Skip to main content
Version: 18

Time

  • A Time field, variable or expression can be in the range of 00:00:00 to 596,000:00:00.
  • Times are in 24-hour format.
  • A time value can be treated as a number. The number returned from a time is the number of seconds since midnight (00:00:00) that time represents.

Note: In the 4D Language Reference manual, Time parameters in command descriptions are denoted as Time, except when marked otherwise.

Time literals

A time literal constant is enclosed by question marks (?...?).

A time literal constant is ordered hour:minute:second, with a colon (:) setting off each part. Times are specified in 24-hour format.

Here are some examples of time literals:

?00:00:00? ` midnight
?09:30:00? ` 9:30 am
?13:01:59? ` 1 pm, 1 minute, and 59 seconds

A null time is specified by ?00:00:00?

Tip: The Method Editor includes a shortcut for entering a null time. To type a null time, enter the question mark (?) character and press Enter.

Time operators

OperationSyntaxReturnsExpressionValue
AdditionTime + TimeTime?02:03:04? + ?01:02:03??03:05:07?
SubtractionTime – TimeTime?02:03:04? – ?01:02:03??01:01:01?
AdditionTime + NumberNumber?02:03:04? + 657449
SubtractionTime – NumberNumber?02:03:04? – 657319
MultiplicationTime * NumberNumber?02:03:04? * 214768
DivisionTime / NumberNumber?02:03:04? / 23692
Longint divisionTime \ NumberNumber?02:03:04? \ 23692
ModuloTime % TimeTime?20:10:00? % ?04:20:00??02:50:00?
ModuloTime % NumberNumber?02:03:04? % 20
EqualityTime = TimeBoolean?01:02:03? = ?01:02:03?True
		||||?01:02:03? = ?01:02:04?	|False|

|Inequality |Time # Time |Boolean |?01:02:03? # ?01:02:04? |True| ||||?01:02:03? # ?01:02:03? |False| |Greater than |Time > Time |Boolean |?01:02:04? > ?01:02:03? |True| |||| ?01:02:03? > ?01:02:03? |False| |Less than |Time < Time |Boolean |?01:02:03? < ?01:02:04? |True| |||| ?01:02:03? < ?01:02:03? |False| |Greater than or equal to |Time >= Time |Boolean |?01:02:03? >=?01:02:03? |True| ||||?01:02:03? >=?01:02:04? |False| |Less than or equal to |Time <= Time |Boolean |?01:02:03? <=?01:02:03?| True| ||||?01:02:04? <=?01:02:03? |False|

Example 1

To obtain a time expression from an expression that combines a time expression with a number, use the commands Time and Time string.

You can combine expressions of the time and number types using the Time or Current time functions:

	//The following line assigns to $vlSeconds the number of seconds   
//that will be elapsed between midnight and one hour from now
$vlSeconds:=Current time+3600
//The following line assigns to $vHSoon the time it will be in one hour
$vhSoon:=Time(Current time+3600)

The second line could be written in a simpler way:

  // The following line assigns to $vHSoon the time it will be in one hour
$vhSoon:=Current time+?01:00:00?

Example 2

The Modulo operator can be used, more specifically, to add times that take the 24-hour format into account:

$t1:=?23:00:00? // It is 23:00 p.m.
// We want to add 2 and a half hours
$t2:=$t1 +?02:30:00? // With a simple addition, $t2 is ?25:30:00?
$t2:=($t1 +?02:30:00?)%?24:00:00? // $t2 is ?01:30:00? and it is 1:30 a.m. the next morning