## D. Date and Time Format

You may insert the current time and date into Ovation documents very simply using the following keypresses:

- Shift Insert insert time
- Insert insert date
- Shift Ctrl Insert insert time and date

Please note that time and date are inserted as ordinary text strings. They record the time and date registered by the computer's internal clock when they were inserted into the text and they are not updated.

The default formats are:

- time: 8:34pm
- date: 30th October 1990
- time and date: 30th October 1990 8:35pm

The formats are controlled by two system variables called Ovation$TimeFormat and Ovation$DateFormat whose values are set by the Ovation !Run file when Ovation is started. If you would prefer to use a different format, you should load the Ovation !Run file into Edit and customise the lines which read:

        Set Ovation$DateFormat %ZDY%ST %MO %CE%YR
        Set Ovation$TimeFormat %Z12:%MI%AM

These variables are made up as follows. Each field represents a component of the string to be printed. If a component does not begin with a % character, that component is sent to the string as it stands. In the above examples note the two spaces in the date format and the colon in the time format. You could add commas or dashes to separate components if you prefer.

If a component is prefaced by a % it is a code representing data to be processed from the computer's internal clock and calendar. If a Z follows immediately after the %, leading zeros are suppressed.

The following codes are recognised:

       Name          Value                Example
      --------------------------------------------
        CS   centi-seconds                  99
        SE   seconds                        59
        MI   minutes                        05
        12   hours in 12-hour format        07
        24   hours in 24-hour format        23
        AM   'am' or 'pm'                   am
        PM   'am' or 'pm'                   pm
        WE   weekday, in full             Thursday
        W3   weekday, first three letters   Thu
        WN   weekday, as a number           5
        DY   day of month                   01
        ST   'st', 'nd', 'rd' or 'th'       st
        MO   month, in full               January
        M3   month, first three letters     Jan
        MN   month, as a number             01
        CE   century                        19
        YR   year within century            91
        WK   week of the year               52