Can not, Cannot, Can't

[Lunatic]

With the search feature down I'm reduced to a Google search of the entire website and checking every page of threads individually, so I appologize if I'm repeating this question (although I'm reasonably sure that any existing thread has been closed).

My question deals with the 3 C's (no, not FDR's Civilian Conservation Corps). My understanding is the three are fairly interchangeable, with can't being the most informal and can not being the most formal.

Recently however our testing team put in a request to change "can not" to "cannot" because "can not" is one word and is misspelled when used as 2 words.

This struck me as wrong, but I've been mistaken enough times that I don't trust myself anymore. As an example, is the following sentence wrong?

"The session date can not be left blank."

Is there a movement toward cannot and away from can not?

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[CajunCenturion]

==> Recently however our testing team put in a request to change "can not" to "cannot" because "can not" is one word and is misspelled when used as 2 words.
The request is reasonable, but I'm not sure about the reasoning. 'Cannot' and 'can not' are for all practical purposes interchangeable, but neither is wrong. The contraction may be used in place of either, but as you say, that is should be reserved for informal use. Generally speaking, I would use cannot, except when I wanted to place emphasis on the 'not'.

==> "The session date can not be left blank."
You could say that, or you could say "The Session date cannot be left blank", but I would prefer, "The session date may not be left blank".

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