ckdate(1)							   User Commands							 ckdate(1)

NAME

       ckdate, errdate, helpdate, valdate - prompts for and validates a date

SYNOPSIS

       ckdate [-Q] [-W width] [-f format] [-d default] [-h help]
	    [-e error] [-p prompt] [-k pid [-s signal]]

       /usr/sadm/bin/errdate [-W width] [-e error] [-f format]

       /usr/sadm/bin/helpdate [-W width] [-h help] [-f format]

       /usr/sadm/bin/valdate [-f format] input

DESCRIPTION

       The  ckdate  utility prompts a user and validates the response. It defines, among other things, a prompt message whose response should be a
       date, text for help and error messages, and a default value (which will be returned if the user responds with a	RETURN). The user response
       must match the defined format for a date.

       All messages are limited in length to 70 characters and are formatted automatically. Any white space used in the definition (including new-
       line) is stripped. The -W option cancels the automatic formatting. When a tilde is placed at the beginning or end of a message  definition,
       the default text will be inserted at that point, allowing both custom text and the default text to be displayed.

       If the prompt, help or error message is not defined, the default message (as defined under NOTES) will be displayed.

       Three visual tool modules are linked to the ckdate command. They are errdate (which formats and displays an error message), helpdate (which
       formats and displays a help message), and valdate (which validates a response). These modules  should  be  used	in  conjunction  with  FML
       objects. In this instance, the FML object defines the prompt. When format is defined in the errdate and helpdate modules, the messages will
       describe the expected format.

OPTIONS

       The following options are supported:

       -d default    Defines the default value as default. The default does not have to meet the format criteria.

       -e error      Defines the error message as error.

       -f format     Specifies the format against which the input will be verified. Possible formats and their definitions are:

		     %b  =    abbreviated month name (jan, feb, mar)

		     %B  =    full month name %d  = day of month (01 - 31)

		     %D  =    date as %m/%d/%y (the default format)

		     %e  =    day of month (1 - 31; single digits are preceded by a blank)

		     %h  =    abbreviated month name, identical to %b%

		     %m  =    month number (01 - 12)

		     %y  =    year within century (for instance, 89)

		     %Y  =    year as CCYY (for instance, 1989)

       -h help	     Defines the help messages as help.

       -k pid	     Specifies that process ID pid is to be sent a signal if the user chooses to abort.

       -p prompt     Defines the prompt message as prompt.

       -Q	     Specifies that quit will not be allowed as a valid response.

       -s signal     Specifies that the process ID pid defined with the -k option  is to be sent signal signal when quit is chosen.  If no  signal
		     is  specified, SIGTERM is used.

       -W width      Specifies that prompt, help and error messages will be formatted to a line length of width.

OPERANDS

       The following operand is supported:

       input	Input to be verified against format criteria.

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values are returned:

       0    Successful execution.

       1    EOF on input, or negative width on	-W option, or usage error.

       3    User termination (quit).

       4    Garbled format argument.

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWcsu			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       attributes(5)

NOTES

       The default prompt for ckdate is:

	 Enter the date [?,q]:

       The default error message is:

	 ERROR - Please enter a date.  Format is <format>.

       The default help message is:

	 Please enter a date. Format is <format>.

       When  the  quit option is chosen (and allowed), q is returned along with the return code 3. The valdate module will not produce any output.
       It returns zero for success and non-zero for failure.

SunOS 5.11							    14 Sep 1992 							 ckdate(1)