Move date

Moves a date by a specified amount of time in a given direction and writes the results to a target column.

A date can only be moved by an amount of time, the unit of which is the same as or less accurate than the unit of the date itself. If the format of the moving period is more accurate than the format of the source date, the source date is retained. If you move a date by quarters, it is moved by three months for every quarter.

If a date accurate to the nearest day with a number of days > 28 is moved to a month that has fewer days, the result is the last day of the target month.

For example, you can move a date accurate to the nearest month by months, quarters or years, but not by days. A date accurate to the nearest year can only be moved by years, a date accurate to the smallest unit by any unit.

The following parameters are available.

Action

Result

Source column

Name of the source column whose date values are moved.

Source: Source table

Data type: Date

Specification: Mandatory

Direction

Direction in which the date is moved.

Valid values: Forward or Backward

Data type: Text

Default value: Forward

Specification: Mandatory

Value

Value by which the date is moved by the selected unit.

Source: Manual entry, single value or source table

Data type: Number

Default value: 1

Specification: Optional

Unit

Unit of time by which the date is moved.

Data type: Text

Default value: Second

Specification: As source

The information As source allows a move even if the unit of the date values is unknown at the time of creation or if it can vary.

Target column

Name of the target column to which the result is written.

Data type: Date

Default value: Result_1

Specification: Optional

The target column can be identical to the source column. The values in the target column are overwritten.

Example

Source value

Value

Unit

Direction

Result

2009-12-24T16:23

10

YEAR

Forward

2019-12-24T16:23

2009-12-24

10

DAY

Forward

2010-01-03

2009-12-30

10

MONTH

Backward

2009-02-28

2009-11

1

QUARTER

Forward

2010-02

2009-11

1

DAY

Forward

2009-11

2009-01-01

3

As source

Forward

2011-01-04

2011-Q1

3

As source

Forward

2011-Q4