• Set DateTime, Date, and Time Display Formats
• DateTime, Date, and Time Display Options
• Supported Entry Formats
• Number Format Strings
• Examples

Set DateTime, Date, and Time Display Formats

An administrator can configure the way DateTime, Date, and Time field values are displayed in the application. This does not affect how values may be imported, but can be used to standardize or simplify the display to users.

There are three separate format selectors available for dates, date-times, and time-only values, as shown in the image below. For each, you can check the box to Use Default or select the pattern you prefer.

• Select > Application Settings.
• When the Use Default box is checked, you will be inheriting a default setting.
• Uncheck the box and choose a different Display format for date/date-times/time-only values if desired.

• Click Save.

DateTime, Date, and Time Display Options

Date, Time, and DateTime display formats are selected from a set of standard options, giving you flexibility for how users will see these values. DateTime fields combine one of each format, with the option of choosing "<none>" as the Time portion.

Date formats available:

Time formats available:

Supported Entry Formats

When your site is configured to use Day-Month-Year parsing (as typical outside the U.S.), a typed or pasted date does not need to match the field's configured display format exactly. During import, LabKey checks the entry against a set of accepted formats.

An entry is checked in this order until a match is found:

• The field's own configured display format
• Any other supported Day-Month-Year entry (below)
• Any supported Year-Month-Day entry (below)
• The folder, project, or site display format, if different from the field's own format

• Day: two digits, e.g. 02
• Month: two digits, a three-letter abbreviation, or the full name, e.g. 04, Apr, or April
• Year: two or four digits, e.g. 25 or 2025
• Separator: a hyphen, slash, or period, used consistently, e.g. 02-04-2025 or 02/April/2025, not mixed

Any of these entries can also include a time portion, for example 02-04-2025 14:30:00 or 2025/Apr/02 02:30 PM.

An entry that doesn't match any supported format is rejected, including any entry where the day, month, and year are separated by spaces.

Number Format Strings

Format strings for Integer and Decimal fields must be compatible with the format that the java class DecimalFormat accepts. A valid DecimalFormat is a pattern specifying a prefix, numeric part, and suffix. For more information see the Java documentation. The following table has an abbreviated guide to pattern symbols:

Examples

The following examples apply to Decimal fields.

Related Topics

• Field Properties Reference
• String Expression Format Functions
• LabKey Server Date and Number Formats Reference
• Java Reference for Number Formats (DecimalFormat)