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FDATE Version 8.2a August 13, 1993 ====================================================================== AUTHOR: Stephen Ferg 5113 N. 8th Road Arlington, VA 22205-1201 USA telephone (voice, not FAX): (703) 525-2241 CompuServe ID : 73377,1157 ======================================================================= Table of Contents Page numbers in the WordPerfect version of FDATE.DOC (which is not distributed with FDATE) are lost in the conversion to ASCII format. Nevertheless, these page numbers give you a rough idea of the relative locations of the different sections. WHAT IS FDATE?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 OTHER UTILITIES NAMED "FDATE". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 OVERVIEW OF PARAMETERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 OVERVIEW OF FUNCTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 FUNCTIONS: DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 DATE FORMATTING FUNCTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 DATE ARITHMETIC FUNCTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 MONTH DATE ARITHMETIC FUNCTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 WEEKDAY DATE ARITHMETIC FUNCTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 DATE/TIME COMPARISON FUNCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 NUMERIC ARITHMETIC FUNCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 DATE VALIDATION FUNCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 ECHO FUNCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 DATE FORMATS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 SYMBOL CONVENTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 PSEUDODATES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 INPUT DATE FORMATS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 CALENDAR DATE INPUT FORMATS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 BUSINESS JULIAN DATE INPUT FORMATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 GETTING DATE/TIME A FILE WAS CREATED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 OUTPUT DATE FORMATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 DAY-OF-WEEK AND MONTH OUTPUT FORMATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 MISCELLANEOUS OUTPUT FORMATS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 LEAP-YEAR FLAG OUTPUT FORMAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 TIME OUTPUT FORMATS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 BUSINESS JULIAN DATE OUTPUT FORMATS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 ABSOLUTE DATE/TIME OUTPUT FORMATS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 /T: TIME OVERRIDE PARAMETER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 HOW TO PUT FDATE OUTPUT INTO AN ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE. . . . . . . . . 28 CALL A BATCH FILE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 USE AN ENVIRONMENT-MANIPULATION UTILITY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 FDATE'S /V PARAMETER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 /V WHEN USING 4DOS, NDOS, AND UMB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 FDATE'S ERROR HANDLING. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 EXAMPLES OF HOW TO USE FDATE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 :01 Display Fdate output on screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 :02 Redirect FDATE output to a file. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 :03 Put FDATE output in an environment variable using a batch file 32 :04 Put FDATE output in an environment variable using /V parm. . . 32 :05 Put FDATE output in an environment variable using STRINGS. . . 32 :06 Put FDATE output in an environment variable using GET. . . . . 32 :07 Change a date from one format into another . . . . . . . . . . 32 :11 Find the difference in days between two dates. . . . . . . . . 33 :12 Find the elapsed days/hours/minutes between two date/times . . 33 :13 Time the execution of a piece of software. . . . . . . . . . . 35 :15 Find calendar date corresponding to a "business Julian" date . 37 :16 Set your PC's date to a business julian date . . . . . . . . . 38 :18 Determine if parm %1 contains a valid date . . . . . . . . . . 40 :19 "Roll your own" date format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 :20 Find the 4th Thursday in November (Thanksgiving) . . . . . . . 41 :22 On a date, show what anniversary it is for some event. . . . . 41 :23 Show a list of holidays in a given year. . . . . . . . . . . . 41 :24 Show a list of Federal holidays in a given year. . . . . . . . 41 :25 Determine if a year is valid, and evenly divisible by 4. . . . 42 :30 Compare a file's date to today's date. . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 :32 Display a list of all files that were created/updated today. . 43 :33 Delete files more than X days old (use a batch-file subroutine) 44 :34 Loop through an array of environment variables . . . . . . . . 49 :44 Do something on the last day (or last Friday) of the month . . 50 :45 Get information about the month prior to the current month . . 51 :51 Represent a date in a short (4-byte) format (technique #1) . . 52 :52 Represent a date in a short (4-byte) format (technique #2) . . 53 :53 SetXX.BAT (used in the previous example) . . . . . . . . . . . 55 :54 Customize Fdate for a language of your choice. . . . . . . . . 57 :55 Fergian.BAT (used in the previous example) . . . . . . . . . . 58 :61 DO-ONCE: Run apps when booting for the first time of the day . 60 :62a Run specific software, depending on the day of the week . . . 61 :62b Run specific software, depending on the day of the week . . . 62 :63 Run a program at a specified time later in the day . . . . . . 62 :67 Change a file's name to a name that contains today's date. . . 63 :68 Change a file's name to a name containing an absolute minute . 63 HOW FDATE THINKS ABOUT DATES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 FDATE'S BUSINESS VIEW OF THE CALENDAR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 FDATE'S BASE DATE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 FDATE'S LEAP YEAR ALGORITHM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 FDATE'S CENTURY-ASSUMPTION ALGORITHM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 FDATE'S IMPLEMENTATION LIMITS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 DISTRIBUTION ISSUES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 USE, REGISTRATION, AND DISTRIBUTION OF FDATE . . . . . . . . . . . 67 TECHNICAL SUPPORT FOR FDATE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 WHERE TO FIND THE MOST CURRENT VERSION OF FDATE. . . . . . . . . . 68 UPLOADING FDATE TO ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARDS. . . . . . . . . . . 68 DEMONSTRATION BATCH FILES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 CONTENTS OF THE FDATE.ZIP DISTRIBUTION FILE. . . . . . . . . . . . 68 FDATE REVISION HISTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 WHAT IS FDATE? ============== Fdate is a utility for doing date formatting and date arithmetic in DOS batch files. There are a number of different ways to put FDATE's output into environment variables. Once this has been done, the environment variables can be used and manipulated in many ways in the batch file. FDATE is freeware, or what is technically known as "zero-cost shareware". There is no requirement to register FDATE in any way. For more details, see the DISTRIBUTION ISSUES section. Here are some of the things you can do with FDATE. retrieve today's date in a variety of formats place today's date into a file name reformat dates Output formats include common American and European formats, or you can "roll your own" by manipulating environment variables. Month and weekday names can be produced in several languages (English, French, German, Spanish). calculate when certain holidays occur in a given year do date arithmetic determine the date N days before/after a given date compare two dates to determine which is earlier compare two dates to determine how many days apart they are determine if a year is a leap year determine whether a year is evenly divisible by some number determine what day of the week a date falls on run certain software only on certain days of the week retrieve the date/time from the date/timestamp of a file do simple integer arithmetic (add, subtract, modulus) calculate the time a piece of software takes to run convert a calendar date to/from a "business julian" date OTHER UTILITIES NAMED "FDATE" ============================= I recently learned that there is another shareware utility named FDATE in circulation. It is an implementation of the UNIX "touch" utility, and is used to change the date/time stamp of a file. Both FDATEs have been in circulation for too long to make it practical to change the name of either one. All that can be done is to warn you of a potentially confusing situation. OVERVIEW OF PARAMETERS ====================== FDATE accepts the following parameters: /F /A /B /I /O /P /S /N /D /L /V /T The only parameter that FDATE requires is the function parameter: /F. If the /F parameter is not present, FDATE displays a help screen. If you get FDATE's help screen when you don't expect it, you probably forgot to specify the /F parameter or mistyped it. Parameters can be in any order and upper or lower case. Note that although function and format parms are not case sensitive, they are "text sensitive". If any characters are missing, added, or mistyped, the parameter will be rejected. Parameters -- other than /F -- that are required depend on the function requested with the /F parameter. Unnecessary parameters are simply ignored. The next page contains a brief description of what each of the parameters means. /F requests a particular FDATE function. This is Fdate's most important parameter. See the OVERVIEW OF FUNCTIONS section, and the detailed description of each Fdate function. /N number of days (always a number) /D day-of-week number (used only with W function) /A /B For date functions, these two parameters are used to specify dates. For the ordinary arithmetic functions, these parameters are used to specify numbers. For date functions, if either of these parameters is omitted, it defaults to today's date. /T For date functions, /T overrides the time portion of the date on the /A parm. (Note that it does NOT override the time portion of the date on the /B parm.) /I specifies format of input date(s) If the /I parameter is omitted, /Imm-dd-ccyy is assumed. /O specifies format of output date If the /O parameter is omitted, /Od1 is assumed. /L specifies language of output. /Lus US (American) English-language output /Lfr French-language output /Lgr German-language output /Lsp Spanish-language output If the /L parameter is omitted, /Lus [American English] is assumed. /V specifies that output is to be placed in an environment variable rather than written to standard output. If /V is specified but not followed by the name of an environment variable, then /Vfdate is assumed, and output is placed in the FDATE environment variable. /P specifies a prefix string for the output /S specifies a suffix string for the output These optional parameters may always be specified or omitted. They must be enclosed in single quotes, double quotes, or square brackets Note that "whitespace" will be removed from these strings, so formatting of /P and /S strings cannot be controlled using spaces. To format strings, use periods or ASCII 255 (hex'ff') as filler. EXAMPLES FDATE /Ff /P"Today is " FDATE /Fdif /B12-25-TTTT /P"It is " /S" days until Christmas" OVERVIEW OF FUNCTIONS ===================== Fdate's most important parameter, and the only one for which there is no default value, is the function parameter, /F. Here is a brief summary of the functions that may be specified on the /F parm, for example: /Fadd. Detailed descriptions of each of the functions can be found on the next few pages. f Format the date in the /A parm into the format specified in the /O parm add Add the number of days in the /N parm to the date in the /A parm sub Subtract the number of days in the /N parm from the date in the /A parm m Monthly arithmetic. Add the number of months in the /N parm to the date in the /A parm. /N may be a negative number. dif Return the number of days between dates in the /A and /B parms w Do date arithmetic in terms of weeks rather than days. Using the date in the /A parm, a number specified in the /N parm, and a day-of-the-week number specified in the /D parm, return the date of the /Nth /Day-of-the-week before (or after) /Adate. e Echo the strings on the /P and /S parameters. DATE/TIME COMPARISON FUNCTIONS comp Compare the dates in the /A and /B parms. Return LT, EQ, or GT. tcomp Compare the times specified on the /A and /B parms. ORDINARY (AS OPPOSED TO DATE) ARITHMETIC FUNCTIONS Functions whose names begin with "#" do ordinary arithmetic, i.e. arithmetic on numbers rather than dates. #add Add the integers specified on the /A and /B parms. To do subtraction, add a negative number to a positive number. #dif returns the difference between the integers specified on the /A and /B parms. #comp Compare the integers specified on the /A and /B parms. Return LT, EQ, or GT. #mod Modulus. Divide the integer on the /A parm by the integer on the /B parm, and return the remainder. #mult Multiply the integer on the /A parm by the integer on the /B parm, and return the result. #div Divide the integer on the /A parm by the integer on the /B parm, and return the result as a decimal number with two decimal places. #idiv Integer division. Divide the integer on the /A parm by the integer on the /B parm, and return the result as an integer. FUNCTIONS: DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS ================================ DATE FORMATTING FUNCTIONS ========================= FUNCTION FDATE /Ffunc /Adate /Iformat /Oformat -------- ------------------------------------------- format this is a synonym for function "f" f returns /Adate in format specified by /Oformat Since /Aformat and /Oformat can be different, the FORMAT function is used to change a date from one format to another. Because of the wide variety of output formats, the FORMAT function can also be used to determine the day of week of the date, whether the date is in a normal or leap year, etc. EXAMPLES FDATE /Ff /A19920101 /Iccyymmdd /O"mn zd, ccyy" FDATE /Ff /Atoday /Od1 FDATE /Fformat /Atoday /Od1 FDATE /Ff /If /Afdate.exe /P"FDATE.EXE last updated: " /Ofull DATE ARITHMETIC FUNCTIONS ========================= Internally, numbers in Fdate are stored in Turbo Pascal's LONGINT datatype, which means that Fdate can accept numbers up to 9 digits long. FUNCTION FDATE /Ffunc /Nnumdays /Adate /Iformat /Oformat -------- ------------------------------------------- add Adds /Ndays to /Adate, produces date in /Oformat format sub Subtracts /Ndays from /Adate, produces date in /Oformat format EXAMPLES FDATE /Fadd /N90 /A01-01-1992 /Imm-dd-ccyy /Od1 FDATE /Fsub /N90 /A01-01-1992 /Imm-dd-ccyy /Od1 FDATE /Fadd /N90 /Atoday /Od1 dif Returns number of days between /Adate and /Bdate Order of the two dates is not significant. NOTE THAT: For DIF, both dates must be in the SAME format, the input format specified in /Iformat. If the two dates are not in the same format, you must first reformat one of the dates using the /Ff function, then use DIF to get their difference. EXAMPLES FDATE /Fdif /A01-01-1992 /B11-11-1992 /Imm-dd-ccyy FDATE /Fdif /A11-11-1992 /B01-01-1992 /Imm-dd-ccyy FDATE /Fdif /Atoday /B01-01-1992 /Imm-dd-ccyy MONTH DATE ARITHMETIC FUNCTIONS =============================== FUNCTION FDATE /Ffunc /Nnumdays /Adate /Iformat /Oformat -------- ------------------------------------------- m Adds /N months to /Adate, produces date in /Oformat format. This function can also be used to do monthly subtraction by making the number in the /N parameter a negative number. EXAMPLES FDATE /Fm /N1 /A03-15-1992 /Imm-dd-ccyy /Omm-dd-ccyy produces: 04-15-1992 FDATE /Fm /N-1 /A03-30-1991 /Imm-dd-ccyy /Omm-dd-ccyy produces: 02-28-1991 FDATE /Fm /N-1 /A03-30-1992 /Imm-dd-ccyy /Omm-dd-ccyy produces: 02-29-1992 Note that a too-simple algorithm for month arithmetic can produce non-existent dates. Subtracting a month from March 30, 1991 (as in the second example) could produce a result of February 30, 1991, a date which cannot exist. Fdate's month arithmetic is more sophisticated than that. If Fdate finds that a simple month-arithmetic operation produces an invalid date, it subtracts the minimum number of days required to produce a valid date. Thus, in the second example, it produces February 28, 1991, the last date in February, 1991. In the third example, it produces February 29, 1992 because 1992 is a leap year. Note that telling Fdate to add 12 months to February 29, 1992 produces a result of February 28, 1993, since 1993 is not a leap year. See Peter G. Neumann's INSIDE RISKS column in COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM, June 1992 (Vol. 35, No. 6), entitled "Leap-Year Problems": Prime Computer's MAGSAV failed at midnight [on Feb 29, 1992]... G. M. Lack noted that MAGSAV probably failed on leap-day because it tried to increment the year by one to set a tape label expiration date, and the resulting nonexistent date of Feb 29, 1993 threw it for a loop. WEEKDAY DATE ARITHMETIC FUNCTIONS ================================= FUNCTION FDATE /Ffunc /Adate /Iformat /Oformat /Ddow# /Ndow-count -------- ----------------------------------------------------------- w This function provides a way of doing date arithmetic in terms of weeks rather than days. This function accepts a date specification in parm /A and returns the date of the /Nth /Day-of-the-week before or after /Adate. For example: If /A specifies November 14, 1992 /D specifies the number for Thursday (i.e., 5) /N specifies a week count of 3 then /Fw returns the date of the third Thursday after November 14, 1992. (See full example, below) Note that /N may be negative. If, in the above example, /N is specified as -3, then Fdate returns the date of the third Thursday BEFORE November 14, 1992. If the date specified on the /A parms falls on the same day of the week as was specified on the /D parm, then that will be considered to be the first date meeting that day-of-week criterion. That is, if November 14, 1992 fell on a Thursday, and if /N was 1 or -1, then the output date would be the same as the input date, i.e. November 14, 1992. The acceptable values for /N (number of weeks) is in the range of 99..-99. A value of zero (i.e. /N0) is invalid. EXAMPLES find date of Thanksgiving (4th Thursday in November) in 1992 FDATE /Fw /A11-01-1992 /Imm-dd-ccyy /D5 /N4 /Od1 returns: Thursday November 26, 1992 find the beginning of the work-week (Monday, 2nd day of week) AFTER Thanksgiving, 1992 FDATE /Fw /A11-26-1992 /Imm-dd-ccyy /D2 /N1 /Od1 find the beginning of the work-week (Monday, 2nd day of week) BEFORE Thanksgiving, 1992 FDATE /Fw /A11-26-1992 /Imm-dd-ccyy /D2 /N-1 /Od1 get last Friday's date rem Find next Friday's date (or today's date, if today is Friday). rem Then find the Friday that precedes that Friday. FDATE /Fw /At /Omm-dd-ccyy /D6 /N+1 /VGET FDATE /Fw /A%GET% /Imm-dd-ccyy /D6 /N-2 /VGET Echo Last Friday was %GET% DATE/TIME COMPARISON FUNCTIONS ============================== FUNCTION FDATE /Ffunc /Adate /Bdate /Iformat -------- ------------------------------------------- comp compares the dates (time granularity = 1 day) specified on the /A and /B parms. returns when LT /A is less than (earlier than) /B EQ /A is equal to (same as) /B GT /A is greater than (later than) /B tcomp compares the times (time granularity = 1 second) specified on the /A and /B parms. This is useful when input format /If (file) is specified. It can be used to compare the timestamps of two files and determine which is older. EXAMPLE: Fdate /Ftcomp /If /Amyfile.1 /Byourfile.1 returns when LT /A is less than (earlier than) /B EQ /A is equal to (same as) /B GT /A is greater than (later than) /B NUMERIC ARITHMETIC FUNCTIONS ============================ Note that all of Fdate's arithmetic functions operate on integers. A decimal number on an input parameter will be rejected, and an error message will be displayed. FUNCTION FDATE /Ffunc /Anum /Bnum -------- ------------------------------------------- #add returns the sum of the integers specified on the /A and /B parms. Can be used to calculate the "absolute" minute(second, date) in the future from a given "absolute" minute(second, date). Also useful in generating sequences of numbers and looping (see EXAMPLES). #sub (not supported) Fdate does not provide a numeric subtraction operation as such. To do subtraction, add two numbers, one of which is a negative number. For example, to subtract 3 from 2: FDATE /F#add /A2 /B-3 [ returns: -1 ] #dif returns the difference between the integers specified on the /A and /B parms. #dif is the same as subtraction in which the smaller number is subtracted from the larger number; it will never return a negative number. It can be used to calculate the number of minutes(seconds, days) between two "Absolute" minutes(seconds, dates). #comp compares the integers specified on the /A and /B parms. returns when LT /A is less than /B EQ /A is equal to /B GT /A is greater than /B #mod divides the integer on the /A parm by the integer on the /B parm, and returns the remainder. This is useful for determining whether a number is evenly divisible by some other number. If the remainder is 0, then /A is evenly divisible by /B. If a year is evenly divisible by 4, for example, then it is an American election year. If it is evenly divisible by 100, then it is a century year, etc. #mult multiplies the integer on the /A parm by the integer on the /B parm, and returns the result. #div (division) divides the integer on the /A parm by the integer on the /B parm, and returns the result as a decimal number, with two digits to the right of the decimal. This is useful for dividing a number (representing the number of minutes in some period) by 60 to get the length of the period expressed in terms of hours, or by 1440 to get the length of the period expressed in terms of days. Or you could divide a number of days by 7 to get the number of weeks, etc. #idiv (integer division) divides the integer on the /A parm by the integer on the /B parm, and returns the result as an integer. This is useful, especially in conjunction with the #mod function, for converting a number of minutes into a number of hours and minutes, or days and hours and minutes. See the EXAMPLES section, below. DATE VALIDATION FUNCTION ======================== v If the date specified on the /A parm is valid, produces "" (the null string). Otherwise, produces "ERROR" and a non-zero errorlevel by triggering Fdate's error-handling function. (See the section on FDATE'S ERROR HANDLING, later in this documentation.) When processing an input date, Fdate does not reject all invalid dates: specifically, it is very forgiving about the number in the day- of-the-month part of input dates. It will accept, for example, 19931144 (November 44, 1993 in CCYYMMDD format) and process it quite happily (as December 14, 1993). This is not a bug, it is a feature. This feature provides one way (admittedly a crude one) of doing date arithmetic. The date part (JJJ) of a Business Julian input date can be used in the same way. This feature can be a drawback, however, if you want to be sure that some date (say a date that a user entered as an input parameter) is valid. The /Fv function provides a way of completely checking a date for validity. It will, for example, reject November 44, 1993 as invalid. ECHO FUNCTION ============= e Produces only the strings specified using the /P and /S parameters. You can use /Fe for situations in which you want Fdate to produce output that doesn't include any sort of date. In these cases, Fdate functions just like the DOS "echo" command. The real use for /Fe is in conjunction with /V, where it can be used to manipulate the environment in ways that DOS's SET command cannot: (1) to give a value to an environment variable that it would not accept from the SET command (e.g. a value that contained "="). (2) to redirect or pipe a character-string that contains a redirection symbol ">" or pipe symbol "|". This feature is for real batch-file power users. EXAMPLE BATCH FILE ------------------ @ECHO OFF set pct=%%% Fdate /Fe /P"=Sam=" /vName Fdate /Fe /P"echo ECHO Hi, %pct%Name%pct%!>junk2.bat">junk1.bat : RESULT: TEXT OF JUNK1.BAT IS : echo ECHO Hi, %Name%!>junk2.bat call junk1.bat : RESULT: TEXT OF JUNK2.BAT IS : ECHO Hi, =Sam=! call junk2.bat : RESULT: TEXT DISPLAYED ON SCREEN IS : Hi, =Sam=! :endit DATE FORMATS ============ SYMBOL CONVENTIONS ================== The following symbols are used in specifying date formats: SYMBOL EXAMPLE MEANING ------ ------- ------------------------------------- cc 19 century yy 93 year mm 02 month zm 2 month without leading zero dd 08 day zd 8 day without leading zero mn February month name mn3 Feb month name, first 3 characters only dow Tuesday day of week dow3 Tue day of week, first 3 characters only dow# 3 day of week as a number (Sunday=1, Monday = 2, etc.) today is a "pseudodate" representing the current date t is an alias for the "today" pseudodate hh:mm 09:05 hours and minutes hhmm 0905 hours and minutes ss 13 seconds PSEUDODATES =========== t (or today) can be used with either /A or /B, e.g. /Atoday or /At. This is the default for both /A and /B. That is, if /A is not specified, /At is assumed, and the same for /B. NOTE THAT "Today" as a date specification operates independently of any input format. You need to specify an input format (either explicitly via the /I parameter, or implicitly by accepting the default value of /I) only for input dates that are supplied to Fdate in some other way than via the "today" pseudodate: as a date literal, a filename, etc. EXAMPLES: rem Get the date that is 90 days from today FDATE /Fadd /N90 /Atoday /Omm-dd-ccyy FDATE /Fadd /N90 /At /Omm-dd-ccyy rem determine if this year is a leapyear FDATE /Ff /At /OLY tttt When used in place of a 4-digit CCYY string, "tttt" will cause Fdate to use today's 4-digit year (CCYY). tt When used in place of a 2-digit DD, MM, or YY string, "tt" will cause Fdate to use today's day-of-the-month, month, or 2-digit year, respectively. Note that "tt" can NOT be used for the YY portion of a CCYY input year. The following, for example, is NOT valid: FDATE /Ff /Imm-dd-ccyy /A01-01-19tt /Od1 EXAMPLES: FDATE /Ff /Imm-dd-ccyy /A01-01-tttt FDATE /Ff /Imm-dd-yy /A01-01-tt rem report the 15th day of this month, this year FDATE /Ff /Imm-dd-ccyy /Att-15-tttt rem Show the first Monday in the second quarter of this year FDATE /Fw /Iccyymmdd /Atttt0401 /D2 /N1 /P"First Monday in QTR#2: " rem Show the last Friday on/before the 15th of this month. FDATE /Fw /Iccyymmdd /Atttttt15 /D6 /N-1 /P"Friday before the 15th: " INPUT DATE FORMATS ================== CALENDAR DATE INPUT FORMATS =========================== FORMAT EXAMPLES DISCUSSION ------ --------- ----------------------------- ccyymmdd 19922002 On the /I (input format) parm, the separator character of the following input formats must be a dash. This simply tells Fdate that the input date will contain SOME separator character. The separator character that actually occurs in dates in the /A and /B parms is ignored, and may be any non-numeric character: a slash "/", a dash "-", a dot ".", etc. In specifications that begin with "mm-dd" or "dd-mm", leading zeros need not be present in the "mm" and "dd" part of the date. ccyy-mm-dd 1992-02-20 Leading zeros MUST be present, since the 1992/02/20 date does not begin with dd-mm or mm-dd. 1992.02.20 mm-dd-ccyy 02-20-1992 02/20/1992 The dash represents ANY non-numeric character. 2-5-1992 Leading zeros need not be present. 2/5/1992 mm-dd-yy 02-05-92 February 5, 1992. See discussion of 2/5/92 FDATE'S CENTURY ASSUMPTION ALGORITHM, below --------------------------------------- In the following formats, days precede months (European style) --------------------------------------- dd-mm-ccyy 05-02-1992 05/02/1992 5-2-1992 Leading zeros need not be present. 5/2/1992 dd-mm-yy 05-02-92 February 5, 1992. See discussion of 5/2/92 FDATE'S CENTURY ASSUMPTION ALGORITHM, below BUSINESS JULIAN DATE INPUT FORMATS ================================== These are formats for "business julian" dates: dates expressed as the number of days from the beginning of the year, when January 1 is day 1. EXAMPLES: date BUSINESS JULIAN DATE ----------- -------------------- Jan 5, 1992 92005 Jan 5, 1993 93005 Dec 31, 1993 93365 [Dec 31 is 365th day of year 1993] Dec 31, 1996 96366 [Dec 31 is 366th day, because 1996 is a leap year] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: * JJJ can be 1 - 4 digits * may include a prefix of a plus or minus ( + or - ) sign ----------------------------------------------------------------------- FORMAT EXAMPLES DISCUSSION ------ --------- ----------------------------- ccyyjjj 1992003 Third day of 1992, i.e. Jan 3, 1992 19923 Third day of 1992 tttt003 Third day of this year tttt3 Third day of this year yyjjj 92003 Third day of 1992 923 Third day of 1992 tt003 Third day of this year tt3 Third day of this year 01003 Third day of 2001 See FDATE'S CENTURY ASSUMPTION ALGORITHM, below NOTE THAT FDATE WILL ACCEPT "JJJ" OF LESS THAN 1 & MORE THAN 366. ----------------------------------------------------------------- yyjjj tt1000 the 1000th day from beginning of this year tt0 last day of last year tt-1 next-to-last day of last year FDATE /Ff /Iccyyjjj /Od1 /A1992-1 produces... Monday December 30, 1991 FDATE /Ff /Iccyyjjj /Od1 /A19920 produces... Tuesday December 31, 1991 FDATE /Ff /Iccyyjjj /Od1 /A1992+1 produces... Wednesday January 1, 1992 FDATE /Ff /Iccyyjjj /Od1 /A1992366 produces... Thursday December 31, 1992 FDATE /Ff /Iccyyjjj /Od1 /A1992367 produces... Friday January 1, 1993 This feature allows limited date arithmetic with ordinary business Julian days. For example, 90 days from tt300 can be shown by: FDATE /Ff /Iyyjjj /Att390 GETTING DATE/TIME A FILE WAS CREATED ==================================== FORMAT EXAMPLES DISCUSSION ------ --------- ----------------------------- f MYFILE.1 Input format F (file) tells Fdate that /A and /B will specify filenames, and that Fdate should pick up the input date and time from the date/time stamp on a file. Note that if you specify /If, then both /A and /B will be interpreted as filenames. It is not possible to put a filename in /A and a date literal in /B, and then use the "comp" or "dif" function to compare them. You must first extract the file's date into an environment variable, and then compare that environment variable to the date literal. The only exception to this rule is the pseudodate "t" (i.e. /At or /Bt) which will pick up the current date and time from the system clock. This feature will allow you, for example, to compare the date of a file to today's date (see EXAMPLES). A filename may (but need not) be fully qualified: i.e. "MYFILE.1" and "C:\DBASE\WORKDIR\MYFILE.1" are both acceptable. A filename may contain wildcards. If it does, the date/time stamp will be retrieved from the first file that FDATE finds that meets the filespec. Giving FDATE a filespec containing a wildcard is pretty useless, but FDATE will not reject it. OUTPUT DATE FORMATS =================== FORMAT EXAMPLES DISCUSSION ------ --------- ----------------------------- dd-mn3-yy 08-Feb-92 CompuServe-style date yy 93 2-digit year number ccyy 1993 4-digit year number (includes century) ccyymm 199302 useful for triggering monthly processing ccyymmdd 19930208 useful for putting current date in filename yymmdd 908208 useful for putting current date in filename mmdd 0208 mm 02 2-digit month number zm 2 month number, no leading zeros dd 08 2-digit day-of-month number zd 8 day-of-month number, no leading zeros In the following formats, months precede days (American style) ------------------------------------------------------------------ mm/dd/ccyy 02/08/1993 mm-dd-ccyy 02-08-1993 mm.dd.ccyy 02.08.1993 British-style dates zm/zd/ccyy 2/8/1993 no leading zeros in day or month zm-zd-ccyy 2-8-1993 no leading zeros in day or month zm.zd.ccyy 2.8.1993 British-style dates mm/dd/yy 02/08/92 mm-dd-yy 02-08-92 mm.dd.yy 02.08.92 British-style dates zm/zd/yy 2/8/92 no leading zeros in day or month zm-zd-yy 2-8-92 no leading zeros in day or month zm.zd.yy 2.8.92 no leading zeros in day or month In the following formats, days precede months (European style) ------------------------------------------------------------------ dd/mm/ccyy 02/08/1993 dd-mm-ccyy 02-08-1993 dd.mm.ccyy 02.08.1993 British-style dates zd/zm/ccyy 2/8/1993 no leading zeros in day or month zd-zm-ccyy 2-8-1993 no leading zeros in day or month zd.zm.ccyy 2.8.1993 British-style dates dd/mm/yy 02/08/92 dd-mm-yy 02-08-92 dd.mm.yy 02.08.92 British-style dates zd/zm/yy 2/8/92 no leading zeros in day or month zd-zm-yy 2-8-92 no leading zeros in day or month zd.zm.yy 2.8.92 British-style dates DAY-OF-WEEK AND MONTH OUTPUT FORMATS ==================================== dow# 5 Sunday=1, Monday=2 .... Saturday=7. dow Thursday name of day of week jeudi if /Lfr specified Donnerstag if /Lgr specified dow3 Thu first 3 characters of name of day of week jeu if /Lfr specified Don if /Lgr specified mn February name of month fevrier if /Lfr specified Februar if /Lgr specified mn3 Feb first 3 characters of name of month fev if /Lfr specified Feb if /Lgr specified MISCELLANEOUS OUTPUT FORMATS ============================ full 9:05 pm on Wednesday February 5, 1992 9:05 pm, mercredi le 5 fevrier 1992 [/Lfr specified] 9:05 pm, miércoles el 5 de febrero de 1992 [/Lsp specified] Mittwoch, 5. Februar 1992, 21:05 [/Lgr specified] d1 Saturday, February 5, 1992 samedi le 5 fevrier 1992 [/Lfr specified] Mittwoch, 5. Februar 1992 [/Lgr specified] ddmn3yy 05Feb92 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE that the following formats contain embedded spaces. Consequently they must be enclosed in double quotes. EXAMPLE: /O"mn zd, ccyy". ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "zd mn ccyy" 5 February 1992 "zd mn, ccyy" 5 February, 1992 "zd. mn ccyy" 5. February 1992 [German-style date format] "zd. mn3 ccyy" 5. Feb 1992 [German-style date format] "mn3 dd ccyy" Feb 05 1992 "mn3 dd, ccyy" Feb 05, 1992 "mn zd, ccyy" February 5, 1992 LEAP-YEAR FLAG OUTPUT FORMAT ============================ LY 0 "1" if date occurs in a leapyear, otherwise "0". 365 + this number gives total number of days in the year. 28 + this number gives total number of days in February. TIME OUTPUT FORMATS =================== See also: the section on the /T (parm /A time override) parameter. t1 9:05 am 9:05 pm HH:MM 09:05 24-hour time, hours:minutes 21:05 HHMM 0905 2105 HH:MM:SS 21:05:30 24-hour time, hours:minutes:seconds HHMMSS 210530 BUSINESS JULIAN DATE OUTPUT FORMATS =================================== These are formats for "business julian" dates: dates expressed as the number of days from the beginning of the year, when January 1 is day 1. EXAMPLES: DATE BUSINESS JULIAN DATE ----------- -------------------- Jan 5, 1993 93005 Dec 31, 1993 93365 [Dec 31 is 365th day of year 1993] Dec 31, 1996 96366 [Dec 31 is 366th day, because 1996 is a leap year] FORMAT EXAMPLES DISCUSSION ------ --------- ----------------------------- ccyyjjj 1992027 Jan 27, 1992 yyjjj 92027 "Business Julian" date expressed as number jjj 027 of days since January 1 of the same year. zzj 27 Note leading zero suppression in "zzj". ABSOLUTE DATE/TIME OUTPUT FORMATS ================================= See also: the section on the /T (parm /A time override) parameter. day# 727198 "Absolute date": date expressed as number of days since January 1, 0001. minute# 33088 "Absolute minutes": time expressed as number of minutes since midnight, January 1, 1990. second# 633088 "Absolute seconds": time expressed as number of seconds since midnight, January 1, 1990. Running FDATE with /O parameter for an "absolute time" produces a number based on the current time of day and the date in the /A parm. If, on January 10, 1992 at 2 pm, you run FDATE this way: FDATE /Ff /Atoday /Ominute# it will produce the absolute minute for January 10, 1992 at 2 pm. If, on January 10, 1992 at 2 pm, you run FDATE this way: FDATE /Ff /A01-15-1992 /Imm-dd-ccyy /Ominute# it will produce the absolute minute for January 15, 1992 at 2 pm. /T: TIME OVERRIDE PARAMETER =============================== You may override Fdate's use of the current time -- for the /A parameter only -- by using the /T parameter. The /T parameter specifies a time of day in the 24-hour format hh:mm:ss (hours:minutes:seconds). Leading zeros in each of the three fields (hh, mm, ss) may be omitted. The seconds field may be omitted; if omitted, it defaults to "00". Note that the /T parm overrides the time portion of the /A date, but it does NOT override the time portion of the /B date. If, on January 10, 1992 at 2 pm, you run FDATE this way: FDATE /Ff /A01-15-1992 /Imm-dd-ccyy /Ominute# /T5:12 it will produce the absolute minute for January 15, 1992 at 5:12 am. The most frequent and important use of the /T parm is with the format function (/Ff) to obtain the "absolute" minute of a specific date and time. Once we have the absolute minutes of two different date/times, we can easily obtain the time between them (expressed in days, hours, and minutes) by using Fdate's #dif, #idiv, and #mod functions. (In the EXAMPLES section, see the example that contains FORATIME.BAT.) It is also possible to use /T in conjunction with the time compare function (/Ftcomp). @echo ON cls rem Since both /A and /B default to the current date and time, rem and since /T parm overrides the time only for the /A parm ... rem ... during daytime hours, this will always return LT Fdate /ftcomp /T00:00:00 rem ... during daytime hours, this will always return GT Fdate /ftcomp /T23:59:59 HOW TO PUT FDATE OUTPUT INTO AN ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE ==================================================== CALL A BATCH FILE ================= The most basic way to put FDATE's output into an environment variable is to: * use the /P (prefix string) feature to create a DOS "SET" statement, * redirect the output to a batch file, and then * CALL the batch file. Since CALL first appeared in DOS 3.3, you will need DOS 3.3 or greater to use this technique. FDATE /Ff /Atoday /O"mn zd, ccyy" /P"@SET FDATE=" >JUNKTEMP.BAT call JUNKTEMP.BAT del JUNKTEMP.BAT USE AN ENVIRONMENT-MANIPULATION UTILITY ======================================= There are shareware and public domain utilities that are written specifically to manipulate environment variables, and do that job very well. FDATE's output can be put into an environment variable by piping it to one of these utilities. When piping FDATE output to a utility, you can prevent the output from being ECHOed to the screen by redirecting the output to NUL. Of these utilities, I can especially recommend Bob Stephan's GET (because it is very powerful and flexible) and PC Magazine's STRINGS (because it is free to ZiffNet members). See the EXAMPLES section for examples of how to use STRINGS and GET to put FDATE's output into an environment variable. As of February 14, 1992, the current version of GET is 2.5. On CompuServe, use IBMFF to look for GET*.ZIP (e.g. GET25.ZIP for version 2.5) in CIS:IBMSYS, or for GET.ZIP in ZNT:UTILFORUM, lib 16. GET is also available from the Public Software Library in Houston. As of February 14, 1992, the current version of STRINGS is 1.3. On CompuServe, look for STRING.ZIP in the PC Magazine Utilities Lib of ZNT:UTILFORUM. STRHYP.ZIP contains good hypertext documentation on STRINGS. FDATE'S /V PARAMETER ==================== Manipulating the environment is an incredibly tricky business. There are questions of the local versus master environment, the version of DOS you are running, and the environment under which you are running (DOS, Windows, Carousel). In order to keep FDATE focussed on date-related issues, versions of Fdate prior to 6.1 did not attempt to put output directly into an environment variable. Instead, FDATE's output was written to standard output, that is, it was displayed on the screen. Output could then be redirected to a batch file, or piped to a utility (such as STRINGS or GET), that would put the output into an environment variable. Starting with version 6.1, Fdate supports a /V (environment variable) parameter. A user can use /V to tell Fdate to put its output directly into an environment variable. (Fdate attempts to put output into an environment variable in the master, rather than the local, environment.) NOTE that due to the complexities of manipulating the environment, there may be circumstances where /V doesn't work. These include running FDATE when you have shelled out to DOS from another program, have put the command processor in upper memory (UMB) (see below), are running under Windows, Carousel, etc. In such cases, you may be able to use one of the more basic techniques described above. For a list of environments in which the /V option has been reported as NOT working, see the next section. /Vevar tells Fdate to put output into an environmental variable whose name is "evar". For example: Fdate /Ff /Vdate1 will set the environment variable DATE1 to the current date. If you type SET at the DOS prompt, you should see something like: DATE1=Friday February 14, 1992 If you specify /V without an evar name, the evar name defaults to FDATE. Example : Fdate /Ff /V produces: FDATE=Friday February 14, 1992 If you do not use /V, Fdate output is written to standard output, i.e. to the screen. /V WHEN USING 4DOS, NDOS, AND UMB ================================= -------------------------------------------------------------- I have received the following report from Aran Spence about circumstances in which FDATE /V will not set a variable in the master environment. This report leads me to believe that FDATE /V may also fail to work with MS-DOS if you put the command processor or the environment in Upper Memory. -------------------------------------------------------------- Steve, There are options with 4DOS and NDOS to load the environment and part of the command processor into upper memory blocks. When one of these options is used, FDATE /V can't find the environment and produces the message: ERROR echo ERROR: Master environment not found pause If you have a 4DOS.INI file, it has to contain these lines for FDATE /V to work: UMBEnvironment = No UMBLoad = No If you have NDOS, the SHELL statement in CONFIG.SYS cannot contain any reference to UMB loading via /U (which puts NDOS.COM in UMB), nor can it contain a statement of the form: /E:xxxU (which puts xxx bytes of the environment in UMB via the "U" parameter). Also, NSTART.BTM or 4START.BTM cannot contain SET NDSHELL=/e+xxxU /U in which both U's represent UMB loading of the command processor and the environment during secondary shells. FDATE'S ERROR HANDLING ====================== If FDATE detects an error: (1) it will return an errorlevel of 1 (rather than 0), and (2) its output will be 3 lines: * the word ERROR * a DOS batch-file ECHO statement that displays an error message * a DOS batch-file PAUSE statement If Fdate output is displayed directly, or redirected to NUL, you can detect an error by testing the errorlevel for a value of 1. If Fdate output is piped to an environment manipulation utility such as STRINGS or GET, the environment variable will be set to ERROR. Errorlevel will be set by STRINGS/GET, and will probably be 0. In such a case, the only way to detect an error is to test the environment variable for the value ERROR. If FDATE output is redirected to a batch file, which is then CALLed to set an environment variable, the batch file will: * set the environment variable to ERROR, * ECHO the error message, and * pause. You can detect an error by testing errorlevel for the value 1 either before or after you CALL the batch file, or by testing the environment variable for the value ERROR, AFTER you have CALLed the batch file. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EXAMPLE: rem use FDATE to check validity of year in parm %1 Fdate /Fv /Imm-dd-ccyy /ATT-TT-%1 > nul if errorlevel 1 echo Year parm [%1] is not valid. if errorlevel 1 goto endit EXAMPLE: rem use FDATE to validate %1, and GET to put it into %year% Fdate /Ff /Imm-dd-ccyy /ATT-TT-%1 /Occyy | GET ZE /V%year% >nul if (%year%)==(ERROR) echo Year parm [%1] is not valid. if (%year%)==(ERROR) goto endit EXAMPLE: rem use FDATE to validate %1, call a batch file to put it into %year% Fdate /Ff /Imm-dd-ccyy /ATT-TT-%1 /Occyy /P"@set year=">junktemp.bat call junktemp.bat del junktemp.bat if errorlevel 1 echo Year parm [%1] is not valid. if errorlevel 1 goto endit EXAMPLES OF HOW TO USE FDATE ============================ :01 Display Fdate output on screen :================================================================== FDATE /Ff /At /Od1 /P"Today is " :02 Redirect FDATE output to a file :================================================================== FDATE /Ff /At /Od1 /P"Today is " >FDATE.OUT :03 Put FDATE output in an environment variable using a batch file :================================================================== FDATE /Ff /Atoday /O"mn zd, ccyy" /P"@SET DATE1=" >JUNKTEMP.BAT call JUNKTEMP.BAT del JUNKTEMP.BAT :04 Put FDATE output in an environment variable using /V parm :================================================================== FDATE /Ff /Atoday /O"mn zd, ccyy" /Vdate1 :05 Put FDATE output in an environment variable using STRINGS :================================================================== FDATE /Ff /Atoday /O"mn zd, ccyy" |STRINGS date1= ASK >NUL :06 Put FDATE output in an environment variable using GET :================================================================== FDATE /Ff /Atoday /O"mn zd, ccyy" |GET ZE /Vdate1 >NUL :07 Change a date from one format into another :================================================================== FDATE /Ff /Imm-dd-yy /A05-08-92 /Occyymmdd :11 Find the difference in days between two dates :================================================================== FDATE /Fdif /Imm-dd-ccyy /A%date1% /B%date2% /vdiff echo The difference is %diff% days. :12 Find the elapsed days/hours/minutes between two date/times. :=================================================================== This batch file was developed in cooperation with Walter Ledge, a sysop for CompuServe's CRFORUM. In addition to being a good example of how to use Fdate's /T parm and "#idiv" function, it should be useful for other CompuServe sysops who need to submit the same reports that Walt does. Here's Walt's message that started the whole thing. As an assistant sysop on the CRFORUM, I have to submit reports to CIS on the number of messages that are posted on our forum in terms of time per 1,000 messages -- i.e., say, I know that 1,000 messages were posted between the hours of 17:05 on July 5 and 3:03 on July 7. I need to know how many hours and minutes it took for those 1000 messages to be posted. So I would like some way to use FDATE to calculate the difference between those two times (which, of course, include the dates). @echo off cls rem ------------------------------------------------------ rem FORATIME.BAT batch file parms rem Dates must include full 4-digit for year: mm-dd-ccyy rem Times must be in 24-hour format: hh:mm rem ------------------------------------------------------ set BEGdate=%1 set BEGtime=%2 set ENDdate=%3 set ENDtime=%4 ECHO Validating input parms ... fdate /fv /A%BEGdate% /T%BEGtime% if errorlevel 1 goto endit fdate /fv /A%ENDdate% /T%ENDtime% if errorlevel 1 goto endit rem get absolute minute of start date/time fdate /ff /ominute# /A%BEGdate% /T%BEGtime% /VABStime1 fdate /ff /ofull /A%BEGdate% /T%BEGtime% /Vfull1 rem get absolute minute of end date/time fdate /ff /ominute# /A%ENDdate% /T%ENDtime% /VABStime2 fdate /ff /ofull /A%ENDdate% /T%ENDtime% /Vfull2 rem calculate the difference between ABStime1 and ABStime2 fdate /f#dif /A%ABStime1% /B%ABStime2% /VMinutes : rem calculate the number of hours in it took fdate /f#Idiv /A%minutes% /B60 /VHours rem calculate the number of extra minutes it took fdate /f#mod /A%minutes% /B60 /VMins echo Begin date time: %BEGdate% %BEGtime% echo End date time: %ENDdate% %ENDtime% echo. echo It took %hours% hours and %mins% minutes echo between %full1% echo and %full2% echo. fdate /f#Idiv /A%minutes% /B1440 /Vday1 fdate /f#mod /A%minutes% /B1440 /Vmin1 fdate /f#Idiv /A%min1% /B60 /Vhour1 fdate /f#mod /A%min1% /B60 /Vmin2 echo or, expressed another way ... echo a total of: %day1% day(s) %hour1% hour(s) and %min2% minute(s). echo. echo. REM cleanup set ENDdate= set BEGdate= set BEGtime= set ENDtime= set full1= set full2= set minutes= set ABStime1= set ABStime2= set day1= set hour1= set min1= set min2= set mins= set hours= :endit :13 Time the execution of a piece of software :================================================================== COMMENT This example was developed coded before the addition of the #div and #idiv functions to Fdate, so the run time (in minutes) is not calculated by dividing the run time (in seconds) by 60, as it now could be. @echo off cls ECHO The demo will run for 1 - 60 seconds. echo. ECHO ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ECHO CALCULATE HOW LONG IT TOOK TO RUN A PROGRAM (in seconds and minutes) echo. echo If you leave long batch files to run overnight, this technique can echo be used to record how long each program in the batch file ran. echo. echo The technique for setting the values of environment variables in this echo part of the demo uses temporary batch files and CALL statements. echo If you have a program such as GET or STRINGS, you can use it instead. ECHO ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── echo. PAUSE cls FDATE /Ff /At /Ohh:mm:ss /P"TESTPGM simulated execution begins at " REM GET PROGRAM BEGIN TIME, IN MINUTES @set BegM= @set EndM= @set RunM= FDATE /Ff /At /Ominute# /P"SET BegM=" >FDATJUNK.BAT CALL FDATJUNK.BAT REM GET PROGRAM BEGIN TIME, IN SECONDS set BegS= set EndS= set RunS= FDATE /Ff /At /Osecond# /P"SET BegS=" >FDATJUNK.BAT CALL FDATJUNK.BAT rem ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── rem [simulate execution of a program: loop for a minute or less] rem [In a real batch file, you would put your program statements here] rem ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── :BegLoop FDATE /Ff /At /Osecond# /P"SET EndS=" >FDATJUNK.BAT CALL FDATJUNK.BAT FDATE /Ff /At /Ominute# /P"SET EndM=" >FDATJUNK.BAT CALL FDATJUNK.BAT rem calculate run time (difference between start time and end time) FDATE /F#dif /A%EndM% /B%BegM% /P"SET RunM=" > FDATJUNK.BAT CALL FDATJUNK.BAT rem calculate run time (difference between start time and end time) FDATE /F#dif /A%EndS% /B%BegS% /P"SET RunS=" > FDATJUNK.BAT CALL FDATJUNK.BAT echo TESTPGM running, elapsed time: %RunS% seconds if (%RunM%)==() goto EndLoop if (%RunM%)==(0) goto BegLoop :EndLoop rem ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── REM GET PROGRAM END TIME IN SECONDS FDATE /Ff /At /Osecond# /P"SET EndS=" > FDATJUNK.BAT CALL FDATJUNK.BAT REM GET PROGRAM END TIME IN MINUTES FDATE /Ff /At /Ominute# /P"SET EndM=" > FDATJUNK.BAT CALL FDATJUNK.BAT FDATE /Ff /At /Ohh:mm:ss /P"TESTPGM simulated execution ends at " echo. echo TESTPGM: Program end time (Absolute seconds): %EndS% echo TESTPGM: Program begin time (Absolute seconds): %BegS% rem calculate run time (difference between start time and end time) FDATE /F#dif /A%EndS% /B%BegS% /P"TESTPGM: Run time in seconds= " set BegS= set EndS= echo. echo TESTPGM: Program end time (Absolute minutes): %EndM% echo TESTPGM: Program begin time (Absolute minutes): %BegM% rem calculate run time (difference between start time and end time) FDATE /F#dif /A%EndM% /B%BegM% /P"TESTPGM: Run time in minutes= " DEL FDATJUNK.BAT set BegM= set EndM= set RunM= set RunS= :15 Find calendar date corresponding to a "business Julian" date :================================================================== rem business julian date is 1992:045. Note input format CCYYjjj FDATE /Ff /A1992045 /Iccyyjjj /Od1 rem You don't need to left-zero-fill the day FDATE /Ff /A199245 /Iccyyjjj /Od1 rem You can assume the century, if you specify the YYjjj input format FDATE /Ff /A9245 /Iyyjjj /Od1 :16 Set your PC's date to a business julian date :================================================================== @echo off goto enddoc --------------------------------------------------------------------- JDATE.BAT This batch file was created by Aran Spence [CIS: 70162,3044]. Its function is to emulate the DOS DATE command, but to allow the user to set the date using a business julian date format (yyjjj) instead of mm-dd-yy. Note the format is YYjjj. This is the BUSINESS julian date: a date expressed as the number of days from the beginning of the year, when January 1 is day 1. date BUSINESS julian date ----------- -------------------- Jan 5, 1992 92005 Jan 5, 1993 93005 Dec 31, 1993 93365 [Dec 31 is 365th day of year 1993] As Aran originally wrote it, the user-prompt was virtually identical to that of the DATE command. I have modified his original version, so it now looks less like the DATE command but displays a bit more information, and so it can operate from the command line even if the user does not have GET. If the user enters a business julian date as a command-line parameter, JDATE resets the date to that julian date. EXAMPLE: JDATE 92005 If there is no input parameter, GET is used to prompt the user for a date. It is possible to use JDATE even if you don't have GET by operating only from the command line, or by substituting some other utility (such as STRINGS) for GET. Note that the user must enter both of the year digits (yy), but may enter an abbreviated set of day digits (jjj). That is, for julian day 92005, the user is permitted to enter 925. One handy use for JDATE is simply to find out what the current business julian date is. --------------------------------------------------------------------- :enddoc SET NewJD=%1 if not (%NewJD%)==() goto GotDate :ShowDate Fdate /Ff /Od1 /P"Current Gregorian date: " Fdate /Ff /Oyyjjj /P"'Business Julian' date: " :GetDate GET S "Enter new date (yyddd): " /VNewJD /L if (%NewJD%)==() goto endit :GotDate Fdate /Ff /A%NewJD% /Omm-dd-yy /Iyyjjj /P"@DATE " > JUNKTEMP.BAT if errorlevel 1 if exist JUNKTEMP.BAT del JUNKTEMP.BAT if errorlevel 1 echo Invalid date "%NewJD%" if errorlevel 1 goto GetDate rem reset the date by calling JUNKTEMP.BAT call JUNKTEMP.BAT del JUNKTEMP.BAT echo SYSTEM DATE HAS BEEN RESET Fdate /Ff /Od1 /P"Current Gregorian date: " Fdate /Ff /Oyyjjj /P"'Business Julian' date: " :endit SET NewJD= echo. :18 Determine if parm %1 contains a valid date :================================================================== COMMENT Note that we throw away the FDATE output by redirecting it to NUL. All we really want here is the errorlevel, which tells us whether or not the string in %1 is a valid year. Fdate /Fv /Imm-dd-ccyy /A%1 >nul if errorlevel 1 echo Parm 1 was not a valid date: %1 if errorlevel 1 goto endit : : Put the body of your batch file here. : :endit :19 "Roll your own" date format :================================================================== echo Display date in custom-made format: yymn3dd Fdate /Ff /Oyy /V Fdate /Ff /Omn3 /P"%fdate%" /V Fdate /Ff /Odd /P"%fdate%" /V echo Today is %fdate% set fdate= :20 Find the 4th Thursday in November (Thanksgiving) :================================================================== Fdate /Fw /D5 /N4 /A11-01-%year% /Imm-dd-ccyy /Od1 /P"Thanksgiving: " :22 On a date, show what anniversary it is for some event :================================================================== See HOLIDAYS.BAT demo batch file :23 Show a list of holidays in a given year :================================================================== See HOLIDAYS.BAT demo batch file :24 Show a list of Federal holidays in a given year :================================================================== See HOLIFEDS.BAT demo batch file :25 Determine if a year is valid, and evenly divisible by 4 :================================================================== @echo off cls echo FUNCTION: Accept a year parm (CCYY) as parameter 1. Determine if echo the year is an election or inauguration year in the United States. echo =================================================================== rem verify %1 is a valid year Fdate /Fv /Imm-dd-ccyy /A01-01-%1 >nul if errorlevel 1 echo Year parm [%1] is not valid. if errorlevel 1 goto endit Fdate /Ff /Imm-dd-ccyy /A01-01-%1 /p"@set year=">junktemp.bat call junktemp.bat Fdate /F#mod /A%1 /B4 /p"@set mod=">junktemp.bat call junktemp.bat if (%mod%)==(0) echo %1 is an American presidential election year. if (%mod%)==(1) echo %1 is an American presidential inauguration year. for %%v in (2 3) do if (%mod%)==(%%v) echo %1 is not an election year. for %%v in (2 3) do if (%mod%)==(%%v) echo %1 is not an inauguration year. set mod= :endit if exist junktemp.bat del junktemp.bat :30 Compare a file's date to today's date :================================================================== rem Compare today's date to the date on the filename in %1 Fdate /Fcomp /At /If /B%1 /Vcomp if (%comp%)==(EQ) echo %1 was created or updated today set comp= :32 Display a list of all files that were created/updated today. :================================================================== @echo off if (%1)==(SUBROUTINE) goto %2 CLS ECHO FILES MEETING FILESPEC [%1] THAT WERE CREATED OR UPDATED TODAY REM The batch file calls itself: Its own name is in parm %0 for %%v in (%1) do CALL %0 SUBROUTINE CHECKFILE %%v set comp= goto endit :CHECKFILE shift shift rem Compare today's date to the date on the %1 file Fdate /Fcomp /If /A%1 /Vcomp rem echo the filename if the file was created/updated today if (%comp%)==(EQ) echo %1 :endit :33 Delete files more than X days old (use a batch-file subroutine) :================================================================== See the COMMENTARY that follows the text of the batch file. @echo off if (%1)==(SUBROUTINE) goto %2 cls goto EndDoc ---------------------------------------------------------------------- OLDFILES.BAT This batch file shows how to do work on files that are older than %NumDays%. The PROCESS! subroutine can be modified to do any kind of work you want. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- :EndDoc :: set the number of days in the past. if this value is not passed :: in via parameter %1, it defaults to 3 days set NumDays=%1 if (%NumDays%)==() SET NumDays=3 echo ------------------------------------------------------------------ echo PROCESSING FILES CREATED MORE THAN %NumDays% DAYS AGO echo ------------------------------------------------------------------ for %%v in (*.*) do CALL %0 SUBROUTINE PROCESS! %%v echo ------------------------------------------------------------------ echo END OF PROCESSING echo ------------------------------------------------------------------ :: CLEANUP set NumDays= set DaysOld= set Comparison= GOTO ENDIT : :PROCESS! shift shift :: get difference in days between filedate and today. :: Note that /B parm (which is omitted) defaults to today's date. fdate /fdif /A%1 /IF /VDaysOld :: compare DaysOld to NumDays fdate /f#comp /A%DaysOld% /B%NumDays% /Vcomparison :: the following line will DISPLAY THE NAME AND AGE OF :: any file for which %DaysOld% is greater than %NumDays% :: -------------------------------------------------------------- if (%comparison%)==(GT) echo %1 is %DaysOld% days old. :: EXAMPLE (to activate this routine, remove the REM from column 1) :: the following line will COPY TO AN ARCHIVE SUBDIRECTORY :: any file for which %DaysOld% is greater than %NumDays% :: ----------------------------------------------- REM if (%comparison%)==(GT) COPY %1 C:\ARCHIVE\*.* :: EXAMPLE (to activate this routine, remove the REM from column 1) :: the following line will DELETE :: any file for which %DaysOld% is greater than %NumDays% :: ----------------------------------------------- REM if (%comparison%)==(GT) DEL %1 :: fall through to endit :endit =============================================================== COMMENTARY BEGIN =============================================================== This batch file uses a crude, but effective, technique for giving a batch file the ability to call subroutines. If you've never seen something like this before, it is sort of mind-blowing. Here's some commentary on the more important lines involved in the technique. =============================================================== if (%1)==(SUBROUTINE) goto %2 COMMENTARY: If the first parameter, %1, is "SUBROUTINE", then the batch file recognizes that it is being called for the purpose of executing one of its own subroutines. In such a case, it does a GOTO to the start of the requested subroutine. That is, it goes to the label whose name is in the second parameter. Explicitly specifying the name of the desired subroutine permits permits us to have multiple subroutines in the batch file, each with its own name. (As it happens, in this batch file we have only one subroutine, named "PROCESS!") If the first parameter is not "SUBROUTINE", then we fall through and begin executing the main routine of the batch file. In such a case, the first parameter (%1) may contain a number, indicating the number of days to use in determining which files to delete. Note that this technique will make the batch file malfunction if the user himself ever executes the batch file from the DOS command line with the word "SUBROUTINE" as the first parameter, the word "PROCESS!" as the second parameter, and a third parameter that is missing or not a valid filename. This is so unlikely, however, that it is reasonable to assume that it will never happen. =============================================================== for %%v in (*.*) do CALL %0 SUBROUTINE PROCESS! %%v COMMENTARY: In a batch file, %0 contains the name by which the batch file was invoked. We use this fact to allow a batch file to call itself, regardless of what name the user has given to it. The first parameter passed, when the batch file calls itself, is the string "SUBROUTINE". This string allows the batch file to recognize when it is being called for the purpose of executing one of its own subroutines. The second parameter is the name of the subroutine that we want to call: in this case, "PROCESS!". The third parameter is what we would normally think of as the first parameter to the subroutine. In this case, when the FOR statement is executed, and the substitution for %%v takes place, it will contain the name of the file to be processed. Note that we could, if we wished, pass additional parameters to the subroutine. Note also that we can control the files that we process. We do so via the filemask in the FOR statement. It we used, for example, "*.EXE", then we would process only executable files. =============================================================== GOTO ENDIT COMMENTARY: When the mainline of the batch file is finished executing, we goto the end of the batch file. We MUST do this GOTO in order to avoid falling through into, and starting to execute, the first of the batch file's subroutines. =============================================================== :PROCESS! shift shift COMMENTARY: Note that when the batch file is called as a subroutine, and the batch file goes to the PROCESS! label, the values of the parms are: %0 = [the name of the batch file] %1 = SUBROUTINE %2 = PROCESS! %3 = [name of the file to be processed] We shift all the parmeters to the left twice, to move the parameter(s) into what we think of as the proper places for parameters to the subroutine. After the first SHIFT command: %0 = SUBROUTINE %1 = PROCESS! %2 = [name of the file to be processed] After the second SHIFT command: %0 = PROCESS! %1 = [name of the file to be processed] Now %1 contains what we think of as the proper parameter(s) to the subroutine. In this case, %1 contains the filename that we want the subroutine to process. At the end of every subroutine, there should be a GOTO ENDIT, which causes the batch file to go to its own end, and then end and return control to the statement in the program which called it. (This is, of course, the CALL statement embedded in the FOR statement.) We can optimize the batch file a little by omitting the "goto endit" at the end of the last subroutine. Instead, we simply allow the last subroutine to fall through to the end of the batch file. =============================================================== COMMENTARY END =============================================================== :34 Loop through an array of environment variables :====================================================================== @echo off cls SET pct=%%% SET prefix=Address ECHO LOADING AN ARRAY SET subscript=1 SET %prefix%.%subscript%=Stephen Ferg SET subscript=2 SET %prefix%.%subscript%=5113 N. 8th Road SET subscript=3 SET %prefix%.%subscript%=Arlington, VA 22205 ECHO UNLOADING AND DISPLAYING THE ARRAY SET subscript=1 :LoopTop REM do while subscript less than/equal 3 if %subscript%==4 goto LoopEnd REM put value of subscripted variable into tempvar ECHO SET tempvar=%pct%%prefix%.%subscript%%pct%>JUNKTEMP.BAT CALL JUNKTEMP.BAT REM display value of subscripted variable ECHO %prefix%.%subscript% is: %tempvar% REM delete subscripted variable SET %prefix%.%subscript%= REM increment the loop variable Fdate /F#add /A%subscript% /B1 /Vsubscript goto LoopTop :LoopEnd SET pct= SET tempvar= SET prefix= SET subscript= DEL JUNKTEMP.BAT :44 Do something on the last day (or last Friday) of the month :================================================================== COMMENT We often need batch files that do some special task on the last day of the month: run a backup job, display a reminder message, etc. This example batch file, LASTDAY.BAT, simply displays a message -- you can modify it to do whatever it is that YOU want to do. If you plan to run LASTDAY.BAT at work, and you work Monday through Friday, then checking for the last day of the month would be a poor strategy -- after you leave work on a Friday, the last day of the month might occur on the following Saturday or Sunday. So I've included a check to see if the Friday is the last working day of the month. If you don't want that functionality, deleting the lines between the first and last occurrence of the string "EndCheck" will remove it. ======================================================================= @echo off REM --------------------------------------------------------------- REM check to see if today is the last day of the month REM --------------------------------------------------------------- REM get today's month fdate /ff /omm /vmmtoday REM get tomorrow's month fdate /fadd /n1 /omm /vmmtomorrow REM if tomorrow occurs in a different month, REM then today is the last day of this month if not (%mmtoday%)==(%mmtomorrow%) echo LAST DAY OF THE MONTH if not (%mmtoday%)==(%mmtomorrow%) goto EndCheck REM ------------------------------------------------------------- REM check to see if today is the last Friday of the month REM ------------------------------------------------------------- rem get today's day of the week, to see if it is Friday fdate /ff /odow3 /vdow3 if not (%dow3%)==(Fri) goto EndCheck REM today is Friday. Get next Monday's month fdate /fadd /n3 /omm /vmmMonday REM if next Monday occurs in a different month, REM then today is the last Friday of this month if not (%mmtoday%)==(%mmMonday%) echo LAST WORKING DAY OF THE MONTH :EndCheck REM cleanup set dow3= set mmtoday= set mmtomorrow= set mmMonday= :45 Get information about the month prior to the current month :================================================================== COMMENT When running a monthly backup job at the beginning of the month, one often needs to identify the previous month, or the last day of the previous month. Here's how to use Fdate to obtain that sort of information. Basically, we subtract one day from the first day of the current month, giving us the last day of the previous month. ======================================================================= @echo off cls : The simplest way to get information about last month is to subtract : 1 day from the first day of this month ... fdate /fsub /n1 /att-01-tttt /omm /p"Last month was.................: " fdate /fsub /n1 /att-01-tttt /occyy /p"Last month occurred in the year: " fdate /fsub /n1 /att-01-tttt /odd /p"The last day of last month was : " fdate /fsub /n1 /att-01-tttt /od1 /p"The last day of last month was : " :51 Represent a date in a short (4-byte) format (technique #1) :================================================================== COMMENT A common use of Fdate is to format today's date and use it to rename a file (typically a log file of some sort). You may wish to store the date information in as few characters as possible, in order to maximize the number of other characters in the filename that you can use to store other information. In this example, and the next one, I illustrate two ways to store a date in 4 bytes. The simplest way is to represent today's date as a 4-digit number. To do this, we first pick a base date: I'll use January 1, 1990. Then it is a simple matter to calculate the number of days between today and the base date: FDATE /Fdif /at /b01-01-1990 Starting in 1993, this will always generate a 4-digit number, and will continue to do so for 20 years, until approximately the year 2003. Dates before 1993 may produce 1-, 2-, or 3-digit numbers, and dates after 2003 will begin to produce 5-digit numbers. But this technique will work quite nicely for most ordinary purposes for the next 20 years. If you're still using DOS in the year 2003, then in 2003 you can switch to using January 1, 2000 as your base date and function quite nicely for the next 20 years after that. :52 Represent a date in a short (4-byte) format (technique #2) :================================================================== @echo off cls goto end-doc ------------------------------------------------------------------ This batch file shows two ways to use Fdate and SetXX.BAT to obtain and represent today's date in 4 characters, YYMD, where: YY is the year (e.g. "93" for 1993) M is the month in extended hexadecimal (XX) notation D is the day-of-the-month in extended hexadecimal (XX) notation The text of SetXX.BAT, and an explanation of extended hex notation, can be found in the next example. ------------------------------------------------------------------ :end-doc rem ---------------------------------------------------------------- rem VERSION 1 (using JUNK.BAT temporary batch file) rem ---------------------------------------------------------------- REM OBTAIN 1-CHARACTER REPRESENTATION FOR THE MONTH fdate /ff /omm /p"@call SetXX xm ">junk.bat call junk.bat echo XX representation of this month's number is %xm% REM OBTAIN 1-CHARACTER REPRESENTATION FOR THE DAY fdate /ff /odd /p"@call SetXX xd ">junk.bat call junk.bat echo XX representation of today's day of the month is %xd% REM CONCATENATE THEM TO THE 2-CHARACTER REPRESENTATION FOR THE YEAR fdate /ff /oyy /p"@set xx=" /s"%xm%%xd% >junk.bat call junk.bat echo XX representation of today's full date is %xx% REM CLEANUP set xm= set xd= set xx= del junk.bat echo. : echo. rem ---------------------------------------------------------------- rem VERSION 2 (using JUNK environment variable) rem ---------------------------------------------------------------- REM OBTAIN 1-CHARACTER REPRESENTATION FOR THE MONTH fdate /ff /omm /p"call SetXX xm " /vjunk %junk% echo XX representation of this month's number is %xm% REM OBTAIN 1-CHARACTER REPRESENTATION FOR THE DAY fdate /ff /odd /p"call SetXX xd " /vjunk %junk% echo XX representation of today's day of the month is %xd% REM CONCATENATE THEM TO THE 2-CHARACTER REPRESENTATION FOR THE YEAR fdate /ff /oyy /p"set xx=" /s"%xm%%xd%" /vjunk %junk% echo XX representation of today's full date is %xx% REM CLEANUP set xm= set xd= set xx= set junk= echo. echo. :53 SetXX.BAT (used in the previous example) :================================================================== @echo off goto end-doc -------------------------------------------------------------------- "Extended hexadecimal" (XX) notation uses all of the digits, and all of the letters of the alphabet, to express numbers in the range of 0 to 35 as a single character. This batch file converts a 2-digit number in the range of 00 to 35 to xx notation. This batch file expects 2 parameters: %1 contains the name of the environment variable that you want to use to hold the xx value %2 contains the 2-digit number that you want to convert to xx -------------------------------------------------------------------- :end-doc if (%2)==() goto endit set %1= if (%2)==(00) set %1=0 if (%2)==(01) set %1=1 if (%2)==(02) set %1=2 if (%2)==(03) set %1=3 if (%2)==(04) set %1=4 if (%2)==(05) set %1=5 if (%2)==(06) set %1=6 if (%2)==(07) set %1=7 if (%2)==(08) set %1=8 if (%2)==(09) set %1=9 if (%2)==(10) set %1=A if (%2)==(11) set %1=B if (%2)==(12) set %1=C if (%2)==(13) set %1=D if (%2)==(14) set %1=E if (%2)==(15) set %1=F if (%2)==(16) set %1=G if (%2)==(17) set %1=H if (%2)==(18) set %1=I if (%2)==(19) set %1=J if (%2)==(20) set %1=K if (%2)==(21) set %1=L if (%2)==(22) set %1=M if (%2)==(23) set %1=N if (%2)==(24) set %1=O if (%2)==(25) set %1=P if (%2)==(26) set %1=Q if (%2)==(27) set %1=R if (%2)==(28) set %1=S if (%2)==(29) set %1=T : if (%2)==(30) set %1=U if (%2)==(31) set %1=V if (%2)==(32) set %1=W if (%2)==(33) set %1=X if (%2)==(34) set %1=Y if (%2)==(35) set %1=Z :endit :54 Customize Fdate for a language of your choice :================================================================== @echo off cls goto end-doc ------------------------------------------------------------------ You can use Fdate with a customized batch file to obtain the names of the days of the week and the months in a language of your choice. Or you could use it to obtain names in uppercase, or the first 5 characters of the names (rather than the first three), or some other customized formatting of your choice.) I've invented a language called Fergian, which has its own names for the days of the week, and the months. In the following examples, I invoke FERGIAN.BAT to make the translation. The text of FERGIAN.BAT, which does the real work here, is given in the next example. ------------------------------------------------------------------ :end-doc fdate /ff /omm /v call Fergian mm- result %Fdate% echo Month is %result% fdate /ff /omm /v call Fergian mm3 result %Fdate% echo Month3 is %result% fdate /ff /odow# /v call Fergian dw- result %Fdate% echo Day of week is %result% fdate /ff /odow# /v call Fergian dw3 result %Fdate% echo Day of week3 is %result% REM cleanup set Fdate= set result= :55 Fergian.BAT (used in the previous example) :================================================================== @echo off set %2= goto %1 goto end-doc -------------------------------------------------------------------- This batch file converts a month number, or day of the week number, to a name in the FERGIAN language. You can copy this batch file and customize it, to make it translate into some other language of your choice. This batch file expects the following parameters: %1 contains the type of number you want to convert: MM- if you want the entire name of the month MM3 if you want the first 3 letters of the name of the month DW- if you want the entire name of the day of the week DW3 if you want the first 3 letters of the name of the day of the week %2 contains the name of the environment variable that you want to use to hold the result %3 contains the number that you want to convert -------------------------------------------------------------------- :end-doc :MM- if (%3)==(01) set %2=Jaded if (%3)==(02) set %2=Febrile if (%3)==(03) set %2=Martial if (%3)==(04) set %2=Abigail if (%3)==(05) set %2=Maybelene if (%3)==(06) set %2=Junkaroo if (%3)==(07) set %2=Julia if (%3)==(08) set %2=Augmentation if (%3)==(09) set %2=Separation if (%3)==(10) set %2=Ostentation if (%3)==(11) set %2=Novelty if (%3)==(12) set %2=Decadence goto endit : :MM3 if (%3)==(01) set %2=Jad if (%3)==(02) set %2=Feb if (%3)==(03) set %2=Mar if (%3)==(04) set %2=Abi if (%3)==(05) set %2=May if (%3)==(06) set %2=Jun if (%3)==(07) set %2=Jul if (%3)==(08) set %2=Aug if (%3)==(09) set %2=Sep if (%3)==(10) set %2=Ost if (%3)==(11) set %2=Nov if (%3)==(12) set %2=Dec goto endit :DW- if (%3)==(1) set %2=SunDay if (%3)==(2) set %2=MoonDay if (%3)==(3) set %2=TwickasDay if (%3)==(4) set %2=WodensDay if (%3)==(5) set %2=ThorsDay if (%3)==(6) set %2=FreyasDay if (%3)==(7) set %2=SaturnDay goto endit :DW3 if (%3)==(1) set %2=Sun if (%3)==(2) set %2=Moo if (%3)==(3) set %2=Twi if (%3)==(4) set %2=Wod if (%3)==(5) set %2=Tho if (%3)==(6) set %2=Fre if (%3)==(7) set %2=Sat goto endit :endit :61 DO-ONCE: Run apps when booting for the first time of the day :=============================================================== COMMENT Put this code in AUTOEXEC.BAT. Note that this batch code requires DOS 3.3+, since it uses CALL. if not exist C:\LASTRUN.BAT goto RunNow rem call LASTRUN.BAT, which will set an environment variable, %LASTRUN%, rem that will contain the date when this batch file was last run. rem ------------------------------------------------------------------ call C:\LASTRUN.BAT rem compare the date in %LASTRUN% to today's date rem ------------------------------------------------------------------ Fdate /Fcomp /At /B%LastRun% /Vcomp : Today's date may be less than %LASTRUN% if you reset the system clock IF (%COMP%)==(LT) goto NoRun : If %LASTRUN% was the same as today's date, : then this batch file has already been run once today IF (%COMP%)==(EQ) goto NoRun : Daily processing hasn't been run today. Run it. : Here, you should put the batch-file body -- : the code to run the applications that you want to run once per day : : ------------------------------------------------------------------ : Save today's date in a new version of LastRun.BAT. Note that : this code will be executed only if daily processing runs to : completion without hanging the machine or aborting the batch file. : ------------------------------------------------------------------ Fdate /Ff /Omm-dd-ccyy /At /P"@set LastRun=">LastRun.BAT :NoRun set LastRun= set COMP= :62a Run specific software, depending on the day of the week :================================================================== COMMENT This is a very common use for Fdate. I use it to load alarm-clock software that will beep at me -- at different times for different days of the week - - to remind me that it is time to attend a regular weekly meeting that is scheduled for that day of the week. Note that stuff for a given day of the week will be executed every time you boot up on that day of the week. That is what you want if, like me, you are loading alarm-clock software. If your application is different, and you want stuff for a given day of the week to be run only once -- the first time you boot up each day --then first copy the code from DO-ONCE (the previous example) into your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, then put this code into AUTOEXEC.BAT in the body of the DO-ONCE code. If you do that, then this code will be run only once per day, even if you boot up multiple times per day. Remember that if you are executing other batch files from a batch file, you probably want to invoke them with a CALL statement: CALL batchfilename parm1 parm2 ... so control will return to the calling batch file when execution of the called batch file is complete. ======================================================================== rem get 3-character day-of-week name and put it in DOW e-var FDATE /ff /oDOW3 /vDOW goto %DOW% :MON : : Here, put code to run stuff for this day of the week. : for example: CALL MONDAY.BAT : goto END-DOW :FRI : : Here, put code to run stuff for this day of the week. : goto END-DOW rem do nothing on the following days -- fall through to END-DOW :SAT :SUN :TUE :WED :THU :END-DOW set dow= :62b Run specific software, depending on the day of the week :================================================================== COMMENT This is a variation on the last example. Note that the string comparison is case sensitive. rem get 3-character day-of-week name and put it in DOW e-var FDATE /ff /oDOW3 /vDOW if (%DOW%)==(Mon) echo Running regular Monday backup. Please wait... if (%DOW%)==(Mon) CALL BACKUP C: if (%DOW%)==(Mon) CALL BACKUP D: if (%DOW%)==(Mon) CALL BACKUP E: if (%DOW%)==(Mon) CALL BACKUP F: if (%DOW%)==(Thu) echo Running regular Thursday backup. Please wait... if (%DOW%)==(Thu) CALL BACKUP C: if (%DOW%)==(Thu) CALL BACKUP F: set dow= :63 Run a program at a specified time later in the day :================================================================== COMMENT This batch file involves a lot of disk activity because DOS re-reads the batch file from disk every time it does a GOTO LOOPTOP. You can avoid all this disk activity by running the batch file from a RAM DISK. REM GET CURRENT ABSOLUTE MINUTE AND PUT IN ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE RUNTIME FDATE /Ff /At /Ominute# |STRINGS RunTime= ASK >NUL REM ADD 120 MINUTES (2 HOURS) TO ENVIRONMENT VARIABLE RUNTIME FDATE /F#add /A%RunTime% /B120 |STRINGS RunTime= ASK >NUL REM LOOP UNTIL NOWTIME HAS REACHED RUNTIME :LoopTop FDATE /Ff /At /Ominute# |STRINGS NowTime= ASK >NUL FDATE /F#comp /A%NowTime% /B%RunTime% |STRINGS TimeComp= ASK >NUL if (%TimeComp%)==(LT) goto loopTop :LoopEnd echo STARTING EXECUTION OF APPLICATION: [program name] :67 Change a file's name to a name that contains today's date :================================================================== FDATE /Ff /Atoday /Oyymmdd /vdate1 ren BACKUP.LOG BK%DATE1%.LOG SET DATE1= :68 Change a file's name to a name containing an absolute minute :=============================================================== COMMENT This is a way to keep a complete series of files, such as log files, that are all created with the same name on the same day. The only requirement is that they be created at least one minute apart. You won't need to be able to decipher the absolute minute to figure out when the file was created; you can simply do a DIR on the file and look at its date/time stamp. FDATE /FF /At /Ominute# /VJulMin REN online.log %JulMin%.log SET JulMin= HOW FDATE THINKS ABOUT DATES ============================ FDATE'S BUSINESS VIEW OF THE CALENDAR ===================================== FDATE is intended for business applications, not historical ones. FDATE does not take into account historical changes in the calendar such as the ten days that were dropped from the British calendar when Britain moved from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in the 18th century, or the 11 days that were dropped from the Russian calendar when Russia made the same move in the early 20th century. As far as FDATE is concerned, the calendar has followed the same pattern, unchanged, since January 1, 0001. FDATE'S BASE DATE ================= Internally, Fdate's date manipulations are based on translating a calendar date into an "absolute" or "TRUE Julian" date: a date expressed as the number of days from some day in the distant past. FDATE's base date is January 1, 0001 (i.e. day 1 of month 1 of year 1) FDATE's absolute date for January 1, 0001 is 1. FDATE's absolute date for January 1, 1992 is 727198. FDATE'S LEAP YEAR ALGORITHM =========================== Every year evenly divisible by 4 IS a leap year EXCEPT THAT Every year evenly divisible by 100 IS NOT a leap year EXCEPT THAT Every year evenly divisible by 400 IS a leap year . Using this algorithm 1983 is not a leap year 1984 is a leap year 1900 is not a leap year 2000 is a leap year See "A Machine Algorithm for Processing Calendar Dates", by Henry F. Fliegel (Georgetown University Observatory) and Thomas C. Van Flandern (U.S. Naval Observatory) COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM, Volume 11, Number 10, October 1968 There is supposedly a new adjustment to the leapyear algorithm, which specifies the additional exception: EXCEPT THAT Every year evenly divisible by 4000 IS a leap year See "Bit By Bit" column, COMPUTER LANGUAGE, November 1989, p. 148. This adjustment is not part of FDATE's leapyear algorithm. Unless your application is working with dates 2,000 years in the future, the lack of this exception will be irrelevant for you. FDATE'S CENTURY-ASSUMPTION ALGORITHM ==================================== If an input date is supplied in a format in which the year is specified without a century -- that is, as YY rather than CCYY -- then Fdate does not automatically use the current century. Instead, * if YY is greater than 20, then FDATE assumes CC = 19 * if YY is less than or equal 20, then FDATE assumes CC = 20 Examples: 21 becomes 1921 ... 99 becomes 1999 00 becomes 2000 01 becomes 2001 ... 20 becomes 2020 but then (again) 21 becomes 1921 To put it simply, FDATE makes what would be a reasonable assumption about the century for someone operating in the 1990's: it looks back to 1921 and forward to 2020. If both I and FDATE are still alive in the year 2000, I'll probably update FDATE's century-assumption algorithm to shift it forward several decades. FDATE'S IMPLEMENTATION LIMITS ==================================== Internally, numbers in Fdate are stored in Turbo Pascal's LONGINT datatype, which means that Fdate can accept numbers up to 9 digits long. DISTRIBUTION ISSUES =================== USE, REGISTRATION, AND DISTRIBUTION OF FDATE ============================================ FDATE is freeware, or what is known as "zero-cost shareware". FDATE is not what is technically called "public domain" software because the author retains the copyright. FDATE can, however, be copied, used, and distributed freely as long as FDATE.EXE and its associated doc file (FDATE.DOC), along with its demonstration batch files and their doc files (FDATEX.BAT, HOLIDAYS.BAT, HOLIFEDS.BAT, HOLIFEDS.DOC, TIC.BAT, ALARM.BAT, etc.) are not altered and are distributed together. There is no requirement to register FDATE in any way. FDATE can be included in shareware packages as long as both FDATE and its related files are included in the shareware package. If you have received FDATE as part of some larger shareware package, please be aware that you may freely use, copy, and distribute FDATE without paying a fee for, or registering, the larger package. The author explicitly disavows any claim whatsoever about the correctness or functionality of FDATE, its documentation, and its demonstration batch files, and disclaims liability for anything and everything bad that might happen in connection with, before, during, or after using it. I have tried to make FDATE work right, but everybody makes mistakes, so you use FDATE at your own risk. I don't know if people will find FDATE useful, and I'd like to find out. If you find FDATE useful and use it on a regular basis, I'd appreciate it if you would drop me a short note via US mail or CompuServe, telling me about how you are using FDATE. If you need other input/output formats, please contact the author. TECHNICAL SUPPORT FOR FDATE =============================================== Send me a message via CompuServe mail; I'll respond. When sending your message, please let me know what version of Fdate you're using. WHERE TO FIND THE MOST CURRENT VERSION OF FDATE =============================================== You will always be able to find the most recent version of FDATE on CompuServe. The filename will be FDATE.ZIP, and it will be available in the CIS:IBMSYS forum (library 1, the "DOS Utilities" library). If you have problems finding it, try using cross-library searching, looking for the filename FDATE.ZIP or the keyword FDATE. UPLOADING FDATE TO ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARDS =============================================== Feel free to post copies of FDATE.ZIP on any BBS that you wish, but please do not upload it to any CompuServe library. As long as I am the only one putting copies of FDATE onto CompuServe, we can keep confusion over versions to a minimum. DEMONSTRATION BATCH FILES ========================= FDATE ships with a number of demonstration batch files. These are sample applications that illustrate some of the ways that FDATE might be used to build applications. They can be studied for ideas for ways of using FDATE. They can also be used "as is", or copied and customized to build applications that meet your own special needs. CONTENTS OF THE FDATE.ZIP DISTRIBUTION FILE =========================================== The current distribution package (FDATE.ZIP) contains the following: FDATE.EXE [the FDATE program] FDATE.DOC [this file, documentation for FDATE] [demonstration batch files] FDATEX.BAT HOLIDAYS.BAT HOLIFEDS.BAT and HOLIFEDS.DOC ALARM.BAT and ALARM.DOC TIC.BAT and TIC.DOC FDATE REVISION HISTORY ====================== Letters appended to version numbers indicate modifications to the doc files, without any modification to the FDATE.EXE software. Asterisks (*) indicate most important changes in the new version. Most of the revision history before version 6.7 has been omitted, as not being of general interest. 3.0a Dec 27, 1991 * =============== MAJOR BUG FIX ============================== * Fixed bug in TRUEDATE date arithmetic routine that caused * incorrect dates to be returned for the last 2 or 3 days of * some months. * ============================================================ 6.7a Apr 05, 1992 * Added function "E" (echo) * Added output format: "dd mn3 yy" EXAMPLE: 05 Sep 92 Added JDATE.BAT example batch file, thanks to Aran Spence. Corrected a bug in the routine that obtained command line parameters. It sometimes caused an improper value to be returned if a quoted parameter did not contain a space. 6.8a Aug 01, 1992 * I will no longer be posting the most recent version of FDATE in ZNT:UTILFORUM because ZiffNet's new fees would require me to pay $30/year to do so. Look for the most recent version of FDATE in CIS:IBMSYS, Library 1. * Added output format: ddmn3yy EXAMPLE: 05Sep92 * Added output format: yy EXAMPLE: 92 This should make it easier for users to "roll their own" date formats. See the "roll your own" example. * Modified documentation in JDATE.BAT to make it clear that it is working with a BUSINESS julian date format: YYjjj. Thanks for the feedback from Howard S. Friedman (70720,3022) Updated FDATEX.BAT to test the new formats. 6.8b Aug 02, 1992 Added example showing how to get last Friday's date using /Fw Modified JDATE.BAT so it describes its Julian date as a 'business julian' date. 6.8c Aug 07, 1992 Revised the discussion of "tt" and "tttt" in output formats to make it more compact. Again, thanks for the feedback from Howard S. Friedman (70720,3022). 7.0a Nov 14, 1992 * Fixed bug in which 10-character Spanish-language month-names were being truncated to 9 characters. * Added #mod function * Major reformatting of documentation to make it more user-friendly Removed DO-ONCE.BAT from distribution ZIP file, as it was already documented in an example in this doc file. Added HOLIFEDS.BAT and HOLIFEDS.DOC to the distribution ZIP file. Calculates Federal holidays in a given year. VERSION 7.3a RELEASED 7.0b Dec 15, 1992 Corrected last few lines of HOLIFEDS.DOC, which referred to Dec 24, 1964 as a Friday. It was a Thursday. 7.1a Apr 15, 1993 Added German language parm (/Lgr). Thanks for the request, and the necessary information, from Patrick Schmucki, via the Active-Net BBS in Rapperswil, Switzerland. 7.1b Apr 20, 1993 Added LASTDAY.BAT example. Thanks to Patrick Boyle for the request for an explanation of how this might be done. 7.1c Apr 28, 1993 In an attempt to improve the helpfulness of the documentation, moved the detailed description of functions closer to the beginning of this doc file, and added a one-page OVERVIEW OF FUNCTIONS. 7.2a May 1, 1993 Corrected German-language name for month of March from "Mrz" to "März" 7.3a May 25, 1993 Added output formats "zd. mn ccyy" and "zd. mn3 ccyy" for the convenience of German-speaking users. Thanks for the request from Patrick Schmucki. Added output format ZM. To this .DOC file, added: Examples of how to represent a date in 4 bytes, along with the text of SETXX.BAT, and example of how to get information about the month prior to the current month. Thanks to Richard Beels for the request for ideas on how to do this sort of thing. 7.3b May 29, 1993 To this .DOC file, added: Example of how to use a batch file (FERGIAN.BAT) to customize Fdate for a different language, using a technique similar to SETXX.BAT. Thanks to Sebastian Bazley, of the Higher Education National Software Archive at Lancaster University, UK, for suggestions that got me started thinking along these lines. VERSION 7.3b RELEASED 7.4a July 7, 1993 * Add "V" (validate) function: /Fv Restructured HELP screen into several screens, because the single HELP screen was getting too crowded. 7.5a July 9, 1993 Added error checking for input dates that contain a month specification that is less than 1 or greater than 12 7.6a July 9, 1993 Added "m" (month addition/subtraction) function: /Fm 7.7a July 10, 1993 Added "#mult" (multiplication) function: /F#mult Added "#div" ( division) function: /F#div Added "#idiv" (integer division) function: /F#idiv 7.8a July 14, 1993 Added /T (time) parameter Changed value that /Fv produces for an OK date from "OK" to the null string. This should make it a little easier to use. Removed the TIMER demo from FDATEX.BAT, since it is now in this DOC file. 7.9a July 15, 1993 Minor change to the monthly arithmetic code to improve clarity Added error-trapping routines for numeric input parameters that exceed 9 digits, and for results of multiplication operations that overflow limits of Turbo Pascal's LONGINT datatype 8.0a July 15, 1993 Added FORATIME.BAT example, which Walter Ledge (assistant sysop of CompuServe's CRFORUM) and I developed. A big thanks to Walt for his feedback, which provided the spark I needed to add the /Time parameter and the #idiv function. Added JDATE.BAT to the list of examples in this doc file, and removed it from the files included in the .ZIP distribution file. VERSION 8.0a RELEASED 8.1a July 27, 1993 Bug fix. An error error-trapping routine that was added to Fdate version 7.9 contained a bug caused in part by a programmer error and in part by some extremely strange behavior of the Turbo Pascal compiler itself. The bug caused of Fdate's numeric math functions (#add, #dif, #mult, #div, #idiv, #mod, #comp, etc.) -- all of which use the new error-trapping routine -- to return incorrect results. Thanks to Bob Schuchman for the quick bug report. VERSION 8.1a RELEASED 8.1b August 6, 1993 Removed FILEDATE.BAT from the distribution .ZIP file. Added OLDFILES.BAT, a simplified version, to this .DOC file 8.1c August 8, 1993 Added commentary on OLDFILES.BAT. 8.2a August 13, 1993 Corrected the Spanish and French "full" and "d1" output formats. Thanks for the information on Spanish and French date formats to Gene J. Raymond, of GJR Software Products. VERSION 8.2a RELEASED