Why does DATESTR return an error when parsing date strings with non-US local time/date formats in MATLAB 7.5 (R2007b)?

When I run the following command in MATLAB 7.5 (R2007b) on a computer with German local settings,

dStr = datestr('21-Dez-2007 09:30:20', 31)

I receive the following error

 ??? Error using ==> datestr at 180

 Cannot convert input into specified date string.

 DATENUM failed.

 Failed to parse date string.

 Error using ==> datevec at 217

 Failed to lookup month of year..

The same error is produced for the following command in MATLAB 7.5 (R2007b) on a computer with Portuguese regional settings

dStr = datestr('29 Julho 2008 11-53-51', 31)

Answer 1

[MathWorks Support Team]

MATLAB does not support converting non-standard date strings to other date strings directly using DATESTR.

Instead, use the following syntax to explicitly specify the format of the input date string. The commands,

DN = datenum('21-Dez-2007 09:30:20', 'dd-mmm-yyyy HH:MM:SS');

dStr = datestr(DN, 31, 'local')

return, as expected,

 dStr =

 2007-12-21 09:30:20

Although some combinations of locales and formats may occassionally return correct results using the single-line DATESTR call, MATLAB does not support direct conversion between a date string and another string.

For more information on the DATESTR and DATENUM functions, please consult the documentation by executing the following at the MATLAB Command prompt:

doc datestr

doc datenum