The $fd function converts a given date or time into a formatted readable text. A format pattern may be specified as well as a time zone.

Syntax

$fd(date[,format[,timeZone]])

Parameter

Name	Description
date	Any of the following supported date/time types: DateTime (Date with time and time zone) DateRange (Date range. "From" and "To" date will be formatted and printed separately) Number (Timestamp in milliseconds) Time (Time object) Timestamp (Timestamp object)
format (optional)	An optional format pattern. If not given, the default pattern from the localization will be loaded (lobsterui/dateFormat lobsterui/timeFormat). The pattern is defined by a placeholder syntax, where each placholder sequence will be replaced by the appropriate date or time values. e.g. 'yyyy/MM/dd' stands for two digits day, two digits month, four digits year (example result: 2019/12/03). A list of supported placeholders can be found later in the appropriate chapter of the manual.
timeZone (optional)	An optional time zone can be defined in which the date is printed. By default the default time zone of the user will be used. See also: getUserTimezone (Get user time zone). The time zone can be given as TimeZone object as well as time zone id (e.g. Europe/Berlin). If possible at all, a Javascript Date can be given from which the time zone is red. This is not possible in any common way.

Returns the given time as formatted text.

Sample value	Monday, 07/04/2005 17:03:05,004 Pattern and sample output (standard EN) per component with sample value as above:
Component	1x	2x	3x	4x	5x
year	Y "05"	YY "05"	YYY "2005"	YYYY "2005"	YYYYY "02005"
quarter	Q "3"	QQ "03"	QQQ "Q3"	QQQQ "third Quarter"
month	M "7"	MM "07"	MMM "Jul"	MMMM "July"
day of week	E "1"	EE "01"	EEE "Mon"	EEEE "Monday"
day (of month)	D "4"	DD "04"	additional pre-zeros (without practical relevance)
hour 1-12	h "5"	hh "05"	additional pre-zeros (without practical relevance)
hour 0-11	K "5"	KK "05"	additional pre-zeros (without practical relevance)
hour 0-23	H "17"	HH "17"	additional pre-zeros (without practical relevance)
hour (AM/PM)	a "AM"	repetitions of 'a' are ignored
minutes	m "3"	mm "03"	additional pre-zeros (without practical relevance)
seconds	s "5"	ss "05"	additional pre-zeros (without practical relevance)
milliseconds	S "4"	SS "04"	SSS "004"	additional pre-zeros (without practical relevance)

►NOTE◄

If components (see rows in table above) are addressed more than once within the same pattern, an empty string is returned instead of the whole pattern.
There is no option to explicitly declare characters as 'literal' within the pattern, to prevent interpretation. This imposes the following constraints on pattern design:
- All characters, representing components according to the table above, cannot be used as literals in a pattern. This constraint is handled as case sensitive.

Negative examples are highlighted red.

Input value	Pattern	Output	Comment/Issue
05/17/2011 17:35:11.050	YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm	2011-05-17 17:35	date/time format suitable for string sorting.
	YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM	empty	duplicate reference to component month per MM (as opposed to 'mm' for minutes).
	YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm UTC	2011-05-17 17:35 UTC	reference to time zone 'UTC' entered as a literal.
	YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm GMT	empty	character 'M' in supposed literal 'GMT' qualifies as a duplicate reference to month (MM).
	EEEE HH:mm GMT	Tuesday 17:35 G5T	without a reference to 'MM' (for month) the number of the month ('5') replaces the 'M' character in supposed literal 'GMT'.
05/17/2011 00:35:11.050	hh:mm a	12:35 AM	12-hour time format where the first hour of the AM/PM period reads as '12'.
	KK:mm a	00:35 AM	12-hour time format where the first hour of the AM/PM period reads as '0'.
	HH:mm:ss.SSS	00:35:11.050	Time format with maximum precision (milliseconds).
	HH:mm:ss.S	00:35:11.50	Time format with inappropriate representation the milliseconds.
	EEEE, D. MMMM (QQQ)	leer	The supposed literal comma ',' character destroys the syntax of the surrounding expression, as it suggests an additional argument follows after EEEE: `$fd(..., EEEE, D. MMMM (QQQ))` Instead it should be: `$fd(..., EEEE\, D. MMMM (QQQ\))`
	PARSE(EEEE, D. MMMM {QQQ})	Tuesday, 17. May	The component for quarter is omitted, since the curved brackets inside the PARSE function as interpreted as a reference to an element with 'id' QQQ which might not exist. Instead the pattern should be: D. MMMM \{QQQ\}

Some patterns resolve strings that may be localized by Localization or Company specific localization.

Component	Pattern	Bundle name	Resource name	EN (Standard)	DE (Standard)
quarter	`QQQQ`	`lobsterui`	`quarterNames`	first quarter,second quarter,third quarter,fourth quarter	erstes Quartal,zweites Quartal,drittes Quartal,viertes Quartal
month	`MMMM`	`lobsterui`	`month.names`	January,February,March, ...	Januar,Februar,März, ...
month	`MMM`	`lobsterui`	`month.namesShort`	Jan,Feb,Mar,Apr,May,Jun,Jul,Aug,Sep,Oct,Nov,Dec	Jan,Feb,Mrz,Apr,Mai,Jun,Jul,Aug,Sep,Okt,Nov,Dez
day of week	`EEEE`	`lobsterui`	`dayNames`	Sunday,Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday,Saturday	Sonntag,Montag,Dienstag,Mittwoch,Donnerstag,Freitag,Samstag
day of week	`EEE`	`lobsterui`	`dayNamesShort`	Sun,Mon,Tue,Wed,Thu,Fri,Sat	So,Mo,Di,Mi,Do,Fr,Sa
hour (AM/PM)	`a`	`lobsterui`	`am`	AM	vorm.
hour (AM/PM)	`a`	`lobsterui`	`pm`	PM	nachm.

Parameter	Description
`date`	Any date.
`format(optional)`	An optional formatting pattern. If not given, the default pattern from the localization is used (lobsterui/dateFormat, lobsterui/timeFormat). The pattern is defined by a placeholder syntax, where each placholder sequence will be replaced by the appropriate date or time values. e.g. 'yyyy/MM/dd' stands for two digits day, two digits month, four digits year (example result: 2019/12/03). A list of supported placeholders can be found in the appropriate chapter of the manual.
`timeZone` `(optional)`	Optionally, the time zone in which the date is to be output can be defined here. See the appropriate chapter in the manual for details.