As

<pageheader><i>varname</i> As <i>type / format</i></pageheader>

The As operator performs two functions - conversion and formatting.

Conversion: varname As type

Converts the variable varname to the specified type. Valid types are:

bool	boolean (true or false)
int	signed 32-bit integer
uint	unsigned 32-bit integer
int64	signed 64-bit integer
uint64	unsigned 64-bit integer
double	double-precision floating point
date	date/time
str	string
path	path

When converting from a string to a date, valid input formats are:

• YYYY-MM-DD

• YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS

• HH:MM:SS

Times must be in 24-hour format, minutes and seconds are optional. If a time is specified on its own, today's date is assumed.

Formatting: varname As format

Formats the variable varname using the specified formatting code.

Various formatting operations are available.

• Date/time values can be formatted using the D#, T# and A# prefix codes

• File size values using the codes shown below

• Zero-padding to p places using #p or %0p

• Right-justify to p places using %p

• Left-justify to p places using %-p

• Internal-justify:

  • For negative numbers to p places using %_p

  • For positive numbers %+p

• Limit to p decimal places using %.p

• Zero-pad to p decimal places with %.0p

• Convert to hexadecimal using %x (lowercase) or %X (uppercase)

Where it makes sense the above codes can be combined, e.g. %_+8 would internal-justify a number to 8 places whether it was positive or negative.

File size format

Use value as size to automatically format a number as a file size using the default settings. You can also use the following keywords to control the units:

size	Automatic (bytes/KB/MB etc) with user-configured decimal/binary unit option
szt	Automatic with traditional units (1 KB = 1024 bytes)
szi	Automatic with binary units (1 KiB = 1024 bytes)
szd	Automatic with decimal units (1 KB = 1000 bytes)
bytes	Bytes
kb	Kilobytes, traditional units
mb	Megabytes, traditional units
gb	Gigabytes, traditional units
tb	Terabytes, traditional units
pb	Petabytes, traditional units
kib	Kilobytes, binary units
mib	Megabytes, binary units
gib	Gigabytes, binary units
tib	Terabytes, binary units
pib	Petabytes, binary units
kbd	Kilobytes, decimal units
mbd	Megabytes, decimal units
gbd	Gigabytes, decimal units
tbd	Terabytes, decimal units
pbd	Petabytes, decimal units

• You use %.x to specify the number of decimal places, e.g. %.3mib. or %.03kb to zero-pad

• Use %^ to round up to the nearest kilobyte, e.g. %^kb.

• Use %0 in front of the "automatic" keywords to force 0 bytes to be formatted as kilobytes

//Example://

d = "2023-09-23" as date;
Output(d as "D#dd-MMM-yyyy");
--> 23-Sep-2023

i = 1 as double / 3;
Output(i as "%-.3");
--> 0.333

i = 183743933;
output(i as "%.3kb");
--> 179,437.435 KB

See also: format