Importance

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Abstract

Dates stored in symbolic form in a database are reformatted to permit easy manipulation and sorting of date-related information. Each date in M.sub.1 M.sub.2, D.sub.1 D.sub.2, and Y.sub.1 Y.sub.2 format is converted to C.sub.1 C.sub.2, Y.sub.1 Y.sub.2, M.sub.1 M.sub.2, and D.sub.1 D.sub.2 format. To accomplish the conversion, a 10-decade window starting on Y.sub.A Y.sub.B is defined that encompasses all dates in the database. The value of C.sub.1 C.sub.2 is determined by the relative values of Y.sub.1 Y.sub.2 and Y.sub.A Y.sub.B. The reformatted date information is particularly useful when the reformatting is in C.sub.1 C.sub.2 Y.sub.1 Y.sub.2 M.sub.1 M.sub.2 D.sub.1 D.sub.2 format, because sorting by date is accomplished using a pure numerical-value sort.

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