proper date edit

[Aceofdelts]

Which format is correct for displaying a date numerically ? (maybe both, so is either "better" ?)

For March 1st of '09 ...

3- 1-09
or
3-1-09

Our disagreement is over the space in the "day" portion.
Thank you

[Barb_D]

Welcome to the Forums.

Certainly, do NOT leave a space. You can use a 0, but not a space. You can also use slashes: 3/1/09.

Remember that putting the month first is American. The rest of the world will read this as the third of January.

[BobSmith]

Remember that putting the month first is American.

I'm just curious, what do Canadians and Mexicans do?

I've always disliked the US-way of writing dates. I'm an advocate for y/m/d ordering, as this is how we alphabetize, order numbers, etc, where the left most is the most significant.

[5jj]

I'm an advocate for y/m/d ordering, as this is how we alphabetize, order numbers, etc, where the left most is the most significant.

I don't really think that A is more important than B, or 1 than 2.

[Barb_D]

We need a Candian and a Mexican. I thought that Canada wrote January 3 as 3/1, but it's very possible I'm wrong.

[Gillnetter]

I'm just curious, what do Canadians and Mexicans do?

I've always disliked the US-way of writing dates. I'm an advocate for y/m/d ordering, as this is how we alphabetize, order numbers, etc, where the left most is the most significant.

Mexicans use the European system - 3/1/10 = January 3, 2010.

[BobSmith]

I don't really think that A is more important than B, or 1 than 2.

I didn't say important, I said significant, and I'm not talking about A vs. B, I'm talking about position--left to right. Year is more significant than month, because there are many months in a year, just like there are many 10's in 100. Dates would be better ordered as I said, year, then month, then days, in order from most significant to least.

[5jj]

One could just as well argue that, for many events, we know what year we are talking about and, probably, what month. What is important is the day.

Anyway, as both the American and the non-American systems put the year last, it would cause even more confusion if we changed that.

[BobSmith]

Again, I'm not talking about importance. And actually, it's less confusing. Everyone knows what this date is, because no one uses the format:

2012/1/3

And, it follows the lexicographical and numerical ordering significance.

[SoothingDave]

If I'm dealing with foreigners, I use this format, to avoid confusion:

19 Jan 12