:[0]mi:[0]ss.ff3	13:06:32.248
[0]mm/dd/yy hh12:mi:ss.ff3	02/3/08 1:6:32.248