6.7.7 Date Formats

The d d (calc-date-notation) command controls the display of date forms (see Date Forms). It prompts for a string which contains letters that represent the various parts of a date and time. To show which parts should be omitted when the form represents a pure date with no time, parts of the string can be enclosed in ‘< >’ marks. If you don’t include ‘< >’ markers in the format, Calc guesses at which parts, if any, should be omitted when formatting pure dates.

The default format is: ‘<H:mm:SSpp >Www Mmm D, YYYY’. An example string in this format is ‘3:32pm Wed Jan 9, 1991’. If you enter a blank format string, this default format is reestablished.

Calc uses ‘< >’ notation for nameless functions as well as for dates. See Specifying Operators. To avoid confusion with nameless functions, your date formats should avoid using the ‘#’ character.