The following table identifies characters you can use to create user-defined date/time formats:

CharacterDescription
(:)Time separator. In some locales, other characters may be used to represent the time separator. The time separator separates hours, minutes, and seconds when time values are formatted. The actual character used as the time separator in formatted output is determined by your system settings.
(/)Date separator. In some locales, other characters may be used to represent the date separator. The date separator separates the day, month, and year when date values are formatted. The actual character used as the date separator in formatted output is determined by your system settings.
cDisplay the date as ddddd and display the time as
ttttt, in that order.Display only date information if there is no fractional part to the date serial number; display only time information if there is no integer portion.
dDisplay the day as a number without a leading zero (1 – 31).
ddDisplay the day as a number with a leading zero (01 – 31).
dddDisplay the day as an abbreviation (Sun – Sat).
ddddDisplay the day as a full name (Sunday – Saturday).
dddddDisplay the date as a complete date (including day, month, and year), formatted according to your system's short date format setting. For Microsoft Windows, the default short date format is m/d/yy.
ddddddDisplay a date serial number as a complete date (including day, month, and year) formatted according to the long date setting recognized by your system. For Microsoft Windows, the default long date format is mmmm dd, yyyy.
wDisplay the day of the week as a number (1 for Sunday through 7 for Saturday).
wwDisplay the week of the year as a number (1 – 54).
mDisplay the month as a number without a leading zero (1 – 12). If m immediately follows h or hh, the minute rather than the month is displayed.
mmDisplay the month as a number with a leading zero (01 – 12). If m immediately follows h or hh, the minute rather than the month is displayed.
mmmDisplay the month as an abbreviation (Jan – Dec).
mmmmDisplay the month as a full month name (January – December).
qDisplay the quarter of the year as a number (1 – 4).
yDisplay the day of the year as a number (1 – 366).
yyDisplay the year as a 2-digit number (00 – 99).
yyyyDisplay the year as a 4-digit number (100 – 9999).
hDisplay the hour as a number without leading zeros (0 – 23).
hhDisplay the hour as a number with leading zeros (00 – 23).
nDisplay the minute as a number without leading zeros (0 – 59).
nnDisplay the minute as a number with leading zeros (00 – 59).
sDisplay the second as a number without leading zeros (0 – 59).
ssDisplay the second as a number with leading zeros (00 – 59).
t t t t tDisplay a time as a complete time (including hour, minute, and second), formatted using the time separator defined by the time format recognized by your system. A leading zero is displayed if the leading zero option is selected and the time is before 10:00 A.M. or P.M. For Microsoft Windows, the default time format is h:mm:ss.
AM/PMUse the 12-hour clock and display an uppercase AM with any hour before noon; display an uppercase PM with any hour between noon and 11:59 P.M.
am/pmUse the 12-hour clock and display a lowercase AM with any hour before noon; display a lowercase PM with any hour between noon and 11:59 P.M.
A/PUse the 12-hour clock and display an uppercase A with any hour before noon; display an uppercase P with any hour between noon and 11:59 P.M.
a/pUse the 12-hour clock and display a lowercase A with any hour before noon; display a lowercase P with any hour between noon and 11:59 P.M.
AMPMUse the 12-hour clock and display the AM string literal as defined by your system with any hour before noon; display the PM string literal as defined by your system with any hour between noon and 11:59 P.M. AMPM can be either uppercase or lowercase, but the case of the string displayed matches the string as defined by your system settings. For Microsoft Windows, the default format is AM/PM.

The following are examples of user-defined date and time formats for December 7, 1958:

FormatDisplay
m/d/yy12/7/58
d-mmm7-Dec
d-mmmm-yy7-December-58
d mmmm7 December
mmmm yyDecember 58
hh:mm AM/PM08:50 PM
h:mm:ss a/p8:50:35 p
h:mm20:50
h:mm:ss20:50:35
m/d/yy h:mm12/7/58 20:50