# Date formats

One or two dates may be specified for each layer or table to be filtered.

For shape files and PostGis files a date format field may be used for the dates.

String fields with format YYYYMMDD or YYYY/MM/DD may be used (in fact, any separator may be used but it must be used consistently for both date fields!)

An integer field may be used if only the year is required.

A decimal field may be used to give the decimal year which will be interpreted as a date giving day, month, and year.

If BCE dates are required then integer or decimal fields must be used.

While each file may use only one format for both start and end dates (if two dates are specified), the fields used in the different layers or tables within a project may have different formats.

Dates may be displayed as Day/Month/Year, Month/Day/Year, Year/Month/Day, or Year as specified in the Settings option. Day/Month/Year is the default unless only integer date fields are found, in which case only years are displayed.

As an aid to generating the decimal year dates, a text date with the format YYYY/MM/DD or -YYYY/MM/DD may be used to store the date in a recognisable format which can then be converted to a decimal year by the Convert dates module. (A date in the format -YYYY/MM/DD cannot be used as a date field for filtering the layer or table.)

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