1Date::Manip(3) User Contributed Perl Documentation Date::Manip(3)
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6 Date::Manip - Date manipulation routines
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9 Date::Manip is a series of modules designed to make any common
10 date/time operation easy to do. Operations such as comparing two
11 times, determining a date a given amount of time from another, or
12 parsing international times are all easily done. It deals with time as
13 it is used in the Gregorian calendar (the one currently in use) with
14 full support for time changes due to daylight saving time.
15 From the very beginning, the main focus of Date::Manip has been to be
17 able to do ANY desired date/time operation easily. Many other modules
18 exist which may do a subset of these operations quicker or more
19 efficiently, but no other module can do all of the operations available
20 in Date::Manip.
21 Date::Manip has functionality to work with several fundamental types of
23 data.
24 dates
26 The word date is used extensively here and is somewhat misleading.
27 In Date::Manip, a date consists of three pieces of information: a
28 calendar date (year, month, day), a time of day (hour, minute,
29 second), and time zone information. Calendar dates and times are
30 fully handled. Time zones are handled as well, but depending on how
31 you use Date::Manip, there may be some limitations as discussed
32 below.
33 delta
35 A delta is an amount of time (i.e. the amount of time between two
36 different dates). Think of it as the duration of an event or the
37 amount of time between two dates.
38 A delta refers only to an amount of time. It includes no
40 information about a starting or ending date/time. Most people will
41 think of a delta as an amount of time, but the term 'time' is
42 already used so much in this module that I didn't want to use it
43 here in order to avoid confusion.
44 recurrence
46 A recurring event is something which occurs on a regular recurring
47 basis.
48 holidays and events
50 Holidays and events are basically named dates or recurrences.
51 Among other things, Date::Manip allow you to:
53 * Enter a date in practically any format you choose.
55 * Compare two dates, entered in widely different formats to determine
57 which is earlier.
58 * Extract any information you want from a date using a format string
60 similar to the Unix date command.
61 * Determine the amount of time between two dates, or add an amount of
63 time (a delta) to a date to get a second date.
64 * Work with dates using international formats (foreign month names,
66 12/10/95 referring to October rather than December, etc.).
67 * Convert dates from one timezone to another.
69 * To find a list of dates where a recurring event happens.
71 Each of these tasks is trivial (one or two lines at most) with this
73 package.
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76 There are three different ways to use Date::Manip . There are three
77 interfaces (version 5 functional interface, version 6 functional, and
78 version 6 object-oriented). A complete description of each is included
79 in the Date::Manip::Interfaces document. The recommended (and the only
80 one with access to the full functionality of the module) is using the
81 Object-Oriented interface.
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84 Because Date::Manip performs so many operations, the documentation is
85 extensive. It includes the following documents:
86 Information about the different interfaces
88 Read this for a detailed description of each of the interfaces,
89 including information on how to choose and use the interface best
90 suited to your situation.
91 Date::Manip::Interfaces
93 A complete description of the functional interfaces available.
94 NOTE: it is recommended that you use the OO interface wherever
95 possible as the functional interfaces have some limitations.
96 A description of the functional interfaces:
98 Date::Manip::DM5
99 The version 5 functional interface
100 Date::Manip::DM6
102 The version 6 functional interface
103 Objects and configuration
105 An introduction to the Date::Manip classes used by the object-oriented
106 interface and how to configure them:
107 Date::Manip::Objects
109 An overview of the various Date::Manip modules, and how to use
110 them.
111 Date::Manip::Config
113 Information for configuring Date::Manip
114 Date::Manip object-oriented modules
116 These are the modules for using the object-oriented interface.
117 Date::Manip::Obj
119 This is the base class. All other classes listed here inherit the
120 methods defined in this class.
121 Date::Manip::Base
123 A module for doing low-level date operations.
124 Date::Manip::TZ
126 A module for working with time zones.
127 Date::Manip::Date
129 The module for working with dates.
130 Date::Manip::Delta
132 The module for working with deltas (amount of time).
133 Date::Manip::Recur
135 The module for working with recurrences (recurring dates).
136 Timezone information
138 Date::Manip::DM5abbrevs
139 Time zone abbreviations used in the version 5 interface.
140 Date::Manip::Zones
142 Time zone data included in Date::Manip used in the version 6
143 interfaces.
144 Miscellaneous information:
146 Date::Manip::Calc
147 Detailed information on how date calculations are done.
148 Date::Manip::Holidays
150 Information on defining and using holidays and events.
151 Date::Manip::ConfigFile
153 A sample config file.
154 Date::Manip::Lang
156 Information about the languages supported by Date::Manip and how to
157 add a new language.
158 Date::Manip::Lang::english
160 Date::Manip::Lang::catalan
161 Date::Manip::Lang::danish
162 Date::Manip::Lang::dutch
163 Date::Manip::Lang::finnish
164 Date::Manip::Lang::french
165 Date::Manip::Lang::german
166 Date::Manip::Lang::italian
167 Date::Manip::Lang::norwegian
168 Date::Manip::Lang::polish
169 Date::Manip::Lang::portugue
170 Date::Manip::Lang::romanian
171 Date::Manip::Lang::russian
172 Date::Manip::Lang::spanish
173 Date::Manip::Lang::swedish
174 Date::Manip::Lang::turkish
175 A description of the parseable words in each language currently
176 supported by Date::Manip.
177 Information about the module and administrative things:
179 Date::Manip::Migration5to6
180 Information on changes necessary to scripts when upgrading from
181 5.xx to 6.xx.
182 Date::Manip::Changes5
184 Change log for Date::Manip 5.xx
185 Date::Manip::Changes5to6
187 Differences between version 5.xx and 6.00 (including information on
188 upgrading); this contains more details than the Migration5to6
189 document.
190 Date::Manip::Changes6
192 Change log for Date::Manip 6.xx
193 Date::Manip::Misc
195 Miscellaneous information about Date::Manip (who should use it;
196 acknowledgments).
197 Since many other date/time modules exist, some of which may do the
199 specific operation(s) you need faster, be sure to read "SHOULD I
200 USE DATE::MANIP" in Date::Manip::Misc before deciding which of the
201 Date and Time modules from CPAN is for you. However, if you want
202 one module to do it all, Date::Manip is the one to use.
203 Date::Manip::History
205 Musings on the history of Date::Manip written around it's 20th
206 birthday.
207 Date::Manip::Problems
209 Common problems and instructions for reporting bugs.
210 Date::Manip::Examples
212 Examples of how to use Date::Manip.
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215 This script is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
216 under the same terms as Perl itself.
217
219 Sullivan Beck (sbeck@cpan.org)
220perl v5.38.0 2023-07-20 Date::Manip(3)