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curDate(...) 
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set(...)/calc(...) 
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set(...)/calc(...)

The set(...) and calc(...) functions each have three variations, not counting syntax variations.  They apply one or more modifiers in sequence to a Date, Time or DateTime value.  This provides a fast and compact format for doing most types of date/time math.  Two types of operations are supported at each step:  setting the individual fields and adding/subtracting a period of time.

The set(...) function modifies the original date/time value and also returns as its result the newly computed value.  The calc(...) function copies the date/time value before doing its work and results in the newly computed value.  The set(...) function and calc(...) function behave identically when working with a read-only date/time value.

Syntax:
calc( date-value, modifiers )
calc( time-value, modifiers )
calc( datetime-value, modifiers )
date-value.calc( modifiers )
time-value.calc( modifiers )
datetime-value.calc( modifiers )
set( date-value, modifiers )
set( time-value, modifiers )
set( datetime-value, modifiers )
date-value.set( modifiers )
time-value.set( modifiers )
datetime-value.set( modifiers )
  
Parameter Description
date-value The Date value to be modified
time-value The Time value to be modified
datetime-value The DateTime value to be modified
modifiers

A String value containing a sequence of one or more codes which define the modifications to apply.  The codes are separated by white-space of any kind (newline, tab, space, etc.).  Each code in the sequence may be one of three types:  a "set" code, a "period" code or an "easter" code.

  • The word "EASTER" is a valid code.  It sets the date to Easter of the year already stored.  The Easter code is not case-sensitive, does not work for years prior to the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, and uses the western/Christian calculation.
  • A "period" code has the same format as the String representation of a DateDiff value.  This format is fully described in the toDateDiff(...) function.
  • A "set" code has a similar format.   It follows the form "S#Y#M#D#O#W#w#E#dT#H#h#A#M#S#m".  A better description is:  "set" codes begin with a capital S followed by zero or more set-date codes optionally followed by a capital T and one or more set-time codes.  Each set-date or set-time code consists of a numeric value followed by a letter-code which indicates what date/time field to set.  For instance, the letter code to set the year is Y.  A full 'set' code for setting the year to 2000 is "S2000Y".  To set the time portion of a DateTime value to exactly midnight you would use the set code "ST0H0M0S0m" which sets the hour-of-day, minute, second and millisecond to zero.  The letter-codes for the other date/time fields are listed in a table below.

 

Letter-Code Date Field    Letter-Code Time Field
Y Year H Hour of Day--0 is midnight and 23 is 11PM.
M Month--0 is January, 11 is December h Hour--0 is either midnight or noon.  11 is either 11AM or 11PM.
D Day of Month--Negative values are counted from the end of the month: -1 is the last day of the month, -2 is next to last, etc. A AM/PM--0 is AM, 1 is PM
O Day of Week In Month--For the second Tuesday of the month this would be set to 2.  Negative values are counted from the end of the month: -1 is the last occurrence of the day of week, -2 is the next to last, etc. M Minute--0 to 59
W Week of Month--The first week of the month ends with the first Saturday.  This works exactly like on a wall calendar:  the first row is the first week, the second row is the second week, etc. S Second--0 to 59
w Week of Year--The first week of the year ends with the first Saturday.  The second week begins the day after the first Saturday and goes to the following Saturday. m Millisecond--0 to 999
E Day of Week--Sunday is 1, Saturday is 7.    
d Day of Year--January 1st is 1.  December 31st is 365, or 366 on leap year.    

 

Examples:

modifier Value Description
"S0M1D" January 1st (New Year's Day)
"S0M3O2E" The third Monday in January (Martin Luther King Day)
"S1M3O2E" The third Monday in February (Washington's Birthday)
"S4M3O7E" The third Saturday in May (Armed Forces Day)
"S4M-1O2E" The last Monday in May (Memorial Day)
"S5M14D" June 14th (Flag Day)
"S6M4D" July 4th (U.S. Independence Day)
"S8M1O2E" The first Monday in September (Labor Day)
"S9M2O2E" The second Monday in October (Columbus Day)
"S10M11D" November 11th (Veterans Day)
"S10M4O5E" The fourth Thursday in November (U.S. Thanksgiving Day)
"S10M4O5E P1D" The day after the fourth Thursday in November (Day after U.S. Thanksgiving)
"S11M25D -P1D" The day before December 25th (Christmas Eve)
"S11M25D" December 25th (Christmas Day)
"S11M-1D" The last day in December (New Year's Eve)
"ST0H0M0S0m" Midnight
"ST11h1A59M59S999m" Last millisecond of the current day
"ST0H0M0S0m -PT0.001S" Last millisecond of the previous day