Giving a type to a bracketed pattern

Picture clauses come in different types. Often the type of a picture clause can be derived from the pattern elements in the picture clause, but sometimes it is handy to give the type explicitly.

 

Typed pattern	Description
num{<pattern>}	Numeric picture clause. For example, S is interpreted as sign and 99 is interpreted as numeric pattern.
time{<pattern>}	Time picture clause. For example, M is interpreted as minute and S is interpreted as seconds.
date{<pattern>}	Date picture clause. For example, M is interpreted as month.
text{<pattern>}	Text picture clause.For example, 9 is interpreted as text digit and A is interpreted as alphanumeric item (letter/digit).
counter{<pattern>}	Counter picture clause. For example, A is interpreted as uppercase Latin alphabetic ordinal value.
num(<locale designator>){<pattern>}	Equivalent to: (<locale designator>){num{<pattern>}}) as well as: num{(<locale designator>){<pattern>}} (And similarly for other types.)
time(<locale designator>){<pattern>}	Equivalent to: (<locale designator>){time{<pattern>}}
date(<locale designator>){<pattern>}	Equivalent to: (<locale designator>){date{<pattern>}}
text(<locale designator>){<pattern>}	Equivalent to : (<locale designator>){text{<pattern>}}
counter(<locale designator>){<pattern>}	Equivalent to : (<locale designator>){counter{<pattern>}}
zero(<locale designator>){<pattern>}	Equivalent to: (<locale designator>){zero{<pattern>}}
null(<locale designator>){<pattern>}	Equivalent to: (<locale designator>){null{<pattern>}}

 

Multiple formatting of the same input value

Sometimes it is useful to format the exact same input value in different ways.

Given the input 13:30Z, the Picture Clause HH:MM (HH:MMZ) will give the output “15:30 (13:30GMT+00:00)”, if the computer’s clock is set to CEST (Central European Summer Time, which is +02:00 from GMT).

The parentheses insulate the affect of the Z pattern item to only what is inside the parentheses, while the pattern items outside of the parentheses are unaffected by the Z inside of the parentheses.

Time zone changes can affect nearby datetime items up to eras. The input 2006-01-01 to the Picture Clause D/M/Y ('week' WW 'of' Y) gives as output “1/1/2006 (week 52 of 2005)”. The parentheses limit the range of, in this case, the WW format item so that the first Y is unaffected and the second Y will output the ISO week year.