>>

eval(transform(ab,"[^9999-99-99")+"}")

>>
>>And you can simply put your FormatValue instead of ab and that'd be it - and Set Date independent too. The eval() would return a date value, which you can then output any way you like.
>
>But doesn't that just give me "2002-01-23" as the value? Which is what I'm trying to turn into "01-23-2002" anyway. Sorry, just not quite getting it.

Nope, {^2002-01-23} is a date, i.e. the eval() will return a date value, not a string. Then you can keep your Set Date American and have a simple dtoc() of this value give you such a string.