VMS Help DCL Tips, Date Time, Absolute  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

    Absolute time includes a specific date or time of day. An
    absolute date/time has one of the following formats:

 	dd-mmm-yyyy
 	hh:mm:ss.cc
         dd-mmm-yyyy:hh:mm:ss.cc
 	"dd-mmm-yyyy hh:mm:ss.cc"
         TODAY
         YESTERDAY
         TOMORROW

    You can omit any of the trailing fields in the date or time. You
    can omit any of the fields in the middle of the format as long as
    you specify the punctuation marks, for example, "-mmm-yyyy hh".