Systems administrators often need to include dates and times in
file and folder names. Although VBScript has functions to retrieve and
format dates and times, they're formatted according to the locale and they
usually include characters that you can't use in filenames, such as forward
slashes and colons.
Following the format outlined in the ISO 8601 standard is a better choice
when you need to include dates and times in file and folder names. In
"Creating Date and Time Stamps," Alex K. Angelopoulos explains why following
this format is advantageous, and he shows you how to easily generate ISO 8601
stamps in VBScript code.
I've opened up this article for public viewing so that you can read this
article and download its code. The article will be open for public viewing
only through August 24, so don't delay. If you enjoy reading this article,
you can get more of this type of content by subscribing to Scripting Pro VIP.
Like systems administrators, database administrators often need to
generate dates in different formats. Although you can obtain the current date with T-SQL's GETDATE function, getting the returned date in the format you need can take a lot of effort and code.
Roy Byrd was tired of having to write custom code every time he needed a
date in a different format, so he wrote the FormatDate function. You can use
this function to display any date in the format you need. All you need to do
is provide two parameters. If you'd like to read more about FormatDate and
download its code, look for the article "Display Dates in the Format You
Need" in the September issue of SQL Server Magazine. The article will be
available online starting August 23. Starting on August 23, go to the
SQL Server Magazine Web site, enter 96608 in the
InstantDoc ID box, and click Go.
End of Article
