Date::Manip::Delta(3pmUser Contributed Perl DocumentatiDate::Manip::Delta(3pm)
NAME
Date::Manip::Delta - Methods for working with deltas
SYNOPSIS
use Date::Manip::Delta;
$date = new Date::Manip::Delta;
DESCRIPTION
This module contains functions useful in parsing and manipulating
deltas. As used in this module, the term delta refers to an amount of
time elapsed. It includes no information about a starting or ending
time.
There are several concepts involved in understanding the properties of
a delta.
standard and business delta
There are two different modes for working with deltas: standard and
business. The mode used depends on how you treat the calendar.
Standard deltas use the full calendar without any modifications.
A business delta uses a calendar in the way a business might. In a
business calendar, anything outside of a business day is ignored.
Typically, this includes holidays and weekends. In addition, the
part of the day outside of business hours is also ignored, so a day
may only run from 08:00 to 17:00 and everything outside of this is
ignored.
The length of a work day is usually not 24 hours. It is defined by
the start and end of the work day and is set using the config
variables: WorkDayBeg and WorkDayEnd (WorkDay24Hr may be used to
specify a 24-hour work day). The work week is defined using the
config variables: WorkWeekBeg and WorkWeekEnd.
Daylight saving time are ignored with business calculations because
time changes occur at night (usually on the weekends) outside of
business hours. This may yield unexpected results if the work day
is defined to be 24-hours and the work week includes a day when a
time change occurs.
fields
A delta consists of 7 fields: years, months, weeks, days, hours,
minutes, and seconds, usually expressed as a colon-separated
string. For example:
1:2:3:4:5:6:7
refers to an elapsed amount of time 1 year, 2 months, 3 weeks, 4
days, 5 hours, 6 minutes, and 7 seconds long.
normalized
A delta can be normalized or not. A normalized delta has values
which have been simplified based on how a human would think of
them. As an example, the delta:
0:0:0:0:0:10:70
is not normalized since 70 seconds is typically thought of as 1
minute 10 seconds. The normalized form of this delta would be:
0:0:0:0:0:11:10
By default, deltas are converted to a normalized form in most
functions that create/modify a delta, but this can be overridden.
Types of deltas
There are 4 type of deltas that are available.
Exact deltas
The most common type (and the default in most situations)
is an exact delta. An exact delta is one where only fields
which have exactly known lengths are allowed to be non-
zero.
For standard calculations, there are only three exactly
known fields (hours, minutes, and seconds). The lengths
are defined as:
1 hour = 3600 seconds
1 minute = 60 seconds
Note that since a day is NOT always 24 hours (due to
daylight saving time changes), a day is not an exactly
known field.
For business calculations, a day IS an exactly known field.
Since business mode ignores daylight saving time, the
length of the day can be calculated based on the config
variables listed above. So, for example, if the work day
is 08:00-17:00, the length of the day is 9 hours. The
length of the week is still unknown since some work weeks
may have fewer days than others due to holidays.
All fields which are not exactly known will always have
zero value.
Semi-exact deltas
A semi-exact delta treats the day/week fields as if they
were exactly known.
For standard calculations, this is done by using the
relationships:
1 day = 24 hours
1 week = 7 days
For business calculations, it is done by treating a week as
a constant length (determined by the config variables
listed above) ignoring holidays. So if a typical work week
is Mon-Fri, the length of the week is 5 days.
For semi-exact deltas, the value of the year/month must be
zero.
Although this may yield some values that are not exactly
accurate around daylight saving time transitions, strictly
speaking, they yield results that are useful in terms of
how humans think of deltas.
Approximate deltas
An approximate delta can have non-zero values for all
fields. When normalizing the fields, the year/month fields
are treated as one set using the relationship
1 year = 12 months
The remaining fields are normalized using the semi-exact
relationships.
Estimated deltas
The final type of delta are estimated deltas. These are
deltas where an estimated length is applied to all the
approximate fields.
For standard deltas, the additional relationship:
1 year = 365.2425 days
is used. For business deltas, the additional relationship:
1 year = X/7 * 365.2425 days
(where X is the number of work days in a week) is used.
Fractional seconds will be discarded (not rounded).
NOTE: it is not possible to look at a delta and determine what type
it is. For example, a standard delta with a non-zero day value
might be approximate or semi-exact. The type will need to be
explicitly selected, or determined by the context of the operation.
signs
Each field has a sign associated with it. For example, the delta "1
year ago" is written as:
-1:0:0:0:0:0:0
The sign of any field is optional, and if omitted, it is the same
as the next higher field. So, the following are identical:
+1:2:3:4:5:6:7
+1:+2:+3:+4:+5:+6:+7
In a normalized delta, all fields in a set will have the same sign.
So the standard delta:
0:0:+3:-2:0:0:0:0 (3 weeks -2 days)
is not normalized. The normalized version would be:
0:0:+2:5:0:0:0:0 (2 weeks, 5 days)
Since an approximate delta has two sets (the y/m set and the
w/d/h/mn/s set), these deltas may have two signs. So, the following
is a fully normalized approximate delta:
+1:0:-3:3:1:0:0
fractional values
Fractional fields are allowed such as:
1.25 days
1.1 years
but whenever parsing a delta with fractional fields, the delta will
be normalized using the estimated relationships described above.
Fractional seconds will be discarded.
METHODS
new
new_config
new_date
new_delta
new_recur
base
tz
is_date
is_delta
is_recur
config
err Please refer to the Date::Manip::Obj documentation for these
methods.
parse
$err = $delta->parse($string, \%opts);
$err = $delta->parse($string [,$business] [,$no_normalize]);
The second format is supported for backward compatibility, but is
deprecated and will be removed in Date::Manip 7.00. The second
form is equivalent to:
$err = $delta->parse($string, { business => $business,
nonorm => $no_normalize });
This takes a string and parses it to see if it is a valid delta. If
it is, an error code of 0 is returned and $delta now contains the
value of the delta. Otherwise, an error code of 1 is returned and
an error condition is set in the delta.
Recognized options are:
mode : standard/business
to specify if it is a business delta or a standard delta
nonorm : 0/1
1 if the delta should not be normalized
type : exact, semi, approx, estimated
When specifying the type, the delta given must satisfy the
requirements of the type (i.e. no year field for an exact delta).
A delta string is usually specified in compact notation which
consists of a colon separated list of numbers (with optional
signs):
Examples:
0:0:0:0:4:3:-2
+4:3:-2
+4::3
In compact notation, from 1 to 7 of the fields may be given. For
example D:H:MN:S may be given to specify only four of the fields.
No spaces may be present in the string, but it is allowed to omit
some of the fields. For example 5::3:30 is valid. In this case,
missing fields default to the value 0.
The delta string may also be specified using common field
abbreviations. This is described below in the "ADDITIONAL DELTA
NOTATIONS" section.
input
$str = $delta->input();
This returns the string that was parsed to form the delta.
set
$err = $delta->set(\%opts);
$err = $delta->set($field,$val [,$no_normalize]);
The second format is supported for backward compatibility, but is
deprecated and will be removed in Date::Manip 7.00. The second
form is equivalent to:
$err = $delta->set( $field => $val, 'nonorm' => $no_normalize );
This explicitly sets one or more parts of a delta. %opts is a set
of key/value pairs:
$key $val
delta [Y,M,W,D,H,MN,S] sets the entire delta
business [Y,M,W,D,H,MN,S] sets the entire delta
standard [Y,M,W,D,H,MN,S] sets the entire delta
y YEAR sets one field
M MONTH
w WEEK
d DAY
h HOUR
m MINUTE
s SECOND
nonorm 0/1
mode business, standard
type exact, semi, estimated, approx
An error is returned if an invalid data is passed in.
%opts can only include a single key that affects each field (i.e.
you can set delta or business but not both, and you cannot set both
delta and y, but you CAN set both y and w).
When setting the entire delta with business or standard, it flags
the delta as a business or standard mode delta respectively. In
those cases, you are not allowed to set the mode option. Partial
deltas are allowed (i.e. [H,MN,S]) in which case zeros are added
for all fields not specified.
When setting the entire delta with delta, the flag is left
unchanged (unless the mode option is also passed in).
Also, when setting the entire delta, signs are not carried from one
field to another, so [-1,2,...] is equivalent to [-1,+2,...].
By default, a delta is normalized, but setting the nonorm key to a
true value will not do that.
For backwards compatibility, normal can be used in place of
standard, both as $field or as $val. This is deprecated and will
be removed in Date::Manip 7.00.
When setting any field in the delta, the type of delta will be
determined automatically as either exact (if only fields that are
exactly known are have non-zero fields), semi (if only fields that
are semi-exact or exact are included), or approx otherwise. If the
type option is set, it will be used provided it is valid (i.e. you
cannot set it to exact if fields that are not exactly known are
set).
printf
$out = $delta->printf($in);
@out = $delta->printf(@in);
This takes a string or list of strings which may contain any number
of special formatting directives. These directives are replaced
with information contained in the delta. Everything else in the
string is returned unmodified.
A directive always begins with '%'. They are described in the
section below in the section "PRINTF DIRECTIVES".
calc
Please refer to the Date::Manip::Calc documentation for details.
type
$flag = $delta->type($op);
This tests to see if a delta is of a certain type. $op can be;
business : returns 1 if it is a business delta
standard : returns 1 if it is a standard (non-business delta)
exact : returns 1 if it is exact
semi : returns 1 if it is semi-exact
approx : returns 1 if it is approximate
estimated : returns 1 if it is estimated
value
$val = $delta->value();
@val = $delta->value();
This returns the value of the delta. In scalar context, it returns
the printable string (equivalent to the printf directive '%Dt'). In
list context, it returns a list of fields.
An empty string/list is returned if there is no valid delta stored
in $delta.
convert
$delta->convert($to);
This converts a delta from one type to another. $to can be
'exact', 'semi', or 'approx'. The conversion uses the approximate
and estimated relationships listed above to convert the delta.
For example, if the exact non-business delta $delta contains:
0:0:0:0:44:0:0
then the following call:
$delta->convert('semi')
would produce the semi-exact delta:
0:0:0:1:20:0:0
The result will always be normalized.
Converting from one type to another that is less exact (i.e. exact
to semi-exact or semi-exact to approx) is supported. Converting
the other direction is supported for backward compatibility, but
will be removed in 7.00 because that operation is not one that is
well defined.
There is currently no support for converting business to non-
business (or vice-versa).
cmp
$flag = $delta1->cmp($delta2);
This compares two deltas (using the approximate relationships
listed above) and returns -1, 0, or 1 which could be used to sort
them by length of time.
Both deltas must be valid, and both must be either business or non-
business deltas. They do not need to be the same out of exact,
semi-exact, and approximate.
undef will be returned if either delta is invalid, or you try to
compare a business and non-business delta.
ADDITIONAL DELTA NOTATIONS
When parsing a delta, the string may be specified with the field
spelled out, rather than using the colon separated fields.
This expanded notation has the fields spelled out in some language
specific form:
Examples:
+4 hours +3mn -2second
+ 4 hr 3 minutes -2
4 hour + 3 min -2 s
4 hr 2 s
A field in the expanded notation has an optional sign, a number, and a
string specifying the type of field. If the sign is absent, it
defaults to the sign of the next larger element. So the following are
equivalent:
-4 hr 3 min 2 sec
-4 hr -3 min -2 sec
The valid strings describing each of the fields is contained in "Delta
field names" section of the appropriate Date::Manip::Lang::<LANGUAGE>
document. Refer to the Date::Manip::Lang document for a list of
languages.
For example, for English, the document is Date::Manip::Lang::English
and the field names include strings like:
y: y, yr, year, years
m: m, mon, mons, month, months
w: w, wk, ws, wks, week, weeks
d: d, day, days
h: h, hr, hrs, hour, hours
mn: mn, min, mins, minute, minutes
s: s, sec, secs, second, seconds
This list may not be complete. You should refer to the language
document for the full list.
The "seconds" string may be omitted. The sign, number, and string may
all be separated from each other by any amount of whitespace. The
string specifying the unit must be separated from a following number by
whitespace or a comma, so the following example will NOT work:
4hours3minutes
At minimum, it must be expressed as:
4hours 3minutes
4 hours, 3 minutes
In the the expanded format, all fields must be given in the order: Y M
W D H MN S. Any number of them may be omitted provided the rest remain
in the correct order. Small numbers may be spelled out, so
in two weeks
in 2 weeks
both work (but do not rely on this to work for large numbers).
Most languages also allow a word to specify whether the delta is an
amount of time after or before a fixed point. In English, the word "in"
refers to a time after a fixed point, and "ago" refers to a point
before a fixed point. So, the following deltas are equivalent:
1:0:0:0:0:0:0
in 1 year
and the following are equivalent
-1:0:0:0:0:0:0
1 year ago
The word "in" is completely ignored. The word "ago" has the affect of
reversing all signs that appear in front of the components of the
delta. In other words, the following two strings are identical:
-12 yr 6 mon ago
+12 yr +6 mon
(don't forget that there is an implied minus sign in front of the 6 in
the first string because when no sign is explicitly given, it carries
the previously entered sign).
The in/ago words only apply to the expanded format, so the following is
invalid:
1:0:0 ago
A delta may be standard (non-business) or business. By default, a delta
is treated as a non-business delta, but this can be changed in two
different ways.
The first way to make a delta be business is to pass in the appropriate
option. For example:
$delta->parse($string, { 'mode' => 'business' });
$delta->parse($string, { 'mode' => 'standard' });
The second way to specify whether a delta is business or non-business
is to include a key word in the string that is parsed. If this string
is included, it should not conflict with the value of a 'mode' option.
Most languages include a word like "business" which can be used to
specify that the resulting delta is a business delta or a non-business
delta. Other languages have equivalent words. The placement of the word
is not important. Also, the "business" word can be included with all
types of deltas, and in both compact and expanded notation, so the
following are valid and equivalent:
in 4 hours business
4:0:0 business
business 0:0:0:0:4:0:0
There are also words "exact" or "approximate" which may be included in
the delta for backward compatibility. However, they will be ignored.
They will be removed in Date::Manip 7.00. The accuracy of delta
(exact, semi-exact, approximate) will be determined only by what fields
are present in the delta and the options passed in. When a delta is
parsed, it is automatically normalized, unless the 'nonorm' option is
passed in.
PRINTF DIRECTIVES
The following printf directives are replaced with information from the
delta. Directives may be replaced by the values of a single field in
the delta (i.e. the hours or weeks field), the value of several fields
expressed in terms of one of them (i.e. the number of years and months
expressed in terms of months), or the directive may format either the
entire delta, or portions of it.
Simple directives
These are directives which print simple characters. Currently, the
only one is:
%% Replaced by a single '%'
As an example:
$delta->printf('|%%|');
=> |%|
Directives to print out a single field
The following directive is used to print out the value of a single
field. Spaces are included here for clarity, but are not in the
actual directive.
% [+] [pad] [width] Xv
Here, X is one of (y,M,w,d,h,m,s). The directive will print out the
value for that field.
If a '+' is included immediately after the '%', a sign will always
be included. By default, only negative values will include a sign.
'width' and 'pad' are used to set the width of the string
containing the field as well as how it is padded.
'width' is any positive integer (without a sign). If 'width' is
included, it sets the length of the output string (unless the
string is already longer than that, in which case the 'width' is
ignored).
If 'pad' is included, it may be the character '<', '>', or '0'. It
will be ignored if 'width' is not included, or the string is
already longer than 'width'. If the formatted delta field is
shorter than 'width', it will be padded with spaces on the left (if
'pad' is '<'), or right (if 'pad' is '>'), or it will be padded on
the left (after any sign) with zeroes (if 'pad' is '0').
In the following examples, $delta contains the delta: 1:2:3:4:5:6:7
$delta->printf('|Month: %Mv|');
=> |Month: 2|
$delta->printf('|Day: %+05dv|');
=> |Day: +0004|
$delta->printf('|Day: %+<5dv|');
=> |Day: +4|
$delta->printf('|Day: %>5sv|');
=> |Day: 7 |
Directives to print out several fields in terms of one of them
The following directive is used to print out the value of several
different fields, expressed in terms of a single field.
% [+] [pad] [width] [.precision] XYZ
Here, X, Y, and Z are each one of (y,M,w,d,h,m,s). The directive
will print out the value for fields Y through Z expressed in terms
of field X.
Y must come before Z in the sequence (y,M,w,d,h,m,s) or it can be
the same as Z.
So, to print the day and hour fields in terms of seconds, use the
directive:
%sdh
Any time all of X, Y, and Z are from a single set of fields, exact
relationships are used.
If the X, Y, and Z fields do not all belong to the same set of
fields, approximate relationships are used.
For non-business deltas, an approximate relationship is needed to
link the Y/M part of the delta to the W/D part and a semi-
approximate relationship is needed to link the W/D part with the
H/MN/S part. These relationships are:
1 day = 24 hours
1 year = 365.2425
For business deltas, the approximate and semi-approximate
relationships used to link the fields together are:
1 week = X (length of business week in days)
1 year = X/7 * 365.2425
For business deltas, the length of the day is defined using
WorkDayStart and WorkDayEnd. For non-business deltas, a day is 24
hours long (i.e. daylight saving time is ignored).
If 'precision' is included, it is the number of decimal places to
print. If it is not included, but 'width' is included, precision
will be set automatically to display the maximum number of decimal
places given 'width'.
If 'pad' is included, it may be the character '<', '>', or '0', and
is used in the same way as printing out a single field.
In the following examples, $delta contains the delta: 1:2:3:4:5:6:7
$delta->printf('|%.4Myw|');
=> |14.6900|
1 year, 2 months, 3 weeks is approximately
14.6900 months
Directives to print out portions of the delta
The following directives may be used to print out some or all of a
delta.
% [+] [pad] [width] Dt
% [+] [pad] [width] DXY
The first directive will print out the entire delta.
The second will print out the delta from the X to Y fields
inclusive (where X and Y are each one of (y,M,w,d,h,m,s) and X must
come before Y in the sequence).
'pad' is optional and can be either '<' or '>' meaning to pad on
the left or right with spaces. It defaults to '<'.
If a '+' is included immediately following the '%', every field
will have a sign attached. Otherwise, only the leftmost field in
each set of fields will include a sign.
$delta->printf('|%Dt|');
=> |+1:2:+3:+4:5:6:7|
$delta->printf('|%+Dyd|');
=> |+1:+2:+3:+4|
KNOWN BUGS
None known.
BUGS AND QUESTIONS
Please refer to the Date::Manip::Problems documentation for information
on submitting bug reports or questions to the author.
SEE ALSO
Date::Manip - main module documentation
LICENSE
This script is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.
AUTHOR
Sullivan Beck (sbeck@cpan.org)
perl v5.36.0 2023-03-05 Date::Manip::Delta(3pm)
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