OpenEuphoria

parse

include datetime.e -- (default namespace is datetime) 
public function parse(sequence val, sequence fmt = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S", 
        integer yylower = - 80) 

Parses a datetime string according to the given format.

Parameters:

1. val : string datetime value
2. fmt : datetime format. Default is "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
3. yysplit : Set the maximum difference from the current year when parsing a two digit year. Defaults to -80/+20.

Returns:

A datetime, value.

Comments:

Only a subset of the format specification is currently supported:

• %d -- day of month (e.g, 01)
• %H -- hour (00..23)
• %m -- month (01..12)
• %M -- minute (00..59)
• %S -- second (00..60)
• %y -- 2-digit year (YY)
• %Y -- 4-digit year (CCYY)

More format codes will be added in future versions.

All non-format characters in the format string are ignored and are not matched against the input string.

All non-digits in the input string are ignored.

Parsing Two Digit Years:

When parsing a two digit year parse has to make a decision if a given year is in the past or future. For example, 10/18/44. Is that Oct 18, 1944 or Oct 18, 2044. A common rule has come about for this purpose and that is the -80/+20 rule. Based on research it was found that more historical events are recorded than future events, thus it favors history rather than future. Some other applications may require a different rule, thus the yylower parameter can be supplied.

Assuming today is 12/22/2010 here is an example of the -80/+20 rule:

Another rule in use is the -50/+50 rule. Therefore, if you supply -50 to the yylower to set the lower bounds, some examples may be (given that today is 12/22/2010):

Note:

• Since 4.0.1 -- 2-digit year parsing and yylower parameter.

Example 1:

include std/datetime.e 
 
datetime d = parse("05/01/2009 10:20:30", "%m/%d/%Y %H:%M:%S") 
? d 

Result:

{2009,5,1,10,20,30 }

Example 2:

include std/datetime.e 
 
datetime d = parse("05/01/44", "%m/%d/%y", -50) -- -50/+50 rule 
? d 

Result:

{2044,5,1,0,0,0}

See Also:

format