Datetime format capatilization sensitivity inconsistent?

So I was trying to add milliseconds to my datetime variables and found a sort of inconsistency?

When setting datetime format using datetime('now','Format','hh:mm:ss.sss') , the sss at the end is not capatilization sensitive; but when trying to access and change it using variable_name.Format = 'hh:mm:ss.SSS', the SSS at the end is capatilization sensitive.

Is this a minor inconsitency or is this intended? If it's the latter what is the rationale behind? As it only makes it more confusing imo

[Samuel Cheung]

Hi Himanshu,

I am using 2022a. variable_name.Format = 'hh:mm:ss.sss' is not valid and would yield an error. The issue has now been resolved by the staff below and they provided a good explanation of what sss is doing so you could take a look if you are interested.

Answer 1

[Cris LaPierre]

It is case-sensitive in both contexts. Either way, you get a result with 3 decimal places, but notice that the result is just a repeat of the seconds if you use 'sss'.

T1 = datetime('now','Format','hh:mm:ss.sss')

T1 = datetime
   02:21:38.038

T1 = datetime('now','Format','hh:mm:ss.SSS')

T1 = datetime
   02:21:38.975

This is also true when using variable_name.Format = 'hh:mm:ss.SSS'

T2 = datetime('now');
T2.Format = 'hh:mm:ss.sss'

T2 = datetime
   02:21:38.038

T2.Format = 'hh:mm:ss.SSS'

T2 = datetime
   02:21:38.984

In short, you must use 'SSS' if you want to include milliseconds

[Samuel Cheung]

Ah, thank you. Didn't realise it's repeating the seconds with sss.