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Workday User Guide
Last Updated: 2023-11-03
Reference: Date Format Symbols

Reference: Date Format Symbols

Workday recognizes specific characters as symbols to represent part of a date format when you create and edit tables and base datasets. This section describes the symbols to use and the patterns use them in when you define your date format. The count and order of the symbols determine the date format.
If you're new to Workday, you don't have access to create or edit base datasets.
Workday treats any characters in the pattern that aren't in the ranges of a-z or A-Z as quoted delimiter text. Example: Workday treats the slash (/) and colon (:) characters delimiter text even if they aren't escaped with single quotes.
Symbol
Meaning
Presentation
Examples
Notes
G
era
text
AD
C
century of era (0 or greater)
number
20
Y
year of era (0 or greater)
year
1996
Numeric presentation for year and week year fields are handled specially. Example: If the count of 'y' is 2, the year will be displayed as the zero-based year of the century, which is two digits.
x
week year
year
1996
Numeric presentation for year and week year fields are handled specially. Example: If the count of 'y' is 2, the year will be displayed as the zero-based year of the century, which is two digits.
w
week number of week year
number
27
e
day of week (number)
number
2
E
day of week (name)
text
Tuesday; Tue
If the number of pattern letters is 4 or more, the full form is used; otherwise a short or abbreviated form is used.
y
year
year
1996
D
day of year
number
189
M
month of year
month
July; Jul; 07
3 or more uses text, otherwise uses a number
d
day of month
number
10
If the number of pattern letters is 3 or more, the text form is used; otherwise the number is used.
a
half day of day
text
PM
K
hour of half day (0-11)
number
0
h
clock hour of half day (1-12)
number
12
H
hour of day (0-23)
number
0
k
clock hour of day (1-24)
number
24
m
minute of hour
number
30
s
second of minute
number
55
S
fraction of second
number
978
z
time zone
text
Pacific Standard Time; PST
If the number of pattern letters is 4 or more, the full form is used; otherwise a short or abbreviated form is used.
Z
time zone offset/id
zone
-0800; -08:00; America/Los_Angeles
'Z' outputs offset without a colon, 'ZZ' outputs the offset with a colon, 'ZZZ' or more outputs the zone ID.
'
escape character for text-based delimiters
delimiter
''
literal representation of a single quote
literal
'