Date as String - How to convert to Date

[brendafos]

I've spent some time reading other posts but I've not quite gotten the answer I need.....

The incoming data has a field type v_string which looks like 5/8/2015 -- I need to convert this to a type date.

I tried the Select tool changing v_string to date but that just outputs 'null's.

I tried -

DateTimeParse(
  REGEX_Replace([Text], "([a-z]{3})\s*([0-9]{1}),","$1 0$2,"),
  "%b %d,%Y")

But that gives 'null' and does not give an error.

Can I use DateTimeParse with a string type?

Or how is the best way to approach this? 

[brendafos]

OK, thanks.  I can handle that.

[Aguisande]

Hi,

You always have the DateTimeFormat() function to "convert" the Date fields to a String with the format you want, using the same masks you use to convert them from strings. So you can "operate" with the Date type field, but use the formatted string for presentation purposes.

Eg: 

DateTimeFormat([Date_Field],"%b %d, %Y") --> Will give you "May 30, 2016"

Best,

_AG_