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DatePattern[{"e1","e2",…}]

represents the characters of a date with elements of type "ei" in StringExpression.

DatePattern[{"e1","e2",…},sep]

allows separators that match the string expression sep.

Details
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Examples  
Basic Examples  
Scope  
Applications  
Properties & Relations  
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DatePattern

DatePattern[{"e1","e2",…}]

represents the characters of a date with elements of type "ei" in StringExpression.

DatePattern[{"e1","e2",…},sep]

allows separators that match the string expression sep.

Details

  • Possible element types "ei" are: "Year", "Quarter", "Month", "MonthName", "Day", "DayName", "Hour", "AMPM", "Minute", "Second".
  • If no explicit separator is specified, the "ei" must be separated by /, -, :, or . characters.

Examples

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Basic Examples  (3)

Compare a string to a list of date elements:

Wolfram Language code: StringMatchQ["3/15/1984", DatePattern[{"Month", "Day", "Year"}]]

Compare to a list of time elements:

Wolfram Language code: StringMatchQ["00:38:16", DatePattern[{"Hour", "Minute", "Second"}]]

Compare to a pattern with all separators explicitly given:

Wolfram Language code: StringMatchQ["Wed, 15 Nov 2006", DatePattern[{"DayName", ", ", "Day", " ", "MonthName", " ", "Year"}]]

Scope  (2)

Date elements do not match out-of-range values:

Wolfram Language code: StringMatchQ["3/15/1984", DatePattern[{"Day", "Month", "Year"}]]

Test a string allowing only "/" characters as separators:

Wolfram Language code: StringMatchQ["12/10/06", DatePattern[{"Year", "Month", "Day"}, "/"]]

Test the same string allowing only colon separators:

Wolfram Language code: StringMatchQ["12/10/06", DatePattern[{"Year", "Month", "Day"}, ":"]]

Applications  (1)

Define a function only for month, year strings:

Wolfram Language code: f[dt_ ? (StringMatchQ[#, DatePattern[{"Month", "Year"}]]&)] := AbsoluteTime[dt]
Wolfram Language code: f["5/2007"]

The function returns unevaluated for other input patterns:

Wolfram Language code: f["1/2/3"]

Properties & Relations  (1)

DateString gives results that match a date pattern:

Wolfram Language code: DateString[{"Hour", ":", "Minute"}]
Wolfram Language code: StringMatchQ[%, DatePattern[{"Hour", ":", "Minute"}]]
Wolfram Research (2007), DatePattern, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DatePattern.html.

Text

Wolfram Research (2007), DatePattern, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DatePattern.html.

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2007. "DatePattern." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DatePattern.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2007). DatePattern. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DatePattern.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2026_datepattern, author="Wolfram Research", title="{DatePattern}", year="2007", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DatePattern.html}", note=[Accessed: 13-June-2026]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2026_datepattern, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={DatePattern}, year={2007}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/DatePattern.html}, note=[Accessed: 13-June-2026]}