return_date_time_as_string option

Controls how a DATE, TIME, or TIMESTAMP value is passed to the client application when queried.

Allowed values

On, Off

Default

Off

Scope

	PUBLIC role	For current user	For other users
Allowed to set permanently?	No	No	No
Allowed to set temporarily?	Yes, with SET ANY PUBLIC OPTION	Yes (current connection only)	No

Remarks

This option indicates whether DATE, TIME, and TIMESTAMP values are returned to applications as a DATE, TIME, or TIMESTAMP data type or as a string.

When this option is set to On, the database server converts the DATE, TIME, or TIMESTAMP value to a string before it is sent to the client to preserve the date_format, time_format, or timestamp_format option setting.

SQL Central and Interactive SQL automatically turn the return_date_time_as_string option Off. When this option is set Off, then Interactive SQL displays DATE, TIME, and TIMESTAMP values using the locale settings of the client computer.