This function returns a display value representing the range of the months of the period (formatted according to the MonthNames script variable) as well as the year. The underlying numeric value corresponds to a timestamp of the first millisecond of the month, bi-month, quarter, four-month period, or half-year containing a base date.
Syntax:
MonthsName(n_months, date[, period_no[, first_month_of_year]])
Return data type: dual
Arguments:
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
| n_months | The number of months that defines the period. An integer or expression that resolves to an integer that must be one of: 1 (equivalent to the inmonth() function), 2 (bi-month), 3 (equivalent to the inquarter() function), 4 (four-month period), or 6 (half year). |
| date | The date to evaluate. |
| period_no | The period can be offset by period_no, an integer, or expression resolving to an integer, where the value 0 indicates the period that contains base_date. Negative values in period_no indicate preceding periods and positive values indicate succeeding periods. |
| first_month_of_year |
If you want to work with (fiscal) years not starting in January, indicate a value between 2 and 12 in first_month_of_year. |
Examples and results:
These examples use the date format DD/MM/YYYY. The date format is specified in the SET DateFormat statement at the top of your load script. Change the format in the examples to suit your requirements.
Example 1:
monthsname(4, '19/10/2013')
Returns Sep-Dec 2013.
Because in this and the other examples, the SET Monthnames statement is set to Jan;Feb;Mar, and so on.
Example 2:
monthsname(4, '19/10/2013', -1)
Returns May-Aug 2013.
Example 3:
monthsname(4, '19/10/2013', 0, 2)
Returns Oct-Jan 2014.
Because the year is specified to begin in month 2, therefore the four-month period ends on the first month of the following year.
Example 4:
Add the example script to your document and run it. Then add, at least, the fields listed in the results column to a sheet in your document to see the result.
In this example, for each invoice date in the table, the months name is created from the range of months in the bi-month period, and from the year. The range is offset by 4x2 months by specifying period_no as 4.
TempTable:
LOAD RecNo() as InvID, * Inline [
InvDate
28/03/2012
10/12/2012
5/2/2013
31/3/2013
19/5/2013
15/9/2013
11/12/2013
2/3/2014
14/5/2014
13/6/2014
7/7/2014
4/8/2014
];
InvoiceData:
LOAD *,
MonthsName(2, InvDate, 4) AS MthsName
Resident TempTable;
Drop table TempTable;
The resulting table contains the original dates and a column with the return value of the monthsname() function.
| InvDate | MthsName |
|---|---|
| 28/03/2012 | Nov-Dec 2012 |
| 10/12/2012 | Jul-Aug 2013 |
| 5/2/2013 | Sep-Oct 2013 |
| 31/3/2013 | Nov-Dec2013 |
| 19/5/2013 | Jan-Feb 2014 |
| 15/9/2013 | May-Jun 2014 |
| 11/12/2013 | Jul-Aug 2014 |
| 2/3/2014 | Nov-Dec 2014 |
| 14/5/2014 | Jan-Feb 2015 |
| 13/6/2014 | Jan-Feb 2015 |
| 7/7/2014 | Mar-Apr 2015 |
| 4/8/2014 | Mar-Apr 2015 |
