---
title: "system.db.dateFormat"
description: "This function is used to format Dates nicely as strings."
---

# system.db.dateFormat

> This function is used to format Dates nicely as strings.

This function is used in **Python Scripting**.

## Description
This function is used to format Dates nicely as strings. It uses a format string to guide its formatting behavior. Learn more about date formatting in Dates

 Expert Tip: This function uses the Java class [java.text.SimpleDateFormat](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/1.5.0/docs/api/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html) internally, and will accept any valid format string for that class.

## Client Permission Restrictions
This scripting function has no [Client Permission](projects\project-properties\project-properties.md#client---permissions) restrictions.

## Syntax
`system.db.dateFormat(date, formatPattern)`

### Parameters
Type | Parameter | Description 
------- | ------- | ------
Date | `date` | The Date object that you'd like to format
String | `formatPattern` | A format pattern string to apply.

### Returns

**String** - The date as a string formatted according to the format pattern.

### Scope

All

## Code Examples
```python title="Example #1"
# This example will display a message box on a button press that displays the selected date (without the time)
# from a Calendar component, in a format like "Feb 3, 2009"
date = event.source.parent.getComponent("Calendar").latchedDate
toDisplay = system.db.dateFormat(date, "MMM d, yyyy")
system.gui.messageBox("The date you selected is: %s" % toDisplay)
```
```python title="Example #2"
# This example would do the same as the one above, but also display the time, in a format like: "Feb 3, 2009 8:01pm"
date = event.source.parent.getComponent("Calendar").latchedDate
toDisplay = system.db.dateFormat(date, "MMM d, yyyy")
system.gui.messageBox("The date you selected is: %s" % toDisplay)
```
```python title="Example #3"
# This example would take two dates from two Popup Calendar components, format them in a manner that the database understands,
# and then use them in a SQL query to limit the results to a certain date range.
startDate = event.source.parent.getComponent("StartDate").date
endDate = event.source.parent.getComponent("EndDate").date
startDate = system.db.dateFormat(startDate, "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss")
endDate = system.db.dateFormat(endDate, "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss")
query = ("SELECT * FROM mytable WHERE t_stamp >= '%s' AND t_stamp <= '%s'" % (startDate, endDate))
results = system.db.runQuery(query)
event.source.parent.getComponent("Table").data = results
```