Date formats (2)

Not only can you convert characters to dates, but you can convert objects that are already dates to differently formatted dates using format():

# The best point move in stock market history. A +936 point change in the Dow!
best_date
[1] "2008-10-13"

format(best_date, format = "%Y/%m/%d")
[1] "2008/10/13"

format(best_date, format = "%B %d, %Y")
[1] "October 13, 2008"

As a reminder, here are the formats:

%Y: 4-digit year (1982)
%y: 2-digit year (82)
%m: 2-digit month (01)
%d: 2-digit day of the month (13)
%A: weekday (Wednesday)
%a: abbreviated weekday (Wed)
%B: month (January)
%b: abbreviated month (Jan)

Create the vector dates from char_date, specifying the format so R reads them correctly.
Modify dates using format() so that each date looks like "Jan 04, 17".
Modify dates using format() so that each date looks like "01,04,2017".