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+$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/runtime.sgml,v 1.259 2004/04/15 04:46:18 momjian Exp $
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<Chapter Id="runtime">
<indexterm><primary>date style</></>
<listitem>
<para>
- Sets the display format for date and time values, as well as
- the rules for interpreting ambiguous date input values.
- For historical reasons, this variable contains two independent
+ Sets the display format for date and time values, as well as the
+ rules for interpreting ambiguous date input values. For
+ historical reasons, this variable contains two independent
components: the output format specification (<literal>ISO</>,
- <literal>Postgres</>, <literal>SQL</>, or <literal>German</>) and
- the date field order specification (<literal>DMY</>, <literal>MDY</>,
- or <literal>YMD</>). These can be set separately or together.
- The keywords <literal>Euro</> and <literal>European</> are synonyms
- for <literal>DMY</>; the keywords <literal>US</>, <literal>NonEuro</>,
- and <literal>NonEuropean</> are synonyms for <literal>MDY</>.
- See <xref linkend="datatype-datetime"> for more information. The
+ <literal>Postgres</>, <literal>SQL</>, or <literal>German</>)
+ and the input/output specification for year/month/day ordering
+ (<literal>DMY</>, <literal>MDY</>, or <literal>YMD</>). These
+ can be set separately or together. The keywords <literal>Euro</>
+ and <literal>European</> are synonyms for <literal>DMY</>; the
+ keywords <literal>US</>, <literal>NonEuro</>, and
+ <literal>NonEuropean</> are synonyms for <literal>MDY</>. See
+ <xref linkend="datatype-datetime"> for more information. The
default is <literal>ISO, MDY</>.
</para>
</listitem>