[Overview][Constants][Procedures and functions][Index] | Reference for unit 'DateUtils' (#rtl)

# ScanDateTime

Scans a string for a TDateTime pattern and returns the date/time

## Declaration

Source position: dateutil.inc line 453

`function ScanDateTime(`
`const Pattern: string;`
`const s: string;`
`const fmt: TFormatSettings;`
`startpos: Integer = 1`
`):TDateTime; overload; function ScanDateTime(`
`const Pattern: string;`
`const s: string;`
`startpos: Integer = 1`
`):TDateTime; overload;`

## Description

ScanDateTime scans string S for the date/time pattern Pattern, starting at position StartPos (default 1). Optionally, the format settings fmt can be specified.

In effect, this function does the opposite of what FormatDateTime does. The Pattern variable must contain a valid date/time pattern: note that not all possible formatdatetime patterns can be recognized, e.g., hn cannot be detected properly.

- There is a special placeholder: a '?' will match any character in the input string.
- Note that the / and : character will be replaced by the actual date and time separator.
- Similarly, the 'am/pm' and 'a/p' will be replaced with the actual AM/PM indicators.
- a TAB character (ASCII Code 9) will match any whitespace block

## Errors

In case of an error, a EConvertError exception is raised.

## See also

FormatDateTime |  | Return a string representation of a TDateTime value with a given format.