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
Date
Time

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?CZ` 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
`MONTH`		`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
`YEAR`		`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