Routines (alphabetical) > Routines: B > BIN_DATE

# BIN_DATE

The BIN_DATE function converts a standard form ASCII date/time string to a binary string.

This routine is written in the IDL language. Its source code can be found in the file `bin_date.pro` in the `lib` subdirectory of the IDL distribution.

## Examples

Convert a random time of the day to binary:

time = 'WED APR 03 04:04:04 2013'

binTime = BIN_DATE(time)

PRINT, binTime

IDL displays:

2013 4 3 4 4 4

Convert the system time to binary:

result = BIN_DATE(systime(0))

PRINT, result

## Syntax

Result = BIN_DATE(Ascii_Time)

## Return Value

The function returns a six-element integer array where:

- Element 0 is the year (e.g., 1994)
- Element 1 is the month (1-12)
- Element 2 is the day (1-31)
- Element 3 is the hour (0-23)
- Element 4 is minutes (0-59)
- Element 5 is seconds (0-59)

## Arguments

### Ascii_Time

A string containing the date/time to convert in standard ASCII format. If this argument is omitted, the current date/time is used. Standard form is a 24 character string:

DOW MON DD HH:MM:SS YYYY

where DOW is the day of the week, MON is the month, DD is the day of month, HH:MM:SS is the time in hours, minutes, second, and YYYY is the year.

## Keywords

None.

## Version History

Pre 4.0 | Introduced

## See Also

CALDAT, JULDAY, SYSTIME