The combination |d (vertical bar, lower case d) causes INFLD to allow the use of date shortcuts even if the xmin value has not yet been satisfied. Otherwise, you must first enter the number of digits required by xmin before any shortcuts can be used. To review, date shortcuts allow you to enter between 1 and 4 digits and when you hit Return, INFLD fills in the remaining ones based on guessing. For one or two digits, it assumes they are the day of the current month. For three or four, it assumes they are the month and day (or day and month for European format.)
