[PLUG] Re-formatting Date in .csv Field

[Rich Shepard]

   I've an interesting situation with a data file and I'm uncertain how best
to resolve it. The file started life as an Excel spreadsheet (13,500 rows)
and I imported it to OO.o, then used File->Save as to write it as a .csv
file for ultimate import into a database. I need to change the date format.

   Dates are written as [m]m/dd/yyyy and as a numeric field, not as a text
field surrounded by quotation marks. I'd like the dates to be written in the
more standard YYYY-MM-DD format. OO.o will let me view the dates in
different formats but the underlying format is unchanged.

   Here's an example row:

27132,"96-A001256","BC-0.5",5/21/1996,"pH",8.19,,"True"

   I want the date to read "1996-05-21" instead of 5/21/1996. This
column/field has three sub-fields, unlike the previous parsing need that had
the month, day, and year as separate text fields which are easily handled by
gawk.

   Please offer suggestions on how to convert all 13.5-thousand rows to the
preferred date format.

Rich