Converts the variable varname to the specified type. Valid types are:

When converting from a string to a date, valid input formats are:

• YYYY-MM-DD
• YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
• HH:MM:SS

Times must be in 24-hour format, minutes and seconds are optional. If a time is specified on its own, today's date is assumed.

Formats the variable varname using the specified formatting code.

Various formatting operations are available.

• Date/time values can be formatted using the D#, T# and A# prefix codes
• File size values using the codes shown below
• Zero-padding to p places using #p or %0p
• Right-justify to p places using %p
• Left-justify to p places using %-p
• Internal-justify:
  • For negative numbers to p places using %_p
  • For positive numbers %+p
• Limit to p decimal places using %.p
• Zero-pad to p decimal places with %.0p
• Convert to hexadecimal using %x (lowercase) or %X (uppercase)

Where it makes sense the above codes can be combined, e.g. %_+8 would internal-justify a number to 8 places whether it was positive or negative.

Use value as size to automatically format a number as a file size using the default settings. You can also use the following keywords to control the units:

• You use %.x to specify the number of decimal places, e.g. %.3mib. or %.03kb to zero-pad
• Use %^ to round up to the nearest kilobyte, e.g. %^kb.
• Use %0 in front of the "automatic" keywords to force 0 bytes to be formatted as kilobytes

Example:

d = "2023-09-23" as date;
Output(d as "D#dd-MMM-yyyy");
--> 23-Sep-2023

i = 1 as double / 3;
Output(i as "%-.3");
--> 0.333

i = 183743933;
output(i as "%.3kb");
--> 179,437.435 KB

See also: Format