ABAP Keyword Documentation

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Formatting Settings

Formats

The formatting settings of the language environment determine

the number format (decimal and thousand separators)

, the date format (separators and order)

, and the time format (24 hour or 12 hour format)

for formatted outputs.

Definition

The formatting settings are set as follows:

At the beginning of an internal mode they are determined by the related default settings in the fixed values in the user master record of the current user.

Using the SET COUNTRY statement, this default setting for the current internal mode can be overwritten using country-specific formats.

Effect

The formatting settings affect the following ABAP language elements:

Assignments with the statement WRITE TO

Outputs in lists with the statement WRITE

Specification of the parameter environment for the formatting options NUMBER, DATE, TIME, and TIMESTAMP for embedded expressions in character string templates.

The formatting setting set in the user master record also affect the preparation of number, date, and time entries on the screens of Dynpros.

Handling Invalid Values

Preparing the content of data object of the types d or t normally takes place independently from their content. Invalid values are also compiled as date or time entries. For time outputs in the 12 hour format, the separators are inserted at the respective points for invalid values and the output of the AM/am or PM/pm abbreviation is undefined for the following exception.

Dynpros do not support any invalid values in the time fields with the 24 hour format with the exception of the value "24:00:00". This value is stored there as "240000" when copying to an ABAP field of type t. To be able to support this value also in the time fields with the 12 hours format, it is prepared as "24:00:00 PM/pm".

Note

The class CL_ABAP_TIMEFM contains a help method for dealing with time formats.

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Country-Specific Formats
SET COUNTRY