> I have a line in a PHP script that looks like this:
> $set=pg_exec($dbconn, "SET DATESTYLE TO 'European'"); //Set date format
> Since my ISP updated their server, this appears to be ignored as pgsql
> always returns dates in ISO format.
> 1. What is the default format of dates returned that I can ALWAYS rely on?
ISO. Or you can start up the backend with a different default.
> 2. Why is the command ignored?
It is not (or, is probably not). The variant "European" affects month
and day ordering when specifying a date or when formatting a date with
the "Postgres" or "SQL" format.
You probably want
SET DATESTYLE TO 'SQL,European'
but ymmv. Check out the docs for more complete info, specifically the
chapter on data types.
- Thomas