Date Time IO TutorialDate Time IO Tutorial
Basic Use |
Format Strings |
Content Strings |
Special Values |
Date/Time Periods |
Date Generators
Basic UseFacets are automatically imbued when operators '>>' and '<<' are called. The list of date_time objects that can be streamed are:Gregoriandate,
days,
date_period,
greg_month,
greg_weekday,
greg_year,
partial_date,
nth_day_of_the_week_in_month,
first_day_of_the_week_in_month,
last_day_of_the_week_in_month,
first_day_of_the_week_after,
first_day_of_the_week_beforePosix_timeptime,
time_period,
time_durationLocal_timelocal_date_time
The following example is of the basic use of the new IO code, utilizing all the defaults. (this example can be found in the libs/date_time/examples/tutorial directory)
> pt;
cout << pt << endl; // "2004-Feb-29 12:34:56.000789"
ss.str("");
ss << pt << " EDT-05EDT,M4.1.0,M10.5.0";
local_date_time ldt(not_a_date_time);
ss >> ldt;
cout << ldt << endl; // "2004-Feb-29 12:34:56.000789 EDT"
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This example used the default settings for the input and output facets. The default formats are such that interoperability like that shown in the example is possible. NOTE: Input streaming of local_date_time can only be done with a posix time zone string. The default output format uses a time zone abbreviation. The format can be changed so out and in match (as we will see later in this tutorial).Format StringsThe format strings control the order, type, and style of the date/time elements used. The facets provide some predefined formats (iso_format_specifier, iso_format_extended_specifier, and default_date_format) but the user can easily create their own.
(continued from previous example)
format("%a %b %d, %H:%M %z");
ss.str("");
ss << ldt;
cout << ss.str() << endl; // "Sun Feb 29, 12:34 EDT"
output_facet->format(local_time_facet::iso_time_format_specifier);
ss.str("");
ss << ldt;
cout << ss.str() << endl; // "20040229T123456.000789-0500"
output_facet->format(local_time_facet::iso_time_format_extended_specifier);
ss.str("");
ss << ldt;
cout << ss.str() << endl; // "2004-02-29 12:34:56.000789-05:00"
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Format strings are not limited to date/time elements. Extra verbiage can be placed in a format string. NOTE: When extra verbiage is present in an input format, the data being input must also contain the exact verbiage.
(continued from previous example)
format(my_format.c_str());
input_facet->format(my_format.c_str());
ss.str("");
ss << ldt;
cout << ss.str() << endl;
// matching extra words in input
ss.str("The extended ordinal time 2005-128T12:15 can also be \
represented as Sunday May 08, 2005");
ss >> ldt;
cout << ldt << endl;
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Content StringsSo far we've shown how a user can achieve a great deal of customization with very little effort by using formats. Further customization can be achieved through user defined elements (ie strings). The elements that can be customized are: Special value names, month names, month abbreviations, weekday names, weekday abbreviations, delimiters of the date/time periods, and the phrase elements of the date_generators.The default values for these are as follows:Special valuesnot-a-date-time,
-infinity,
+infinity,
minimum-date-time,
maximum-date-timeMonthsEnglish calendar and three letter abbreviationsWeekdaysEnglish calendar and three letter abbreviationsDate generator phrase elementsfirst,
second,
third,
fourth,
fifth,
last,
before,
after,
ofNOTE: We've shown earlier that the components of a date/time representation can be re-ordered via the format string. This is not the case with date_generators. The elements themselves can be customized but their order cannot be changed.Content StringsTo illustrate the customization possibilities we will use custom strings for months and weekdays (we will only use long names, is all lowercase, for this example).
(continued from previous example)
long_months(&month_names[0], &month_names[12]);
string day_names[7] = { "sunday", "monday", "tuesday", "wednesday",
"thursday", "friday", "saturday" };
vector long_days(&day_names[0], &day_names[7]);
// create date_facet and date_input_facet using all defaults
date_facet* date_output = new date_facet();
date_input_facet* date_input = new date_input_facet();
ss.imbue(locale(ss.getloc(), date_output));
ss.imbue(locale(ss.getloc(), date_input));
// replace names in the output facet
date_output->long_month_names(long_months);
date_output->long_weekday_names(long_days);
// replace names in the input facet
date_input->long_month_names(long_months);
date_input->long_weekday_names(long_days);
// customize month, weekday and date formats
date_output->format("%Y-%B-%d");
date_input->format("%Y-%B-%d");
date_output->month_format("%B"); // full name
date_input->month_format("%B"); // full name
date_output->weekday_format("%A"); // full name
date_input->weekday_format("%A"); // full name
ss.str("");
ss << greg_month(3);
cout << ss.str() << endl; // "march"
ss.str("");
ss << greg_weekday(3);
cout << ss.str() << endl; // "tuesday"
ss.str("");
ss << date(2005,Jul,4);
cout << ss.str() << endl; // "2005-july-04"
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Special ValuesCustomizing the input and output of special values is best done by creating a new special_values_parser and special_values_formatter. The new strings can be set at construction time (as in the example below).
(continued from previous example)
format(local_time_facet::default_time_format);
input_facet->format(local_time_input_facet::default_time_input_format);
// create custom special_values parser and formatter objects
// and add them to the facets
string sv[5] = {"nadt","neg_inf", "pos_inf", "min_dt", "max_dt" };
vector sv_names(&sv[0], &sv[5]);
special_values_parser sv_parser(sv_names.begin(), sv_names.end());
special_values_formatter sv_formatter(sv_names.begin(), sv_names.end());
output_facet->special_values_formatter(sv_formatter);
input_facet->special_values_parser(sv_parser);
ss.str("");
ldt = local_date_time(not_a_date_time);
ss << ldt;
cout << ss.str() << endl; // "nadt"
ss.str("min_dt");
ss >> ldt;
ss.str("");
ss << ldt;
cout << ss.str() << endl; // "1400-Jan-01 00:00:00 UTC"
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NOTE: even though we sent in strings for min and max to the formatter, they are ignored because those special values construct to actual dates (as shown above).Date/Time PeriodsCustomizing the input and output of periods is best done by creating a new period_parser and period_formatter. The new strings can be set at construction time (as in the example below).
(continued from previous example)
period_formatter(per_formatter);
date_input->period_parser(per_parser);
// custom output
ss.str("");
ss << dp;
cout << ss.str() << endl; // "from 2005-Feb-01 to 2005-Apr-01 exclusive"
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Date GeneratorsCustomizing the input and output of date_generators is done by replacing the existing strings (in the facet) with new strings.NOTE: We've shown earlier that the components of a date/time representation can be re-ordered via the format string. This is not the case with date_generators. The elements themselves can be customized but their order cannot be changed.
(continued from previous example)
phrases(&dg_phrases[0], &dg_phrases[9]);
// create our date_generator
first_day_of_the_week_before d_gen(Monday);
// default output
ss.str("");
ss << d_gen;
cout << ss.str() << endl; // "Mon before"
// add our custom strings to the date facets
date_output->date_gen_phrase_strings(phrases);
date_input->date_gen_element_strings(phrases);
// custom output
ss.str("");
ss << d_gen;
cout << ss.str() << endl; // "Mon prior to"
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