how to determine the date format of a date?

hi,

I need to ndetermine thye date format(field datfm) of a given date...

for eg if the date is 22.11.2006(DD.MM.YYYY) THE DATFM IS 1.

now this date can be of any forma not a fixed one..so i need the datfm for that..

Is there any function module for that ...Plis suggest..