This method compares two dates. It standardizes the dates into four 2-digit parts (i.e. dd, mm, cc and yy). It then compares those parts, ignoring their position in the date, and produces an interim Score relative to the number of matching parts. If the interim Score was 100, the dates are again checked for pairs which matched out-of-position and decrements the Score by 1 for each out-of-position match.
For example, the following two dates initially score 100, however the final Score is 096, because all four parts matched out-of-position,
19920412
12041992
The following month abbreviations are accepted:
JAN, FEB, MAR, APR, MAY, JUN,
JUL, JLY, AUG, SEP, OCT, NOV, DEC
To specify a different set of abbreviations, the
N3SCJ
method definition should be set up to point to an Algorithm which has a Formatting User-exit with the different abbreviations (i.e.
FORMATTING=N3FTxx
) .
This method accepts the following Local Options.
LOPT=(WZERO)
If parts of one or both dates are missing (e.g. the century is missing), set the weight to zero. If this option is not set, the method will attempt to interpret the date, but the results may not be consistent. For example, is 190305 equal to May 1903, 5th March 1919, 5th March 2019 or some other date.