The cool %DATE() and %TIMESTAMP() built-in functions are wonderful tools in RPG IV. They allow use to do all kinds of things, such as:

• Retrieve the System Date or Date/Timestamp
• Convert non-Date variables into real date data-types
• Extract the date component from a "Z" (timestamp) variable

But how do you use %DATE to return the job's date "job date"?

In RPG III you would use the UDATE or the *DATE "figurative" constants.

Well, RPGIV bests that, slightly: You have two methods.

       D jobDate         S               D   Inz(*JOB)                    
       D myJobDate       S               D                                
        /free                                                             
              myJobDate = %date(UDATE);                                   
        /end-free                                                         

On line 1, the date variable JOBDATE is initialized using one of the 3 available initialization constants, *JOB. This constant tells the compiler to initialize this date variable to the job date.

On line 4, the %DATE built-in function is being used. Now normally this built-in function returns the system date. However, it also converts non-date values to true date data-types. Therefore, by passing in the UDATE figurative constant, we can convert UDATE (which is the Job Date) into a true date variable. We could also use *DATE which works exactly the same.