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 Tim Mackey

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 Thursday, June 21, 2007
The Format() Function
Thursday, June 21, 2007 8:21:22 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00) ( )

The Format() Function

The Format() function is a general-purpose formatting function that returns a string value formatted according to a format string. The format strings duplicate numeric and date/time formats produced by the specialized formats described above. The general format for applying the Format() function is shown below.

Format(value, "format string")

Formatting Numbers

A format string for numeric values can use one of the predefined string values shown in the following table.

String Description
General Number|G|g Displays number with no thousand separator.
Currency|C|c Displays number with thousand separator, if appropriate; display two digits to the right of the decimal separator.
Fixed|F|f Displays at least one digit to the left and two digits to the right of the decimal separator.
Standard|N|n Displays number with thousand separator, at least one digit to the left and two digits to the right of the decimal separator.
Percent Displays number multiplied by 100 with a percent sign (%) appended immediately to the right; always displays two digits to the right of the decimal separator.
P|p Displays number with thousandths separator multiplied by 100 with a percent sign (%) appended to the right and separated by a single space; always displays two digits to the right of the decimal separator.

Examples of applying a format string to numeric values are shown in the following table.

Format Output
Format(12345.6789,"g") 12345.6789
Format(12345.6789,"c") $12,345.68
Format(12345.6789,"f") 12345.68
Format(12345.6789,"n") 12,345.68
Format(-12345.6789,"g") -12345.6789
Format(-12345.6789,"c") ($12,345.68)
Format(-12345.6789,"f") -12345.68
Format(-12345.6789,"n") -12,345.68
Format(.6789,"Percent") 67.89%
Format(.6789,"p") 67.89 %
Format(-.6789,"Percent") -67.89%
Format(-.6789,"p") -67.89 %

Formatting Dates and Times

A format string for date/time values can use one of the predefined string values shown in the following table.

String Description
Long Date|D Displays a date in long date format.
Short Date|d Displays a date in short date format.
Long Time|T Displays a date in long date format.
Short Time|t Displays a date in short date format.
F Displays the long date and long time.
f Displays the long date and short time.
g Displays the short date and short time.
M|m Displays the month and the day of a date.
Y|y Formats the date as the year and month.

Examples of applying a format string to date/time values are shown in the following table.

Format Output
Format(Now,"D") Thursday, June 21, 2007
Format(Now,"d") 6/21/2007
Format(Now,"T") 9:10:57 PM
Format(Now,"t") 9:10 PM
Format(Now,"F") Thursday, June 21, 2007 9:10:57 PM
Format(Now,"f") Thursday, June 21, 2007 9:10 PM
Format(Now,"g") 6/21/2007 9:10 PM
Format(Now,"m") June 21
Format(Now,"y") June, 2007

User-defined Numeric Formats

Formats can be defined for displaying numeric values by composing a string to describe the format. This user-defined string is applied through the Format() function. The characters shown in the following table are used to compose the format string.

Character Description
0 Digit placeholder. Displays a digit or a zero. If the value has a digit in the position, then it displays; otherwise, a zero is displayed.
# Digit placeholder. Displays a digit or a space. If the value has a digit in the position, then it displays; otherwise, a space is displayed.
. Decimal placeholder; determines how many digits are displayed to the left and right of the decimal separator.
, Thousand separator; separates thousands from hundreds within a number that has four or more places to the left of the decimal separator. Only a single "," is required in the format, between the first set of digit placeholders.
% Percent placeholder. Multiplies the expression by 100. The percent character (%) is inserted in the position where it appears in the format string.
- + $ ( ) Literal characters; displayed exactly as typed in the format string.

Examples of applying a user-defined format string to numeric values are shown in the following table.

Format Output
Format(012345.6789,"0.00") 12345.68
Format(012345.6789,"0,0.000") 12,345.679
Format(012345.6789,"00000,0.000000") 012,345.678900
Format(012345.6789,"#.##") 12345.68
Format(012345.6789,"#,#.##") 12,345.68
Format(012345.6789,"$ #,#.##") $ 12,345.68
Format(-012345.6789,"#,#.####") -12,345.6789
Format(-012345.6789,"$#,#.##") -$12,345.68
Format(.6789,"#,#.##") .68
Format(.6789,"0,0.000") 00.679
Format(-.6789," 0.0000") - 0.6789
Format(.6789,"0.00%") 67.89%

User-defined Date/Time Formats

Formats can be defined for displaying date and time values by composing a string to describe the format. This user-defined string is applied through the Format() function. The characters shown in the following table are used to compose the date/time format string.

Character Description
: Time separator.
/ - Date separators.
% Precedes a single-character format string.
d Displays the day as a number without a leading zero.
dd Displays the day as a number with a leading zero.
ddd Displays the day name as an abbreviation.
dddd Displays the day as a full name.
M Displays the month as a number without a leading zero.
MM Displays the month as a number with a leading zero.
MMM Displays the month name as an abbreviation.
MMMM Displays the month as a full name.
yy Displays the year in two-digit format.
yyyy Displays the year in four-digit format.
h Displays the hour as a number without leading zeros using the 12-hour clock.
hh Displays the hour as a number with leading zeros using the 12-hour clock.
H Displays the hour as a number without leading zeros using the 24-hour clock.
HH Displays the hour as a number with leading zeros using the 24-hour clock.
m Displays the minute as a number without leading zeros.
mm Displays the minute as a number with leading zeros.
s Displays the seconds as a number without leading zeros.
ss Displays the seconds as a number with leading zeros.
f... Displays fractions of seconds using up to 7 characters to display fractional digits.
tt Uses the 12-hour clock and displays an uppercase AM with any hour before noon; displays an uppercase PM with any hour between noon and 11:59 P.M.
  Additional characters and punctuation marks can be used within the format string. Characters that match any of the formatting characters must be preceded by "\".

Examples of applying a user-defined format string to date/time values are shown in the following table.

Format Output
Format(Now,"M/d/yy") 6/21/07
Format(Now,"M-d-yyyy") 6-21-2007
Format(Now,"d-MMMM-yy") 21-June-07
Format(Now,"d MMMM, yyyy") 21 June, 2007
Format(Now,"MMMM d, yyyy") June 21, 2007
Format(Now,"MMMM, yyyy") June, 2007
Format(Now,"%d") 21
Format(Now,"h:m tt") 9:10 PM
Format(Now,"h:m:ss tt") 9:10:57 PM
Format(Now,"H:m") 21:10
Format(Now,"M/d/yy - h:mtt") 6/21/07 - 9:10PM
Format(Now,"H:m:ss.fffffff") 21:10:57.5829544
Format(Now,"To\da\y i\s MMMM d, yyyy.") Today is June 21, 2007.

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