Skip Headers

Oracle® OLAP DML Reference 10g Release 2 (10.2) Part Number B14346-01 |
Home | Book List | Contents | Index | Master Index | Feedback

Previous | Next
| View PDF

# BEGINDATE

For dimensions of type DAY, WEEK, MONTH, QUARTER, or YEAR, the BEGINDATE function returns the first date of the first time period in dimension status for which the expression has a non-`NA` value. For example, assume that an expression is dimensioned by `month`, and that `Jan97` is the first dimension value for which the expression has a non-`NA` value. In this case, BEGINDATE returns the date `January 1, 1997`.

Note: You cannot use this function for time dimensions that are implemented as hierarchical dimensions of type TEXT.

Return Value

DATE or text (see "Automatic Conversion of DATE Values to Text Values")

When all the values of the expression are `NA`, BEGINDATE returns `NA`.

Syntax

BEGINDATE(expression)

Arguments

expression

  The expression must have exactly one dimension that has a type of DAY, WEEK, MONTH, QUARTER, or YEAR.

Examples

Example 8-30 Finding the Beginning Date

The following statements limit the values in the `month`, `product`, and `district` dimensions, then send the first date for which the `units` variable contains a non-`NA` value for unit sales of tents in the Chicago district to the current outfile.

    LIMIT month TO ALL
    LIMIT product TO 'TENTS'
    LIMIT district TO 'CHICAGO'
    SHOW BEGINDATE(units)

These statements produce the following output.

    01JAN95