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how to write date and time

How to Write Dates Correctly in English

If writing dates has you stymied at times, it is probably for one of two reasons. The first is that date formats vary the world over, and we come across these different styles frequently in our reading. The second may be that you aren’t quite sure how to write dates with commas .

The key to overcoming your struggle with dates is to understand the prevailing conventions and then apply them clearly—and consistently. Here’s a tip: Want to make sure your writing always looks great? Grammarly can save you from misspellings, grammatical and punctuation mistakes, and other writing issues on all your favorite websites.

How to Write the Year

Years should be expressed as numerals except at the beginning of a sentence. Most style guides agree that beginning a sentence with a numeral is poor style, so years placed at the beginning of a sentence should be written out as words. American writers tend not to use and after thousand when expressing a year after 2000 in words, but it is common in British English. Both are correct.

The year 1929 brought the Great Depression, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, and an influenza epidemic.

Nineteen twenty-nine brought the Great Depression, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, and an influenza epidemic.

Much happened in the political arena in 2016.

Two thousand and sixteen was an eventful year in politics.

Two thousand sixteen was an eventful year in politics.

How to Write the Month and Day

When referring to a specific date in the month-day date format , use cardinal numbers (one, two, three) rather than ordinal numbers (first, second, third). This may feel counterintuitive because we normally use ordinal numbers when we “speak” of dates. For example, one would say January first two thousand seventeen but write January 1, 2017 . In British English, ordinals can sometimes be used—it is acceptable to use them when writing dates, although it is not required, as our example shows.

Daniel was born on May 13 .

Many people get confused about how to write dates with commas , so here is a rule of thumb: in the month-day-year format (used in the United States), place commas after the day and year. In the day-month-year format (used in the UK and other countries), do not use commas at all.

On May 13th, 2007 Daniel was born.

On May 13, 2007, Daniel was born.

On 13 May, 2007, Daniel was born.

On 13 May 2007 Daniel was born.

If you use a construction using of , it is fine to use an ordinal number. It is also fine to use an ordinal number when referring to a specific day without reference to the month.

Daniel was born on the 13th of May .

Daniel was born on the thirteenth .

How to Write Dates with Days of the Week

When writing a long-form date, use a comma after days of the week to ensure readability.

How fortunate that the world did not end on Friday, December 21, 2012!

Monday, May 5, is my last day of work.

How to Write Centuries

Here’s a tip: When writing about whole centuries, do not use an apostrophe before s . Centuries are plurals, not possessives.

For example, when we write the 1800s , we are referring to all the years from 1800 to 1899. Within that range are one hundred discrete years; that is, more than one: a plural. We can also refer to those years collectively as the nineteenth century in all lowercase letters.

Women often wore bonnets in the 1800’s.

Women often wore bonnets in the 1800s.

Women often wore bonnets in the eighteen hundreds.

Women often wore bonnets in the Nineteenth Century.

Women often wore bonnets in the nineteenth century.

How to Write Decades

Here’s a tip: Decades should be written as two-digit numbers with an apostrophe before them and an s after them (e.g., ’90s ). When in doubt, write it out. You can write the entire decade in numerals with an s after it (e.g., 1990s ), or write out the words (e.g., the nineties ).

This is the way to think about writing decades using numbers: they are both abbreviations and plurals. A shorter way of saying “My mother was born in the 1940s” is “My mother was born in the ’40s.” The apostrophe (not an opening single quotation mark) indicates where the two century digits would be, had they been included. There is no need to put an apostrophe between the zero and the s —that would incorrectly indicate a possessive.

In the 80’s, I had a haircut like the lead singer of A Flock of Seagulls.

In the ’80s, I had a haircut like the lead singer of A Flock of Seagulls.

In the eighties, I had a haircut like the lead singer of A Flock of Seagulls.

Writing Dates as Numerals

All-numeral date styles should not be used in formal writing, but there may be times when it is appropriate to use them. When you do, be aware that not all countries express dates with numerals in the same way. American usage calls for a month/day/year date format , the United Kingdom and much of Europe use a day/month/year format , and most countries in Asia use the year/month/day format . Some countries use a combination of these depending on context (Canada, for example, uses all three, depending on who is the recipient of the communication).

So remember, if you are American and you write to your British friend inviting him to celebrate Independence Day on 7/4 with you, you can expect your guest to arrive on April 7 (which he will express as 7 April). Likewise, if he invites you to his Guy Fawkes Day party on 5/11, you will need to mark your calendar for November 5 rather than May 11.

how to write date and time

Writing 101

How to write dates perfectly

how to write date and time

Writing dates can feel stressful because the rules and guidelines vary not just between US English or British English, but also depending on your preferred style guide .

In this post, we share general guidelines to help you write dates perfectly every time.

Note: Before we dive in, we’ll focus on how to write dates in US English.

How to write dates in US English correctly

As a general guide, dates are typically written in the order of month – day – year in US English. Here are the general rules and examples when using dates in your writing.

How to write the year

The year is typically written as numerals in US English. An exception is if you start your sentence with the year. In that situation, you should write out the year in words.

Note: When writing the year in words, you generally don’t write and after thousand when discussing a year after 2000 in US English.

Correct: Two thousand twenty was a challenging year for many students, who had to go to school virtually. Incorrect: 2020 was a challenging year for many students, who had to go to school virtually. Incorrect: Two thousand and twenty was a challenging year for many students, who had to go to school virtually.

How to write months and days

There are different formats you can select when writing the months and days, depending on your needs. When writing the month and day, you put the month before the date and use cardinal numbers (1, 2, 3, 4…) instead of ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th…).

Correct: They adopted the puppy on June 11. Incorrect: They adopted the puppy on June 11th.

If you want to write the date using the month, day, and year, you’ll use cardinal numbers for the day. You’ll also need a comma between the day and year. In US English, the month comes before the day, and the year comes after the day.

Correct: The research paper is due on April 23, 2021. Incorrect: The research paper is due on April 23rd, 2021. Incorrect: The research paper is due on April 23 2021.

You can use ordinal numbers if you’re writing the date using of or writing the day without including the month.

Correct: Her graduation will be on the 20th of June. Correct: Her graduation will be on the twentieth. Incorrect: Her graduation will be on the 20 of June.

How to write dates with days of the week

You’ll write the day of the week before the rest of the date when you want to include the day of the week. You’ll need to place a comma after the day of the week to separate it from the rest of the date.

Correct: The class will take a virtual tour of the museum on Monday, October 19, 2020. Incorrect: The class will take a virtual tour of the museum on Monday October 19, 2020.

How to write dates as decades and centuries

When writing the date as a decade or century, you can write it numerically or in words.

When writing decades numerically, you can write them as two-digit numbers with an apostrophe before the numbers and an “-s” after the numbers. You do this because when the decade is in a two-digit form, it’s both an abbreviation and plural.

Correct: Grunge rock music became commercially popular in the ’90s. Incorrect: Grunge rock music became commercially popular in the 90’s. Incorrect: Grunge rock music became commercially popular in the 90s.

The decade can also be written as four-digit numbers with an “-s” after the numbers, like this: 1990s. However, if you don’t include the “-s,” the reader may think you’re referring to that year instead of the whole decade.

Correct: In the 1960s and 1970s, bell-bottom pants were popular. Incorrect: In the 1960 and 1970, bell-bottom pants were popular. Incorrect: In the 1960’s and 1970’s, bell-bottom pants were popular.

When writing centuries numerically, you don’t use an apostrophe before the “-s” since centuries are plural and not possessive.

Correct: Many boys had bowl haircuts in the 1990s. Incorrect: Many boys had bowl haircuts in the 1990’s.

As with decades, you can also write out the century in words, such as the nineteenth century . Centuries are typically lowercase, unless it starts the sentence or is used in a title.

How to write dates in essays and papers

When writing dates in essays and papers, you want to follow the rules indicated by the styleguide you’re asked to follow, such as AP Stylebook , Chicago Manual of Style, The Cambridge Guide to English Usage, etc.

Correct: She started at the new school on September 1 but left on September 10. Incorrect: She started at the new school on September 1 but left on the 10th of September.

If you’re writing a formal paper, you’ll typically want to avoid abbreviations. If you choose to abbreviate part of the date, make sure the reader can understand the date based on the context clues. For instance, if you abbreviate the decade as the ’40s, it should be clear whether you mean the 1940s, the 1840s, and so on.

How to write dates in British English

When writing dates in British English, a lot of the rules are the same. However, there are a few key differences, including:

While there are different rules and styles to writing dates, the process doesn’t have to be difficult. To help guide you, determine your primary audience, whether you need to follow a particular styleguide, and write the dates consistently throughout. When writing, you’ll also want to make sure that any abbreviations make sense within the context of your paper. If there could be any confusion, you’ll want to avoid using abbreviations.

Concerned about writing dates incorrectly? Try Writer! Start a free trial and set your preferred format for short dates, long dates, and more.

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How to Write Dates Correctly: The Ultimate Guide

Write Dates Correctly

There are multiple ways to write the date. How do you know which format to use in a particular situation?

In this blog post, we will teach you how to write dates correctly in both American English and British English. We will also discuss some of the most common date formats used around the world.

So whether you’re writing a letter, an email, or a formal document, make sure you follow this guide to ensure you use the correct date format!

How to Write Dates in Words

There are many ways to write dates in words. The most common way to write the date in American English is to write the month first, followed by the day (e.g., January 1, 2022). The most common format in British English is the day first, followed by the month (e.g., 1 January 2022).

American English

In American English, we format the date in the following order: month, day, year.

January 1, 2022

With day of the week:

Monday, January 1, 2022

Examples of sentences with dates:

Using ordinal numbers, such as 1st, 4th, 10th, etc. in American English is not common.

British English

In British English, we format the date in the following order: day, month, year.

As you can see, the last two letters of the number word are sometimes added, i.e., 1st (first), 2nd (second), 3rd (third)… These are known as ordinal numbers.

We also optionally put a comma before the year although it is not necessary. This is most commonly done when the date occurs in a sentence.

How To Write the Dates in Numbers

American English and British English use different ways to write the date in figures. British people put the day first while American people put the month first.

In American English, we typically write dates in the following order: month/day/year. The date can be written in one of the following ways:

Examples of dates in numbers:

You can even lengthen the year to four digits if desired (and for clarity’s sake):

In British English, we typically write dates in the following order: day/month/year. The date can be written in one of the following ways:

Abbreviating the Date

The date can also be abbreviated in American and British English. We can do this if the date is not part of the main text of the document and to save space. Abbreviating the date is not recommended in formal writing.

The most common way to abbreviate the date is to shorten the month as follows:

Sep. / Sept.

Examples of how to abbreviate dates:

How to Write Dates Formally

When writing dates formally, we need to write the dates in full. There are many formats you can use.

American English (Formal)

British english (formal).

Make sure to keep the dates consistent throughout the document. Choose one format to use and stick to it.

How to Write Date Ranges Correctly

There are a few different ways we can write date ranges.

As a shortened form, we can use the en dash “–” like this:

Another way we can write date ranges is with the words “from” and “to” like this:

We can use “between” when talking about date ranges. This is another common way to mention date range:

How to Write the Date with the Day of the Week

As mentioned briefly already, here is how we can write the date with the day of the week included.

American English Examples:

British English Examples:

Examples of Sentences:

International Date Formats Used Around the World

There are a few different ways that dates are formatted around the world. Here are some of the most common ones:

YYYY/MM/DD (2020/01/21) – This is the international standard date format* and is used in many countries, including China, Japan , and Korea.

DD/MM/YYYY (21/01/2020) – This is the most common date format used in European countries , such as Ireland, the U.K., France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. It is also used in Australia and South Africa .

MM/DD/YYYY (01/21/2020) – This is the most common date format used in the United States and Canada.

*The international standard (ISO 8601) is written as YYYY-MM-DD. This may be used to avoid any confusion when communicating abroad.

How To Write the Date for the IELTS Exam

You can use either British or American English for the IELTS exam. The IELTS examiners will not mark you down for using one format over the other.

However, it is important to be consistent throughout your essay or letter. Choose one format and stick to it.

You should also consider the tone of writing; in other words, is it formal or casual? Are you writing to a friend or an employer?

For the exam, we know that the letter is formal if we see “Dear Sir/Madam…” If you are writing to a friend, keep it informal.

Here are some tips to be mindful of when writing the date for the IELTS exam (formal):

Here are some tips to be mindful of when writing the date for the IELTS exam (informal):

Tips for writing dates in the IELTS Listening Exam:

Tips for saying the dates in the IELTS Exam:

We ALWAYS use ordinal numbers when speaking, for example, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th…

Be careful with similar sounding numbers, such as twelve, twenty, fourteen, forty and so forth.

7 November 1968

American English : ‘November the seventh, nineteen sixty-eight’ or ‘November seventh, nineteen sixty-eight’

British English : ‘the seventh of November, nineteen sixty-eight’

13 February 2022

American English: ‘February the thirteenth, two thousand and twenty-two’ or ‘February thirteenth, twenty twenty-two.’

British English: ‘the thirteenth of February, two thousand and twenty-two’ or ‘the thirteenth of February, twenty twenty-two.’

How Do You Say The Years in English?

We say the years in English by using a combination of numbers and words.

Here are some examples:

We can also say the years by using a combination of numbers and words. Using “and” in the sentence is optional. The second “or” option is more informal than the first.

Other years to practice saying:

How Do You Say The Decades in English?

We can also write them with a comma, depending on the style guide we are using.

Using on and in with Dates

We use “on” when giving a date with the exact day. We use “in” when referring to a month or a year.

To Ask About Dates

We often need to ask others about dates. Here are some examples of how to do this:

To Answer About Dates

To announce the date, use ‘it’s.’

You may have seen other ways of writing dates, such as: Before Christ (BC) and Anno Domini (AD). Anno Domini” is Latin for “in the year of our Lord.

BC follows the date. AD can come before or after the date.

A more modern, alternative approach to writing these dates is to use the abbreviation “BCE,” which stands for Before Common Era. We can use the abbreviation “CE” to mean Common Era.

In Conclusion

We hope you found this guide helpful. Choose a date format and stick to it. Remember to practice writing and saying the dates in English often so that it becomes second nature to you.

If you have any questions, please leave us a comment below!

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Grammar Guide

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How to Write the Date Correctly

Krystal N. Craiker

Blog Manager and Indie Author

How to write the date title

Writing dates can be confusing. Where do the commas go? What if you need to include the day of the week?

Today, we’re teaching you how to write the date correctly every time.

Most of this article will focus on the American date format, but we will cover the differences between British and American English date formats, too.

How to Write Dates

Correct date format in british english, how to write the date and time in a sentence, write dates consistently.

One reason writing dates is so confusing is that there are so many options.

How to write the date varies based on geography, the circumstance, such as how formal you need to be, whether you need the year, and whether you’re using purely numerical forms.

We’ve broken down the different date formats, so you know how to write the date in every situation.

Month-Day-Year

The month-day-year date is the most common format used in America.

When you need to write the entire date, place a comma after the day. Here’s what it looks like:

July 4, 1776

When we see the date, we read the day in our heads, or out loud, as ordinal numbers. However, it’s not necessary to actually use ordinal numbers (e.g. 4th) when you write the day.

When you write the month-day-year format in the middle of a sentence, place another comma after the year.

America was founded on July 4, 1776, when the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence.

Month, day, year date format

Writing just the month and day is simple. Just leave off the comma and the year.

When you write the month-day format in the middle of a sentence, only place a comma after the day if the date ends a dependent clause or introductory phrase. Never place a comma after the month.

Just like when you include the year, there’s no need to write the ordinal number form of the day.

The only time the date should include an ordinal number is when the format is inverted and the word “of” is included. Here’s an example from a famous folk song:

I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy! Yankee Doodle do-or-die. A real live nephew of my Uncle Sam, born on the 4th of July.

In this form, you can use numeric or word formats for the ordinal numbers: 4th or fourth.

Month, day, and month, year date formats

Sometimes, we only need to write dates with the month and year. We might refer to a general time frame, or we may not know the exact date of something.

As with other date formats, don’t include a comma between the month and year. Only place a comma after the year if the date ends a dependent clause or introductory phrase.

Let’s look at a few examples of how to write the month and year.

With the Day of the Week

Writing the date tip

When writing dates with the day of the week, always place a comma between the day of the week and the rest of the date. Then, follow the above rules for the rest of the date.

This is one type of date format where the comma rule is the same for British English: you always put a comma after the day of the week.

Here are some examples of how to write the date with the day of the week. Please note these examples are using the American date format.

A grammar guru, style editor, and writing mentor in one package.

Numerical Forms

Numerical date options

We don’t always write dates by spelling out the month. Often, we use an all-numeric date format, such as when we sign a form, take notes, or write in a diary.

Typically, we don’t use the purely numerical form when writing the date in a sentence. In those situations, use the rules above and spell out the month.

When you do write the date with just numbers, there are a few ways you can format it. However, you should always use the month-day-year format for American English.

There are a few accepted punctuation marks for numeric dates: hyphens , slashes , and periods . In American dates, hyphens and slashes are the most common.

It’s also acceptable to omit the zero in the month or day, if the number is less than 10. However, some online forms will require you to use a zero.

You can use either four digits or two digits for the year. Only use two-digit numbers if it’s clear which century you’re talking about.

If it’s a birthdate of a living person, we can deduce whether the year occurred in the 1900s or 2000s.

Now, let’s take a look at several ways we might write the same date in the numerical format.

Selecting one of these date formats is usually a matter of personal preference, although if you have a style guide for your writing, defer to its formatting.

The important thing is to be consistent with whichever format you choose.

Years, Decades, and Centuries

Apostrophes and dates

Years, decades, and centuries can be confusing to write. Let’s look at each type in more detail.

When we write the year, we typically use a four-digit format.

We saw in the previous section that we can use a two-digit year in the numeric form. Both four digits and two digits are correct and are a matter of personal preference.

But sometimes we reference a year in a sentence and only use two-digits. In this case, we place an apostrophe before the digits. The apostrophe replaces the century of a four-digit year.

I bought a ’69 Camaro.

We don’t always use a two-digit format in a sentence. You could say, “I bought a 1969 Camaro.” But when you choose to use only two-digits in a sentence, the apostrophe is required.

Remember, the apostrophe is not required when you write an entire, exact date in numerical form.

When we write years out in long form, you can include “and” after “thousand,” or you can omit it. American English tends to omit the “and,” but it's correct either way.

Apostrophe rules get tricky when we write decades. When we reference a decade, the rules for writing plurals apply: never use apostrophes for plural words. For decades, never put an apostrophe between the decade and the /s/.

If you omit the first two digits, place an apostrophe before the decade number. You still shouldn’t put an apostrophe before the /s/.

You can also write the decade in word form, e.g. “eighties.”

Similarly to decades, if you reference a century in a four-digit format, do not place an apostrophe before the /s/.

Adding an apostrophe to plurals is a common writing error. ProWritingAid will point out unnecessary apostrophes in your plural numbers.

ProWritingAid correcting an aprostrophe in a decade

When you write centuries in the ordinal form, add the correct suffix after the number or use the word format. There’s no need to capitalize the word form.

Day, month, year date format

British English uses a different date format in which the month and day are inverted (day-month-year). In British English, dates do not need commas before or after the year, even in a sentence.

The inverted format also applies to numeric dates, e.g. 14/2/2017.

We’ve seen several examples of how to write the date in a sentence. Writing the time in a sentence is simple.

You can write the time in a sentence as hour:minute plus a.m. or p.m. If you’re using a 24-hour time format, the a.m. or p.m. is not required.

You can also leave it off if it’s clear what time of day something occurs. Here’s what this looks like:

If the time that you’re writing occurs on the hour, you can also write “o’clock.” Instead of a.m. or p.m., describe the time of day if necessary.

If you need to write both the time and date, just combine the rules. Here are two examples:

There are many ways to write a date, but it’s important to use the same format consistently throughout your writing.

ProWritingAid’s Consistency Report can check for consistent mechanics, like dates, punctuation, spelling variations, and more.

ProWritingAid's consistency check

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20 Editing Tips From Professional Writers

20 Editing Tips from Professional Writers

Whether you are writing a novel, essay, article, or email, good writing is an essential part of communicating your ideas., this guide contains the 20 most important writing tips and techniques from a wide range of professional writers..

Krystal N. Craiker is the Writing Pirate, an indie romance author and blog manager at ProWritingAid. She sails the seven internet seas, breaking tropes and bending genres. She has a background in anthropology and education, which brings fresh perspectives to her romance novels. When she’s not daydreaming about her next book or article, you can find her cooking gourmet gluten-free cuisine, laughing at memes, and playing board games. Krystal lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, child, and basset hound. Check out her website or follow her on Instagram: @krystalncraikerauthor.

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Spec Ops Magazine

Military time: The military date time group explained

Author: Eric Sof

Last modified: January 12, 2021

The military date time group

The military time and military Date Time Group (DTG) format is used in everything from operations orders to airlifts, and it is essential for every service member to know how to put together a Date Time Group (DTG) format correctly.

In fact, a date-time group ( DTG ) is a set of characters, usually in a prescribed format , used to express the year, the month, the day of the month, the hour of the day, the minute of the hour, and the time zone, if different from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

How to write a DTG format?

Often referred to as army or military date format, the Date Time Group (DTG) is traditionally formatted as DDHHMM(Z)MONYY

An example is 630pm on January 6th, 2012 in Fayetteville NC would read 061830RJAN12

DD-Day of the month (e.g. January 6th=06)

HHMM- Time in 24 hr format +military time zone (e.g. 6:30pm in =1830).

Z- Military identifier- see below for a complete list

MON- 3 digit month code, (e.g. January= JAN)

YY- 2 Digit year, (e.g. 2012= 12)

Military Time Code

The military time zone is used as a representation to Coordinate Universal Time (UTC) which is based on hours + or – Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) which is considered hour 0.

In military time code reference, Greenwich Mean time is referred to as Zulu (Z). In operations spanning multiple time zones, Zulu will be used to give all operating units a time zone to adjust their time to so that everyone is on the same page.

One common mistake when using the military time code is to use “L” as Local time. In fact “L” is used to represent the time code for UTC+11 which covers parts of Russia and Australia. When referring to your time zone be sure to see what your local code identifier is by using the reference below.

Military Time Code Letter Reference:

Military Time Code Letter Reference (Time and Date Time Group)

Military time format

Military time format makes reading and writing of time lot easier and more compatible for communication which is desirable for military use. It works on a 24- hour clock that starts at midnight which is referred to as 0000 hours, which means that 1:00 a.m. is now being 0100 hours, 2:00 a.m. being 0200 hours, etc. all the way to 11:00 p.m. being 2300 hours.

Military time format in fact is written with four digits, two for the hours and two for the minutes. Seconds are not normally used.

Convert military time

To convert regular time format to the military time format use the chart below:

Pronunciation

The most notable difference between regular and military time format is the manner in which hours are expressed.

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6 thoughts on “military time: the military date time group explained”.

I am writing a short story in which a portion of the story takes place in 2 different time zones: EST and CST.

I want to present a timeline to show that event A takes place at 2:30am EST and event B takes place at 1:48am CST.

How do I indicate that in military(Zulu) time ? For example

0730 Zulu Military time ( 2:30 am, EST ) Marine Major AB’s phone rang in the morning at Eglin AFB, FL

0748 Zulu Military time ( 1:48 am, CST ) Major CD’s phone rang about 18 minutes later in Houston, TX

Do I have the Zulu Military time designations correct ? Thanks !

If you want to use the Zulu designation in your Date/Time Group, you need to be consistent. You can express them both as Zulu, just make the conversion from DD0748SMMMYY to the appropriate time in Zulu, and change the time zone designator. You can also use the first one as DD0730RMMMYY. You can switch back and forth between zulu time, and local time, just change the time zone designator.

The Navy does not include uttering “hours” when pronouncing the time. We just plainly say “Thirteen hundred” (1300). This is drilled into every recruit in boot camp to which I personally experienced.

Hi, Looking for a little help if you can. I want to write DTG for 28th May 1995 2242 in Sydney Australia. I don’t think I have it right. 282242 (time zone Z?) may95 Could you please correct me. Thanks Susannah

It is worth noting that the use of 0000 for midnight is avoided in military use to avoid confusion with date comprehension. Either 2359 or 0001 is therefore used, which decades ago led rise to the popular myth that you had “2 mins” where you were in limbo and that the military did not “own you”.

Kind regards, Chris Fawcett Royal Air Force

I suggest adding to the time zone letter section – 1/2 hour time zones (of which there are several around world) will us two letters, e.g. IK for South Australia and Northern Territory, DE for Afghanistan – when 1 hour daylight savings is in force, the next letter to the East is used, etc.

Andrew Adelaide

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In this tutorial, we'll learn about dates and times in SQL and how to use them with examples.

Working with date and time can be tricky because the date formats may vary for different reasons. For example, the United States follows the date format of mm-dd-yyyy whereas the United Kingdom follows the date format of dd-mm-yyyy .

Moreover, different database systems use different data types to store date and time. Here's a quick overview of how date and time are stored by different database systems.

There are too many date functions available in each database. However, in this tutorial, we will follow along with commonly used date functions in Microsoft SQL Server.

Creating a Table to Store Date and Time

We have to create a column with date data type when creating a table. For example,

Query Records Using Dates

We can also run queries to retrieve records filtering by dates. For example,

Here, the SQL command returns teams that are registered at 2020-10-11 .

Let's take a look at another example,

Here, the SQL command selects teams that are registered after the date 2022-10-12 only.

Commonly Used Date Functions

This function is used to get the current date and time. For example,

Here, the function returns the current date and time.

CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

This function is used to get the current timestamp in the system. For example,

Here, the function returns the current timestamp in the system.

DATEDIFF(date_part, start_date, end_date)

This function is used to determine the number of days difference between two days. For example,

Here, the function returns the difference between two dates in months.

DATEADD(date_part, number, date)

This function is used to add a number to a given date part. For example,

Here, the function adds 1 to month part of the date 2022-08-31 .

Note: Although we've only discussed a few functions used in the SQL server, there are several other functions used in different databases. Please refer to each database's documentation for a reference.

Table of Contents

Introduction

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How to Write Dates Correctly
How to Write the Month and Day. When referring to a specific date in the month-day date format, use cardinal numbers (one, two, three) rather than ordinal numbers (first, second, third). This may feel counterintuitive because we normally use ordinal numbers when we “speak” of dates.
9 Best Ways to Write a Date and Time Range in a Sentence
9 Best Ways to Write a Date and Time Range in a Sentence. January 3-7 (Monday-Friday), 2022, At 09:00 a.m. – 05:00 p.m. This phrase is a great way of showing a time and date range. It covers all the necessary ... Monday-Friday, January 3-7, 2022, 09:00 a.m. – 05:00 p.m. Daily. M-F, 09:00-17:00, 3-7 ...
Writing Dates and Times
Rule: Some use numerals with the time of day when exact times are being emphasized. Example: Her flight leaves at 6:22 a.m. Example: Please arrive by 12:30 p.m. sharp. Rule: It is clearer to use noon and midnight rather than 12:00 p.m. or 12:00 a.m. Note: You may use AM and PM, A.M. and P.M., am and pm, or a.m. and p.m.
How to write dates perfectly
If you want to write the date using the month, day, and year, you’ll use cardinal numbers for the day. You’ll also need a comma between the day and year. In US English, the month comes before the day, and the year comes after the day. You can use ordinal numbers if you’re writing the date using of or writing the day without including the month.
How to Write Dates Correctly: The Ultimate Guide
The date can be written in one of the following ways: MM/DD/YY MM-DD-YY MM.DD.YY Examples of dates in numbers: 01/21/20 (this means: January 21, 2020) 05/12/90 (this means: May 12, 1990) Or, like this: 01-21-20 05-12-90 Or this: 01.21.20 05.12.90 You can even lengthen the year to four digits if desired (and for clarity’s sake): …
How to Write the Date Correctly
If you need to write both the time and date, just combine the rules. Here are two examples: My flight arrives on December 13 at 10:40 a.m. Your appointment is at 2 o’clock on February 27, 2022. Write Dates Consistently. There are many ways to write a date, but it’s important to use the same format consistently throughout your writing.
Writing Dates and Times
Writing Dates and Times Rule: The following examples apply when using dates: The meeting is scheduled for June 30. The meeting is scheduled for the 30th of June. We have had tricks played on us on April 1. The 1st of April puts some people on edge. (Some prefer to write it out: The first of April)
How do you denote date and time in written English?
Expressing a date and time is a matter of style, whether dictated by a style guide or simply your personal style. There are thus scores of acceptable ways to phrase your meeting request, mixing words and numerals, abbreviations, formatting of the time, and so …
Military time: The military date time group explained
How to write a DTG format? Often referred to as army or military date format, the Date Time Group (DTG) is traditionally formatted as DDHHMM (Z)MONYY. An example is 630pm on January 6th, 2012 in Fayetteville NC would read 061830RJAN12. DD-Day of the month (e.g. January 6th=06) HHMM- Time in 24 hr format +military time zone …
SQL Date and Time (With Examples)
Commonly Used Date Functions GETDATE () This function is used to get the current date and time. For example, SELECT GETDATE(); Here, the function returns the current date and time. CURRENT_TIMESTAMP This function is used to get the current timestamp in the system. For example, SELECT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP;