phpMan > man > Date::Manip::Config(3pm)

NAME
    Date::Manip::Config - Date::Manip configuration

SYNOPSIS
    This documents the configuration information which is stored in each Date::Manip::Base object,
    how to modify this information, and how the information is used in the other Date::Manip
    modules.

DESCRIPTION
    Date::Manip is a very configurable bundle of modules. Many of it's behaviors can be modified to
    change how date operations are done. To do this, a list of configuration variables may be set
    which define many Date::Manip behaviors.

    There are three ways to set config variables. The first two are to pass them in when creating an
    object, or to pass them to the config method after the object is created. All of the main
    Date::Manip modules (Date::Manip::Base, Date::Manip::TZ, Date::Manip::Date, Date::Manip::Delta,
    and Date::Manip::Recur) have the config method.

    As an example, you can create and configure a Date::Manip::Date object using the commands:

       $date = new Date::Manip::Date;
       $date->config($var1,$val1,$var2,$val2,...);

    This can be shortened to:

       $date = new Date::Manip::Date [$var1,$val1,...];

    The values of the config variables are stored in the Date::Manip::Base object. So, if you have a
    Date::Manip::Date object, it has a Date::Manip::Base object associated with it, and the
    configuration information is stored there. The same Date::Manip::Base object may be used by any
    number of higher objects, and all will share the same configuration. If multiple
    Date::Manip::Date objects share the same Date::Manip::Base object, setting a configuration
    variable on any of them affects all of the Date::Manip::Date objects. If you need to work with
    different configurations simultaneously, it is necessary to work with multiple Date::Manip::Base
    objects. This is covered in the Date::Manip::Objects document.

    An alternate method exists if you are using one of the functional interfaces. To set a variable
    using the functional interface, use the call:

       Date_Init("$var1=$val1");

    The third way to set config variables is to store them in a config file. The config file is read
    in by passing the appropriate values to the config method as described below. A config file is a
    good way to easily change a large number of settings. They are also necessary for other purposes
    (such as events and holidays which are covered in the Date::Manip::Holidays document).

CONFIG FILES
    One of the variables that can be passed to the config method is "ConfigFile". The value of this
    variable is the path to a config file.

    When any Date::Manip::* object is configured, any number of config files may be read (and the
    config files can specify additional files to read).

    The starting section of a config file contains general configuration variables. A list of all
    config variables is given below.

    Following this, any number of special sections may be included in the config file. The special
    sections are used to specify other types of information, such as a list of holidays or special
    events. These special sections are described elsewhere in the documentation.

    The syntax of the config file is very simple. Every line is of the form:

       VAR = VAL

    or

       *SECTION

    Blank lines and lines beginning with a pound sign (#) are ignored. All whitespace is optional.
    Variables names in the main section and section names are case insensitive (though values in the
    main section are typically case sensitive). Strings in other sections (both variables and
    values) are case sensitive.

    The following is a sample config file:

       DateFormat = US
       Language   = English

       *Holidays

       Dec 25 =  Christmas
       Jan 1  =  New Year's

    All config variables that may appear in the main part of a config file are described in the next
    section. Other sections are described elsewhere. The *Holidays and *Events sections are both
    described in the Date::Manip::Holidays documentation.

    A sample config file is included with the Date::Manip distribution. Modify it as appropriate and
    copy it to some appropriate directory and use the ConfigFile variable to access it. For example,
    if a config file is stored in /home/foo/Manip.cnf, you can load it by:

       $date->config("ConfigFile","/home/foo/Manip.cnf");

    or (if using a functional interface):

       Date_Init("ConfigFile=/home/foo/Manip.cnf");

    NOTE: if you use business mode calculations, you must have a config file since this is the only
    place where you can define holidays.

    In the top section, only variables described below may be used. In other sections, checking (if
    any) is done in the module that uses the data from that section.

BASIC CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
    This section describes the basic Date::Manip configuration variables which can be used in a
    config file, or which may be passed in using the appropriate functions for each module.

    Variable names are case insensitive, both as arguments to the config function and in the config
    file. The values are case sensitive except where specified otherwise.

    Defaults
        The value for this config variable is ignored. Whenever the Defaults config variable is
        encountered, the defaults for all config variables are restored, overriding ALL changes that
        have been made.

        In other words, in the following call:

           $date->config("Language","Russian",
                         "Defaults","1");

        the first option will end up being ignored since the Defaults config variable will set the
        language back to it's default value which is English.

        When using a functional interface, use:

           Date_Init("Defaults=1");

    ConfigFile
        The ConfigFile variable defines a config file which will be parsed for configuration
        information. It may be included any number of times, each one including the path to a single
        config file. The value of this variable is a full path to a file.

        An example call to the config function might be:

           $date->config("ConfigFile","/tmp/file1",
                         'Language',$val);

        Config files are parsed immediately when encountered. So in this example, the file
        /tmp/file1 will be parsed before the next variable ('Language'). In addition, if a config
        file contains a ConfigFile variable, that file will immediately be parsed before continuing
        with the original file.

        The path to the file may be specified in any way valid for the operating system. If a file
        is not found, a warning will be issued, but execution will continue.

        Multiple config files are safe, and a section may safely be split across multiple files.

        When using a functional interface, use:

           Date_Init("ConfigFile=/tmp/file1");

    Language
        Date::Manip can be used to parse dates in many different languages. A list of the languages
        is given in the Date::Manip::Lang document.

        To parse dates in a different language, just use the Language config variable with the name
        of the language as the value. Language names are case insensitive.

        Additional languages may be added with the help of someone fluent in English and the other
        language. If you are interested in providing a translation for a new language, please refer
        to the Date::Manip::Lang document for instructions.

    Encoding
        Date::Manip has some support for handling date strings encoded in alternate character
        encodings.

        By default, input strings may be tested using multiple encodings that are commonly used for
        the specific languages, as well as using standard perl escape sequences, and output is done
        in UTF-8.

        The input, output, or both can be overridden using the Encoding variable.

        Setting Encoding to the name of a single encoding (a name supported by the Encoding perl
        module), will force all input and output to be done in that encoding.

        So, setting:

           Encoding = iso-8859-1

        means that all input and output will be in that encoding. The encoding 'perl' has the
        special meaning of storing the string in perl escape sequences.

        Encoding can also be set to the name of two encoding (separated by a comma).

           Encoding = iso-8859-1,utf-16

        which means that all input is in iso-8859-1 encoding, but all output will be utf-16.

        Encoding may also be set as follows:

           Encoding = iso-8859-1,

        meaning that input is in iso-8859-1 and output is in the default (i.e. UTF-8) encoding.

           Encoding = ,utf-16

        means to check the input in all of the encodings, but all output will be in utf-16 encoding.

        Note that any time you change languages, it will reset the encodings, so you should set this
        config variable AFTER setting the language.

    FirstDay
        It is sometimes necessary to know what day of week is regarded as first. By default, this is
        set to Monday as that conforms to ISO 8601, but many countries and people will prefer Sunday
        (and in a few cases, a different day may be desired). Set the FirstDay variable to be the
        first day of the week (1=Monday, 7=Sunday).

    Jan1Week1
        ISO 8601 states that the first week of the year is the one which contains Jan 4 (i.e. it is
        the first week in which most of the days in that week fall in that year). This means that
        the first 3 days of the year may be treated as belonging to the last week of the previous
        year. If this is set to non-nil, the ISO 8601 standard will be ignored and the first week of
        the year contains Jan 1.

    Printable
        Some commands may produce a printable version of a date. By default, the printable version
        of the date is of the format:

           YYYYMMDDHH:MN:SS

        Two other simple versions have been created. If the Printable variable is set to 1, the
        format is:

           YYYYMMDDHHMNSS

        If Printable is set to 2, the format is:

           YYYY-MM-DD-HH:MN:SS

        This config variable is present in order to maintain backward compatibility, and may
        actually be deprecated at some point. As such, additional formats will not be added.
        Instead, use the printf method in the Date::Manip::Date module to extract information with
        complete flexibility.

DATE PARSING CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
    DateFormat
        Different countries look at the date 12/10 as Dec 10 or Oct 12. In the United States, the
        first is most common, but this certainly doesn't hold true for other countries. Setting
        DateFormat to "US" (case insensitive) forces the first behavior (Dec 10). Setting DateFormat
        to anything else forces the second behavior (Oct 12). The "US" setting is the default (sorry
        about that... I live in the US).

    YYtoYYYY
        When parsing a date containing a 2-digit year, the year must be converted to 4 digits. This
        config variable determines how this is done.

        By default, a 2 digit year is treated as falling in the 100 year period of CURR-89 to
        CURR+10. So in the year 2005, a two digit year will be somewhere in the range 1916 to 2015.

        YYtoYYYY may be set to any integer N to force a 2 digit year into the period CURR-N to
        CURR+(99-N). A value of 0 forces the year to be the current year or later. A value of 99
        forces the year to be the current year or earlier. Although the most common choice of values
        will be somewhere between 0 and 99, there is no restriction on N that forces it to be so. It
        can actually be any positive or negative number you want to force it into any 100 year
        period desired.

        YYtoYYYY can also be set to "C" to force it into the current century, or to "C##" to force
        it into a specific century. So, in 1998, "C" forces 2 digit years to be 1900-1999. "C18"
        would always force a 2 digit year to be in the range 1800-1899. Note: I'm aware that the
        actual definitions of century are 1901-2000, NOT 1900-1999, so for purists, treat this as
        the way to supply the first two digits rather than as supplying a century.

        It can also be set to the form "C####" to force it into a specific 100 year period. C1950
        refers to 1950-2049.

    DefaultTime
        When a date is parsed from one of the formats listed in the "Common date formats" or "Less
        common formats" sections of the Date::Manip::Date document, and no time is explicitly
        included, the default time can be determined by the value of this variable. The two possible
        values are:

           midnight   the default time is 00:00:00
           curr       the default time is the current time

        "midnight" is the default value.

        NOTE: this only applies to dates parsed with the parse method. Dates parsed using the
        parse_date method always default to 00:00:00.

    PeriodTimeSep
        By default, the time separator (i.e. the character that separates hours from minutes and
        minutes from seconds) is specified in the language translations and in most cases it does
        not include a period. In English, the only defined time separator is a colon (:), so the
        time can be written as 12:15:30 .

        If you want to use a period (.) as a time separator as well, set this to 1. Then you can
        write the time as 12.15.30 .

        By default, a period is used as a date separator, so 12.15.30 would be interpreted as Dec 15
        1930 (or 2030), so if you use the period as a date separator, it should not be used as a
        time separator too.

    Format_MMMYYYY
        By default, when parsing a string like 'Jun 1925', it will be interpreted as 'Jun 19, 2025'
        (i.e. MMM DDYY). Also, the string '1925 Jun' is not allowed.

        This variable can be set to either 'first' or 'last', and in that case, both 'Jun 1925' and
        '1925 Jun' will be allowed, and will refer to either the first or last day of June in 1925.

BUSINESS CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
    These are configuration variables used to define work days and holidays used in business mode
    calculations. Refer to the Date::Manip::Calc documentation for details on these calculations.

    WorkWeekBeg
    WorkWeekEnd
        The first and last days of the work week. These default to Monday and Friday. Days are
        numbered from 1 (Monday) to 7 (Sunday). WorkWeekBeg must come before WorkWeekEnd numerically
        so there is no way to handle a work week of Sunday to Thursday using these variables.

        There is also no way to handle an odd work schedule such as 10 days on, 4 days off.

        However, both of these situations can be handled using a fairly simple workaround.

        To handle a work week of Sunday to Thursday, just set WorkWeekBeg=1 and WorkWeekEnd=7 and
        defined a holiday that occurs every Friday and Saturday.

        To handle a 10 days on, 4 days off schedule, do something similar but defined a holiday that
        occurs on all of the 4 days off.

        Both of these can be done using recurrences. Refer to the Date::Manip::Recur documentation
        for details.

    WorkDay24Hr
    WorkDayBeg
    WorkDayEnd
        If WorkDay24Hr is non-zero, a work day is treated as usually being 24 hours long (daylight
        saving time changes ARE taken into account). The WorkDayBeg and WorkDayEnd variables are
        ignored in this case.

        By default, WorkDay24Hr is zero, and the work day is defined by the WorkDayBeg and
        WorkDayEnd variables. These are the times when the work day starts and ends respectively.
        WorkDayBeg must come before WorkDayEnd (i.e. there is no way to handle the night shift where
        the work day starts one day and ends another).

        The time in both should be a valid time format (H, H:M, or H:M:S).

        Note that setting WorkDay24Hr to a non-zero value automatically sets WorkDayBeg and
        WorkDayEnd to "00:00:00" and "24:00:00" respectively, so to switch back to a non-24 hour
        day, you will need to reset both of those config variables.

        Similarly, setting either the WorkDayBeg or WorkDayEnd variables automatically turns off
        WorkDay24Hr.

    TomorrowFirst
        Periodically, if a day is not a business day, we need to find the nearest business day to
        it. By default, we'll look to "tomorrow" first, but if this variable is set to 0, we'll look
        to "yesterday" first. This is only used in the "Date::Manip::Date::nearest_business_day"
        method (and the "Date_NearestWorkDay" function) and is easily overridden (see documentation
        for the nearest_business_day method).

    EraseHolidays
    EraseEvents
        If these variables are used (a value must be passed in, but is ignored), the current list of
        defined holidays or events is erased. A new set will be set the next time a config file is
        read in.

        Although these variables are supported, the best way to have multiple holiday or events
        lists will be to create multiple Date::Manip::Base objects based on separate config files.

RECURRENCE CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
    The following config variables help in the handling of recurrences.

    RecurRange
        When a recurrence is created, it begins with a default range (start and end date). The range
        selected depends on the value of this variable, and can be set to any of the following:

           none     no default range supplied
           year     the current year
           month    the current month
           week     the current week
           day      the current day
           all      Jan 2, 0001 to Dec 30, 9999

        The default value is "none".

    MaxRecurAttempts
        Occasionally, a recurrence is invalid (though it cannot be easily determined in advance).

        When searching for dates that match the recurrence, this is the maximum number of attempts
        that will be done. If none are found, the recurrence will be assumed to be invalid.

TIME ZONE RELATED CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
    The following configuration variables may alter the current time zone. As such, they are only
    available once the Date::Manip::TZ module is available. An easy way to handle this is to only
    pass them to the config method of a Date::Manip::TZ object or one of the high level objects
    (Date::Manip::Date, Date::Manip::Delta, or Date::Manip::Recur).

    Many of Date::Manip's operations rely on knowing what time it is now. This consists of three
    things: knowing what date and time it is, knowing what time zone it is, and knowing whether it
    is daylight saving or not. All of this is necessary in order to correctly handle every possible
    date.

    The daylight saving time information is only used for a couple hours each year during daylight
    saving time changes (at all other times, the date, time, and time zone are sufficient
    information), so it is optional, and defaults to standard time if omitted.

    The default behavior of Date::Manip is to use the system localtime function to determine the
    date, time, and daylight saving time information, and to use various methods (see "DETERMINING
    THE SYSTEM TIME ZONE" in Date::Manip::TZ) to determine what time zone the computer is in.

    TZ  This variable is deprecated, but will be supported for several releases. The SetDate or
        ForceDate variables (described next) should be used instead.

        The following are equivalent:

            $date->config("tz","Europe/Rome");
            $date->config("setdate","now,Europe/Rome");

        or in the functional interface:

            Date_Init("tz=Europe/Rome");
            Date_Init("setdate=now,Europe/Rome");

    SetDate
        The SetDate config variable is used to set the current date, time, or time zone, but then
        allow it to change over time using the rules of that time zone.

        There are several cases where this may be useful.

        Often, you may want to use the system time to get the date and time, but you want to work in
        another time zone. For this, use the call:

           $date->config("setdate","now,ZONE");

        or in the function interface:

           Date_Init("setdate=now,ZONE");

        If it is currently

           Jun 6, 2009 12:00:00 in the America/New_York time zone

        and you call:

           $date->config("setdate","now,Europe/Rome");

        the Date::Manip will treat that exact instant as

           Jun 6, 2009 12:00:00 in the Europe/Rome time zone

        At that precise moment, looking at the system time and parsing the date "now" in Date::Manip
        will give the same date and time.

        The time will continue to advance, but it will use time change rules from the Europe/Rome
        time zone. What that means is that if a daylight saving time occurs on the computer, but NOT
        in the Europe/Rome time zone (or vice versa), the system date and time will no longer match
        the results of parsing the date "now" in Date::Manip.

        In general (unless the program runs for an extended period of time), the system date and
        time WILL match the value of "now", so this is a good way to simulate placing the computer
        in another time zone.

        If the current date/time is ambiguous (i.e. it exists in both standard and daylight saving
        time in the alternate zone), you can use the call:

           $date->config("setdate","now,DSTFLAG,ZONE");

        to force it to be in one or the other. DSTFLAG can be "std", "dst", "stdonly", or "dstonly".
        "std" and "dst" mean that the date can be in either standard or saving time, but will try
        standard first (for "dst") or saving time first (if "dst"), and will only try the other if
        the date is not valid. If "stdonly" or "dstonly" is used, the date will be forced to be
        standard or saving time respectively (an error will be triggered if there is no valid date
        in that time).

        If the current date/time doesn't exist in the alternate zone, an error will occur.

        The other common operation is that you might want to see results as they would appear on a
        computer running in a different time zone.

        This can be done using the call:

           $date->config("setdate","zone,ZONE");
           $date->config("setdate","zone,DSTFLAG,ZONE");

        If it is currently

           Jun 6, 2009 12:00:00 in the America/New_York time zone

        and you call:

           $date->config("setdate","zone,America/Chicago");

        then parsing "now" at precisely that moment will return "Jun 6, 2009 11:00:00". This is
        equivalent to working in the current zone, but then converting everything to the alternate
        zone.

        Note that DSTFLAG is only used if ZONE is entered as an offset.

        The final case where the SetDate config variable is used is to alter the date and time to
        some other value (completely independent of the current date and time) and allow it to
        advance normally from that point.

           $date->config("setdate","DATE");
           $date->config("setdate","DATE,ZONE");
           $date->config("setdate","DATE,DSTFLAG,ZONE");

        set both the date/time and zone.

        If DATE is not valid in the time zone (either the local time zone or the specified one), and
        error occurs.

        The call:

           $date->config("setdate","now");

        resets everything to use the current date/time and zone and lets it advance normally.

    ForceDate
        The ForceDate config variable is similar to the SetDate variable, except that once "now" is
        set, it is not allowed to change. Parsing the date "now" will not change, regardless of how
        long the program runs (unless either the SetDate or ForceDate variables are set to some
        other value).

           $date->config("forcedate","now,ZONE");
           $date->config("forcedate","now,DSTFLAG,ZONE");
           $date->config("forcedate","zone,ZONE");
           $date->config("forcedate","zone,DSTFLAG,ZONE");
           $date->config("forcedate","DATE");
           $date->config("forcedate","DATE,ZONE");
           $date->config("forcedate","DATE,DSTFLAG,ZONE");
           $date->config("forcedate","now");

        all set "now" in the same way as the SetDate variable. Spaces after commas are ignored.

    ZONE can be any time zone name, alias, abbreviation, or offset, and the best time zone will be
    determined from all given information.

    It should be noted that setting the SetDate or ForceDate variable twice will always refer to the
    system date/time as a starting point. For example, if a program is running, and calls the
    method:

       $date->config("forcedate","now");

    at Jun 6, 2009 at 12:00, that time will be treated as now from that point on. If the same call
    is done an hour later, "now" will then be Jun 6, 2009 at 13:00 from that moment on.

    Since the current date is used in the date parsing routines, no parsing can be done on the DATE
    value in any of the calls. Instead, DATE must be a date in one of the two formats:

       YYYY-MM-DD-HH:MN:SS
       YYYYMMDDHH:MN:SS

DEPRECATED CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
    The following config variables are currently supported, but are deprecated. They will be removed
    in a future Date::Manip release:

    TZ  This is discussed above. Use SetDate or ForceDate instead.

        Scheduled for removal 2016-03-01

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 AT cpan.org)