Name, Date and Time Specification

You can use a name, a date, a time or a range of names, dates and times to select Natural library objects, Natural command processor sources, Natural-related objectsexternal files (external objects).

This section contains information on the specification options provided for the following:

Name

You can specify a name or a range of names.

In the list of options below, value is any combination of one or more characters:

  Input Items Selected
  value All items with names equal to value.

*
>

All items.
? All items with any single character for each question mark (?) entered.
Leading Characters value* All items with names that start with value.

Example: AB*
Selected: AB, AB1, ABC, ABEZ
Not selected: AA1, ACB

Wildcard value? All items with names that start with value and end with any single character for each question mark (?) entered.

Example: ABC?
Selected: ABCA, ABCZ
Not selected: AXC, ABCAA

  value?value? All items that match value combined with asterisk (*) and question mark (?) in any order.

Example: A?C*Z
Selected: ABCZ, AXCBBBZ, ANCZ
Not selected: ACBZ, ABDEZ, AXCBBBZA

value*value?
*value?value*
Start Value value>

All items with names greater than or equal to value.

Example: AB>
Selected: AB, AB1, BBB, ZZZZZZZ
Not selected: AA1, AAB

End Value value<

All items with names less than or equal to value.

Example: AX<
Selected: AB, AWW, AX
Not selected: AXA, AY

Note:
The parameter specification option New Value only allows leading characters (asterisk (*) notation). See Rules for New Values in Set Global Parameters in the section Settings.

Date

All date values within the Object Handler are specified in international date format.

You can specify a date, a range of dates, a special date or a range of special dates. A date must be specified in the format YYYY-MM-DD (YYYY = year, MM = month, DD = day).

In the list of options below, the underlined portion of a keyword represents its valid abbreviation, and value is any combination of one or more digits:

  Input Value Items Selected
Date YYYY-MM-DD All items with a date equal to YYYY-MM-DD.

Example: 2003-02-15
Leading characters value*

All items with a date that starts with value.

Example: 2002*
Selected: 2002-01-01, 2002-12-31
Not selected: 2001-12-31, 2003-01-01

Start value value>

All items with a date greater than value.

Example: 2002-05>
Selected: 2002-05-01, 2002-12-31, 2003-01-01, 2003-12-31
Not selected: 2002-04-31, 2001-12-31

Special dates can be used as value (see below).

End value value< All items with a date less than value.

Example: 2003-02<
Selected: 2002-05-01, 2002-12-31, 2003-01-01, 2003-01-31
Not selected: 2003-02-01, 2003-05-18

Special dates can be used as value (see below).
Special Dates
TODAY (+/-nnnn)   All items with the date of the current day.

The day can be followed by +nnnn or -nnnn where nnnn has a maximum of 4 digits.

The resulting date is computed as the date of the current day plus or minus nnnn days.

Example: If the current date is 2003-03-01, TODAY +5 results in 2003-03-06.

YESTERDAY   All items with the date of the day before the current day.
MONTH   All items with the date range of the current month.

Example: The current month is 2003-02.
Selected: 2003-02-01, 2003-02-30
Not selected: 2003-03-01

FMDATE: Starts with the first day of the current month.

TODATE: Ends with the last day of the current month.

If the values of FMDATE and TODATE are identical, the selection is restricted to one day.

YEAR   All items with the date range of the current year.

Example: The current year is 2003.
Selected: 2003-01-01, 2002-12-31
Not selected: 2002-31-12

FMDATE: Starts with the first day of the current year.

TODATE: Ends with the last day of the current year.

If the values of FMDATE and TODATE are identical, the selection is restricted to one year.

Note:
The parameter specification option New Value only allows leading characters (asterisk (*) notation). See Rules for New Values in Set Global Parameters in the section Settings.

Time

You can specify a time or a range of times. The time must be specified in the format HH:II:SS (HH = hours, II = minutes, SS = seconds).

In the list of options below, value is any combination of one or more digits:

  Input Value Items Selected
Time HH:II:SS All items with a time equal to HH:II:SS.

Example: 14:15:16
Leading characters value* All items with a time that starts with value.

Example: 13:*
Selected: 13:00:00, 13:10:53, 13:59:59
Not selected: 12:59:59, 14:00:00