Date Formats

The FORMATDATE function returns a formatted date-time string as defined by a date format pattern. For example:

FORMATDATE(TODAY(),"dd/MM/YY")

Date patterns are character strings that comprise a combination of pattern fields and literal text.

1. Pattern fields are replaced with date and time data as the date is formatted. Characters A and Z, and a and z, are reserved as pattern characters (see below).
2. Literal text may include:
• Any characters delimited by single vertical quotes ('xxxx')
• Any characters (other than the pattern characters A and Z, and a and z, described above, unless they are delimited by single vertical quotes)
• Adjacent single quotes (''), which represent a literal single quote, either inside or outside quoted text

Examples of the pattern fields you can specify in a date format pattern are shown in the following table:

Pattern	Description	Example Values
d	day	1
dd	day	01
w	week	8, 27
ww	week	08, 27
M	month	9, 12
MM	month	09, 12
MMM	month	Sep
MMMM	month	September
Y	full year	2019
YY	short year	19
H	hour(24)	0, 23
HH	hour(24)	00, 23
h	hour(12)	1, 12
hh	hour(12)	01, 12
m	minute	8, 59
mm	minute	08, 59
s	second	8, 12
ss	second	08, 12
a ... aaa	period	AM/PM, am/pm
GG	era	AD
GGGG	era (wide)	Anno Domini
EEE	weekday	Tue
EEEE	weekday (wide)	Tuesday
z ... zzz	time zone (short)	PST
zzzz	time zone (long)	Pacific Standard Time

Example date format patterns are shown in the following examples:

Pattern	Result (specific to locale)
yyyyy.MMMMM.dd GGG hh:mm aaa	02019.August.06 AD 12:10 PM
K:mm a, z	0:00 PM, PST
hh 'o''clock' a, zzzz	12 o'clock PM, Pacific Daylight Time
yyyy.MM.dd G 'at' HH:mm:ss zzz	2019.08.06 AD at 13:05:55 PDT
EEE, MMM d, ''y	Tue, August 8, '19

For more information, see the section "Date Format Patterns": ICU Date/Time Format Codes List