Format function

Format( expression [,fmt ] )

Formats a string, number or variant data type to a format expression.

Format returns a string.

expression: Expression to be formatted.
fmt: A string of characters that specify how the expression is to displayed. or the name of a commonly-used format that has been predefined in BlueZone Basic. Do not mix different type format expressions in a single fmt parameter.

If the fmt parameter is omitted or is zero-length and the expression parameter is a numeric, Format[$] provides the same functionality as the Str[$] function by converting the numeric value to the appropriate return data type, Positive numbers convert to strings using Format[$] lack the leading space reserved for displaying the sign of the value, whereas those converted using Str[$] retain the leading space.

To format numbers, you can use the commonly-used formats that have been predefined in BlueZone Basic, or you can create user-defined formats with standard characters that have special meaning when used in a format expression.

Table 1 lists the predefined numeric format names.

Table 1: Predefined numeric formats
Format name	Description
General Number	Display the number as is, with no thousand Separators.
Fixed	Display at least one digit to the left and two digits to the right of the decimal separator.
Standard	Display number with thousand separator, if appropriate; display two digits to the right of the decimal separator.
Percent	Display number multiplied by 100 with a percent sign (%) appended to the right’ display two digits to the right of the decimal separator.
Scientific	Use standard scientific notation.
True/False	Display False if number is 0, otherwise display True.

Table 2 shows the characters available to create user-defined number formats.

Table 2: User-defined characters
Character	Meaning
Null string	Display the number with no formatting.
0	Digit placeholder.

Display a digit or a zero: If the number being formatted has fewer digits than there are zeros (on either side of the decimal) in the format expression, leading or trailing zeros are displayed. If the number has more digits to the right of the decimal separator than there are zeros to the right of the decimal separator in the format expression, the number is rounded to as many decimal places as there are zeros. If the number has more digits to left of the decimal separator than there are zeros to the left of the decimal separator in the format expression, the extra digits are displayed without modification.
# Digit placeholder: Displays a digit or nothing. If there is a digit in the expression being formatted in the position where the # appears in the format string, displays it; otherwise, nothing is displayed.
. Decimal placeholder: The decimal placeholder determines how many digits are displayed to the left and right of the decimal separator.
% Percentage placeholder: The percent character (%) is inserted in the position where it appears in the format string. The expression is multiplied by 100.
, Thousand separator: The thousand separator separates thousands from hundreds within a number that has four or more places to the left of the decimal separator.
Use of this separator as specified in the format statement contains a comma surrounded by digit placeholders (0 or #). Two adjacent commas or a comma immediately to the left of the decimal separator (whether or not a decimal is specified) means “scale the number by dividing it by 1000, rounding as needed.”
E-E+e-e+ Scientific format: If the format expression contains at least one digit placeholder (0 or #) to the right of E-,E+,e- or e+, the number is displayed in scientific formatted E or e inserted between the number and its exponent. The number of digit placeholders to the right determines the number of digits in the exponent. Use E- or e- to place a minus sign next to negative exponents. Use E+ or e+ to place a plus sign next to positive exponents.
: Time separator: The actual character used as the time separator depends on the Time Format specified in the International section of the Control Panel.
/ Date separator: The actual character used as the date separator in the formatted out depends on Date Format specified in the International section of the Control Panel.
- + $ ( ) space Display a literal character: To display a character other than one of those listed, precede it with a backslash (\).
\ Display the next character in the format string: The backslash itself isn’t displayed. To display a backslash, use two backslashes (\\).
Examples of characters that can’t be displayed as literal characters are the date- and time- formatting characters (a,c,d,h,m,n,p,q,s,t,w,y, and /:), the numeric -formatting characters (#,0,%,E,e,comma, and period), and the string- formatting characters (@,&,<,>, and !).
“String” Display the string inside the double quotation marks: To include a string in fmt from within BlueZone Basic, you must use the ANSI code for a double quotation mark Chr(34) to enclose the text.
* Display the next character as the fill character: Any empty space in a field is filled with the character following the asterisk.

Unless the fmt argument contains one of the predefined formats, a format expression for numbers can have from one to four sections separated by semicolons.

If you use	The result is
One section only	The format expression applies to all values.
Two	The first section applies to positive values, the second to negative sections values.
Three	The first section applies to positive values, the second to negative sections values, and the third to zeros.
Four	The first section applies to positive values, the second to negative section values, the third to zeros, and the fourth to Null values.

The following example has two sections: the first defines the format for positive values and zeros; the second section defines the format for negative values.

“$#,##0; ($#,##0)”

If you include semicolons with nothing between them. the missing section is printed using the format of the positive value. For example, the following format displays positive and negative values using the format in the first section and displays “Zero” if the value is zero.

“$#,##0;;\Z\e\r\o”

The following table shows sample format expressions for numbers. These examples all assume the Country is set to United States in the International section of the Control Panel. The first column contains the format strings. The other columns contain the output the results if the formatted data has the value given in the column headings.

Table 3: Sample format expressions
Format (fmt)	Positive 3	Negative 3	Decimal .3	Null
Null string	3	-3	0.3
0	3	-3	1
0.00	3.0	-3.00	0.30
#,##0	3	-3	1
#,##0.00;;;Nil	3.0	-3.00	0.30	Nil
$#,##0;($#,##0)	$3	($3)	$1
$#,##0.00;($#,##0.00)	$3.0	($3.00)	$0.30
0%	300%	-300%	30%
0.00%	300.00%	-300.00%	30.00%
0.00E+00	3.00E+00	-3.00E+00	3.00E-01
0.00E-00	3.00E00	-3.00E00	3.00E-01

Numbers can also be used to represent date and time information. You can format date and time serial numbers using date and time formats or number formats because date/time serial numbers are stored as floating-point values.

To format dates and times, you can use either the commonly used format that have been predefined or create user-defined time formats using standard meaning of each:

The following table shows the predefined data format names you can use and the meaning of each.

Table 4: Data format names
Format name	Description
General	Display a date and/or time. For real numbers, display a date and time (for example, 4/3/93 03:34 p.m.); if there is no fractional part, display only a date (for example, 4/3/93); if there is no integer part, display time only (for example, 03:34 p.m.).
Long Date	Display a Long Date, as defined in the International section of the Control Panel.
Medium	Display a date in the same form as the Short Date, as defined in the international section of the Control Panel, except spell out the month abbreviation.
Short Date	Display a Short Date, as defined in the International section of the Control Panel.
Long Time	Display a Long Time, as defined in the International section of the Control panel. Long Time includes hours, minutes, seconds.
Medium Time	Display time in 12-hour format using hours and minuets and the Time AM/PM designator.
Short Time	Display a time using the 24-hour format (for example, 17:45)

The following table shows the characters you can use to create user-defined date/time formats.

Table 5: User-defined date/time format characters
Character	Meaning
c	Display the date as dddd and display the time as ttttt. in the order.
d	Display the day as a number without a leading zero (1-31).
dd	Display the day as a number with a leading zero (01-31).
ddd	Display the day as an abbreviation (Sun-Sat).
ddddd	Display a date serial number as a complete date (including day , month, and year).
w	Display the day of the week as a number (1- 7 ).
ww	Display the week of the year as a number (1-53).
m	Display the month as a number without a leading zero (1-12). If m immediately follows h or hh, the minute rather than the month is displayed.
mm	Display the month as a number with a leading zero (01-12). If mm immediately follows h or hh, the minute rather than the month is displayed.
mmm	Display the month as an abbreviation (Jan-Dec).
mmmm	Display the month as a full month name (January-December).
q	Display the quarter of the year as a number (1-4).
y	Display the day of the year as a number (1-366).
yy	Display the day of the year as a two-digit number (00-99)
yyyy	Display the day of the year as a four-digit number (100-9999).
h	Display the hour as a number without leading zeros (0-23).
hh	Display the hour as a number with leading zeros (00-23).
n	Display the minute as a number without leading zeros (0-59).
nn	Display the minute as a number with leading zeros (00-59).
s	Display the second as a number without leading zeros (0-59).
ss	Display the second as a number with leading zeros (00-59).
ttttt	Display a time serial number as a complete time (including hour, minute, and second) formatted using the time separator defined by the Time Format in the International section of the Control Panel. A leading zero is displayed if the Leading Zero option is selected and the time is before 10:00 A.M. or P.M. The default time format is h:mm:ss.
AM/PM	Use the 12-hour clock and display an uppercase AM/PM
am/pm	Use the 12-hour clock display a lowercase am/pm
A/P	Use the 12-hour clock display a uppercase A/P
a/p	Use the 12-hour clock display a lowercase a/p
AMPM	Use the 12-hour clock and display the contents of the 11:59 string (s1159) in the WIN.INI file with any hour before noon; display the contents of the 2359 string (s2359) with any hour between noon and 11:59 PM. AMPM can be either uppercase or lowercase, but the case of the string displayed matches the string as it exists in the WIN.INI file. The default format is AM/PM.

The following table shows examples of user-defined date and time formats:

Table 6: User-defined date/time formats
Format	Display
m/d/yy	2/26/65
d-mmmm-yy	26-February-65
d-mmmm	26 February
mmmm-yy	February 65
hh:nn	AM/PM 06:45 PM
h:nn:ss a/p	6:45:15 p
h:nn:ss	18:45:15
m/d/yy/h:nn	2/26/65 18:45

Strings can also be formatted with Format[$]. A format expression for strings can have one section or two sections separated by a semicolon.

Table 7: Format expressions for strings sections
If you use	The result is
One section only	The format applies to all string data.
Two sections	The first section applies to string data, the second to Null values and zero-length strings.

The following characters can be used to create a format expression for strings:

Table 8: Characters for string format expressions
Character	Meaning
@	Character placeholder.
	Displays a character or a space. Placeholders are filled from right to left unless there is an ! character in the format string.
&	Character placeholder. Display a character or nothing.
<	Force lowercase.
>	Force uppercase.
!	Force placeholders to fill from left to right instead of right to left.

Example

' Format Function Example
' This example shows various uses of the Format function to format values
' using both named and user-defined formats.  For the date separator (/),
' time separator (:), and AM/ PM literal, the actual formatted output
' displayed by your system depends on the locale settings on which the code
' is running.  When times and dates are displayed in the development
' environment, the short time and short date formats of the code locale
' are used.  When displayed by running code, the short time and short date 
' formats of the system locale are used, which may differ from the code
' locale.  For this example, English/United States is assumed.
' MyTime and MyDate are displayed in the development environment using
' current system short time and short date settings.
 
Sub Main
   MyTime = "08:04:23 PM"
   MyDate = "03/03/07"
   MyDate = "January 27, 2007"
   MsgBox Now
   MsgBox MyTime
   MsgBox Second( MyTime ) & " Seconds"
   MsgBox Minute( MyTime ) & " Minutes"
   MsgBox Hour( MyTime ) & " Hours"
   MsgBox Day( MyDate ) & " Days"
   MsgBox Month( MyDate ) & " Months"
   MsgBox Year( MyDate ) & " Years"
 
   ' Returns current system time in the system-defined long time format.
   MsgBox Format(Time, "Short Time")
   MyStr = Format(Time, "Long Time") 
 
   ' Returns current system date in the system-defined long date format.
   MsgBox Format(Date, "Short Date")
   MsgBox Format(Date, "Long Date") 
   MyStr Format(MyTime, "h:n:s")   ' Returns "17:4:23".
   MyStr Format(MyTime, "hh:nn:ss")   ' Returns "20:04:22 ".
   MyStr Format(MyDate, "dddd, mmm d yyyy")   ' Returns "Wednesday,
                                              ' Jan 27 2007".
 
   ' If format is not supplied, a string is returned.
   MsgBox Format(23)   ' Returns "23".
 
   ' User-defined formats.
   MsgBox Format(5459.4, "##,##0.00")   ' Returns "5,459.40".
   MsgBox Format(334.9, "###0.00")   ' Returns "334.90".
   MsgBox Format(5, "0.00%")   ' Returns "500.00%".
   MsgBox Format("HELLO", "<")   ' Returns "hello".
   MsgBox Format("This is it", ">")   ' Returns "THIS IS IT".
End Sub