Configuring Date and Time Formats

Write out a format that includes all the tokens from the table above that you would want to include in display or input of dates and times. Include any embedded punctuation (spaces, commas, colons, etc.). For example:
```
day, dom/mon/yr4
```
might translate to:
```
Monday, 4/Jan/2000
```
By default, each token is both displayed and required as input to the date/time parser.
In front of each token and punctuation mark that is not required by the input processor, add a plus symbol ('+'). This signifies that the specified field is displayed in formatted output, but does not have to be input by a user when entering a date/time. For example:
```
+day+, dom/mon/yr4
```
means that 4/Jan/2000 is acceptable input, but this date would be displayed as:
```
Monday, 4/Jan/2000
```
In front of each token that is not desired in the display of dates and times, add a hyphen (minus symbol, "-'). This signifies that the specified field is not displayed in formatted date/time strings, but is required to be input by the user when specifying a date/time field. For example:
```
+day+, -dom-/mon/yr4
```
means that 4/Jan/2000 could be entered, but this date would be displayed as:
```
Monday, Jan/2000
```
If you wish to use a hyphen as a separator for date fields (for example, to display something like 2000-11-22), on Windows, use two hyphens:
```
yr4--moy--dom
```
For use in the mql shell script, the setting requires the use of 3 hyphens. For example:
```
MX_TERSE_DATETIME_FORMAT="yr4---moy---dom h24:min-:-sec"
export MX_TERSE_DATETIME_FORMAT
MX_NORMAL_DATETIME_FORMAT="yr4--moy--dom h24:min-:-sec"
export MX_NORMAL_DATETIME_FORMAT
```
Add the appropriate lines to the configuration vehicle (ini file, startup script, or MatrixIniDefaults program). Any variables not set will use the default values as shown in the table above. For example, you may want to add the following lines:
```
MX_NORMAL_DATETIME_FORMAT= +day+, MON dom, yr4 h24:min:sec TZ 
MX_TERSE_DATETIME_FORMAT = moy/dom/yr4
```
These settings allow the date to be entered in either of the following ways:

January 4, 2000 or 1/4/2000
Note:
If you enter this format to display the date format using a 24-hour clock:
```
MX_NORMAL_DATETIME_FORMAT=moy/dom/yr4 h24:min:sec
```
Then you must also enter these values for the shown properties in emxSystem.properties:
```
eServiceSuites.eMatrixDateFormat = MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss
eServiceSuites.eMatrixInputDateFormat = MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss
```
See the Collaboration and Approvals Administration Guide.

Note: The TIME elements of a DATETIME default to 12:00 AM, if not entered.

Note: Currently, 3DSpace does not use the TIME-only formats.