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Formatting SAP date field using ABAP into any format such as DDMMYYY, MM/DD/YYYY, DD-MMM-YY...



Below is some ABAP code to demonstrate a number of ways to format a SAP date value:

Using the WRITE statement
The first method is using the WRITE statement

i.e. WRITE ld_sourcefield TO ld_resultfield DD/MM/YY.

...other options available for date format using WRITE TO
    [ DD/MM/YY   | MM/DD/YY
    | DD/MM/YYYY | MM/DD/YYYY
    | DDMMYY     | MMDDYY
    | YYMMDD ] ... .   

*using the WRITE TO statement
*****************************
  data: gd_date(10).  "field to store output date

* Converts SAP date from 20020901 to 01.09.2002
  write sy-datum to gd_date dd/mm/yyyy.

* Converts SAP date from 20020901 to 01.09.02
  write sy-datum to gd_date dd/mm/yy.

* Converts SAP date from 20020901 to 09.01.02
  write sy-datum to gd_date mm/dd/yy.

* Converts SAP date from 20020901 to 020901
  write sy-datum to gd_date yymmdd.
"....



Using offset and string manipulation techniques

* Using basic data manipulation techniques
************************************
   data: gd_date(8).  "field to store output date

* Converts SAP date from 20010901(YYYYMMDD) to 01092001(DDMMYYYY)
  gd_date(2)    = sy-datum+6(2).
  gd_date+2(2) = sy-datum+4(2).
  gd_date+4(4) = sy-datum(4).

*....
* taking this technique bit further you can produce any output you want
************************************
   data: gd_outputdate type string,
                gd_day(2),   "field to store day 'DD'
                gd_month(2), "field to store month 'MM'
                gd_year(4).  "field to store year 'YYYY'

* split date into 3 fields to store 'DD', 'MM' and 'YYYY'
  gd_day(2)   = sy-datum+6(2).
  gd_month(2) = sy-datum+4(2).
  gd_year(4)  = sy-datum(4).

*Now use the CONCATENATE statement or it's newer method to format the date as you want
*Note you could also at this point create new variables to represent MMM i.e. APR, JAN, FEB etc

*dd/mm/yyyy
concatenate gd_day gd_month gd_year into gd_outputdate separated by '/'.

*dd.mm.yyyy
concatenate gd_day gd_month gd_year into gd_outputdate separated by '.'.

*mm--dd--yyyy
concatenate gd_month gd_day gd_year into gd_outputdate separated by '--'.

*mm-dd-yyyy using new method
gd_outputdate = |{ gd_month }| && |-| && |{ gd_day }| && |-| && |{ gd_year }|.


*mmyyyy using new method
gd_outputdate = |{ gd_month }| && |{ gd_year }|.



Using function module to convert to DDMMMYYYY
This method is quite simple you simply pass the date field into function module CONVERSION_EXIT_IDATE_OUTPUT and it returns the date in the format DDMMMYYYY. Also if you do a search in SE37 using *DATE* or *DATE*OUTPUT* you will find many more function modules that do a similar job.

* Using Function modules
************************
   data: gd_date(8).  "field to store output date

* Converts date from 20010901 to 01SEP2001
  gd_date   = sy-datum.
  CALL FUNCTION 'CONVERSION_EXIT_IDATE_OUTPUT'
    EXPORTING
      input         = gd_date
    IMPORTING
      OUTPUT        = gd_date.