DOC: FORMAT$ Dates mm/dd/yy Gives MM-DD-YY in VB for MS- DOS

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When printing date information, the FORMAT$ function replaces the slash '/' with the current country setting for the date separator. In the USA, the default MS-DOS date separator is the dash (-). Here's an example:

   PRINT FORMAT$(NOW, "mm/dd/yy")     ' prints 06-23-93
				

You can force FORMAT$ to use the slash (/) by preceding it with a backslash (\). Here's an example:

   PRINT FORMAT$(NOW, "mm\/dd\/yy")   ' prints 06/23/93
				

The Visual Basic for MS-DOS Help file topic 'Sample Date and Time Formats' shows the following example, which is incorrect for the USA:

   FORMAT$ Expression   Display         ' Will Display
   ------------------   -------------   ' -------------
   m/d/yy               12/7/58         ' 12-7-58
   m/d/yy h:mm          12/7/58 20:50   ' 12-7-58 20:50
				

To display the expected date format, use the backslash (\) in conjunction with the forward slash (/). The backslash is an operator that displays the next character in a format string.