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MonthNoFromShortName

Function MonthNoFromShortName(const aMonthName: String): integer

Example​

procedure ScriptEvent(var Value: variant);
begin
  Value := MonthNoFromShortName('Jan'); // 1 when the host's short name for month 1 is Jan
end;

Usage​

MonthNoFromShortName maps a short month name from global host format settings to 1-12, returning zero when no name matches.

Parameters

NameTypeDescription
aMonthNameString, constComplete short month name to find using a case-insensitive comparison against global FormatSettings.ShortMonthNames.

Returns

An Integer from 1 through 12 for the first match, or 0 when no short name matches.

Behaviour

  • Matching is case-insensitive and scans the 12 short month names in calendar order.
  • The complete configured abbreviation must compare equal; the routine performs no trimming, prefix matching or punctuation normalisation.
  • Abbreviation length and punctuation are locale-specific. A locale may use forms such as a trailing period.
  • Input that matches none of the configured short names returns zero without raising.

Important usage notes

  • The local system-default settings record is unused. Actual behaviour depends on mutable process-wide global FormatSettings.
  • For non-ASCII text on Windows, the comparison uses current-user-locale case rules. This can differ from simple ordinal lowercasing.
  • A long month name is not accepted merely because it begins with the short name; comparison is against the short-name entries as complete strings.
  • Zero is an explicit no-match sentinel, not January.

Usage notes

Do not hard-code an English abbreviation unless the deployment contract also fixes the process locale and punctuation.

Additional Technical Info​

MonthNoFromShortName searches the Velox process's global short-month-name array and returns the matching one-based month number. Matching is case-insensitive but otherwise requires the complete locale-specific abbreviation; an unmatched value returns zero.

The example is source-reviewed and intentionally locale-dependent. It was not executed by the documentation workflow.

Implementation

Velox's date-tools import binds to the Velox wrapper. The wrapper creates a local TFormatSettings for the Windows system-default locale but never reads it. It passes global FormatSettings.ShortMonthNames to Delphi System.StrUtils.IndexText and adds one to the returned index, converting IndexText's -1 no-match value to zero.

Side effects

The function reads global locale state and constructs a temporary settings record. It does not modify global state or the caller's string.

Errors

No match returns zero. Unexpected allocation or comparison exceptions propagate unchanged.

Performance and concurrency

At most 12 full-string comparisons are made. Concurrent changes to global FormatSettings can alter or destabilise results across calls.

Related entries

External references

Created 2026-07-15