ADD_MONTHS Function

Description: Ages the date field by the specified number of months. The months specified are added to the source date provided. If the number of months is a negative number, the value is subtracted. The result is the actual calculated date.

This function is only valid for data elements with a processing type of date. The ADD_MONTHS function rolls forward or backward the specified number of months based on the year. It takes leap year and the number of days in a month into consideration when aging the date. Aging of the date must result in a valid date. This function will cause the month and may cause the year to change. If aging a date results in a day that is beyond the number of days in the month, the day is set to the last day of the aged month; and the month is not allowed to roll beyond the requested increment. 

Example

If the date field contained 03-31-2011 and the date was aged by one month, the result would be 04-31-2011, which is not a valid date. The date would be set to the last day of the aged month 04-30-2011. ADD_MONTHS is not reversible.

Parameters: String, Integer

  • Source date: The string containing the source date value.
  • Months: The number of months to age. Specify the number of months to add or specify a negative value to subtract months.

Return: String containing the result date.

Syntax: ADD_MONTHS (<source date>,<months>)

Example: Set the birth date to two months before the original birth date:

DE("Birth Date").setValue
( ADD_MONTHS( DE("Birth Date").getOriginalValue( ), -2) );

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