NAME

DateTime::Format::Strptime - Parse and format strp and strf time patterns

SYNOPSIS

  use DateTime::Format::Strptime;

  my $Strp = new DateTime::Format::Strptime(
                                pattern     => '%T',
                                locale      => 'en_AU',
                                time_zone   => 'Australia/Melbourne',
                        );

  my $dt = $Strp->parse_datetime('23:16:42');

  $Strp->format_datetime($dt);
        # 23:16:42

  # Croak when things go wrong:
  my $Strp = new DateTime::Format::Strptime(
                                pattern         => '%T',
                                locale      => 'en_AU',
                                time_zone       => 'Australia/Melbourne',
                                on_error        => 'croak',
                        );

  $newpattern = $Strp->pattern('%Q');
  # Unidentified token in pattern: %Q in %Q at line 34 of script.pl

  # Do something else when things go wrong:
  my $Strp = new DateTime::Format::Strptime(
                                pattern         => '%T',
                                locale      => 'en_AU',
                                time_zone       => 'Australia/Melbourne',
                                on_error        => \&phone_police,
                        );

DESCRIPTION

This module implements most of strptime(3), the POSIX function that is the reverse of strftime(3), for DateTime. While strftime takes a DateTime and a pattern and returns a string, strptime takes a string and a pattern and returns the DateTime object associated.

CONSTRUCTOR

new( pattern=>$strptime_pattern )
Creates the format object. You must specify a pattern, you can also specify a time_zone and a locale. If you specify a time zone then any resulting DateTime object will be in that time zone. If you do not specify a time_zone parameter, but there is a time zone in the string you pass to parse_datetime, then the resulting DateTime will use that time zone.
You can optionally use an on_error parameter. This parameter has three valid options:
- 'undef'
  (not undef, 'undef', it's a string not an undefined value)
  This is the default behavior. The module will return undef whenever it gets upset. The error can be accessed using the $object->errstr method. This is the ideal behaviour for interactive use where a user might provide an illegal pattern or a date that doesn't match the pattern.
- 'croak'
  (not croak, 'croak', it's a string, not a function)
  This used to be the default behaviour. The module will croak with an error message whenever it gets upset.
- sub{...} or \&subname
  When given a code ref, the module will call that sub when it gets upset. The sub receives two parameters: the object and the error message. Using these two it is possible to emulate the 'undef' behavior. (Returning a true value causes the method to return undef. Returning a false value causes the method to bravely continue):
  sub{$_[0]->{errmsg} = $_[1]; 1},

METHODS

This class offers the following methods.

parse_datetime($string)
Given a string in the pattern specified in the constructor, this method will return a new DateTime object.
If given a string that doesn't match the pattern, the formatter will croak or return undef, depending on the setting of on_error in the constructor.
format_datetime($datetime)
Given a DateTime object, this methods returns a string formatted in the object's format. This method is synonymous with DateTime's strftime method.
locale($locale)
When given a locale, this method sets its locale appropriately. If the locale is not understood, the method will croak or return undef (depending on the setting of on_error in the constructor)
If successful this method returns the current locale. (After processing as above).
pattern($strptime_pattern)
When given a pattern, this method sets the object's pattern. If the pattern is invalid, the method will croak or return undef (depending on the value of the on_error parameter)
If successful this method returns the current pattern. (After processing as above)
time_zone($time_zone)
When given a name, offset or DateTime::TimeZone object, this method sets the object's time zone. This effects the DateTime object returned by parse_datetime
If the time zone is invalid, the method will croak or return undef (depending on the value of the on_error parameter)

If successful this method returns the current time zone. (After processing as above)
errmsg
If the on_error behavior of the object is 'undef', error messages with this method so you can work out why things went wrong.
This code emulates a $DateTime::Format::Strptime with the on_error parameter equal to 'croak':

$Strp-pattern($pattern) or die $DateTime::Format::Strptime::errmsg>

EXPORTS

There are no methods exported by default, however the following are available:

strptime($strptime_pattern, $string)
Given a pattern and a string this function will return a new DateTime object.
strftime($strftime_pattern, $datetime)
Given a pattern and a DateTime object this function will return a formatted string.

STRPTIME PATTERN TOKENS

The following tokens are allowed in the pattern string for strptime (parse_datetime):

%%
The % character.
%a or %A
The weekday name according to the current locale, in abbreviated form or the full name.
%b or %B or %h
The month name according to the current locale, in abbreviated form or the full name.
%C
The century number (0-99).
%d or %e
The day of month (1-31).
%D
Equivalent to %m/%d/%y. (This is the American style date, very confusing to non-Americans, especially since %d/%m/%y is widely used in Europe. The ISO 8601 standard pattern is %F.)
%F
Equivalent to %Y-%m-%d. (This is the ISO style date)
%g
The year corresponding to the ISO week number, but without the century (0-99).
%G
The year corresponding to the ISO week number.
%H
The hour (0-23).
%I
The hour on a 12-hour clock (1-12).
%j
The day number in the year (1-366).
%m
The month number (1-12).
%M
The minute (0-59).
%n
Arbitrary whitespace.
%N
Nanoseconds. For other sub-second values use %[number]N.
%p
The equivalent of AM or PM according to the locale in use. (See the DateTime::Locale manpage)
%r
Equivalent to %I:%M:%S %p.
%R
Equivalent to %H:%M.
%s
Number of seconds since the Epoch.
%S
The second (0-60; 60 may occur for leap seconds. See the DateTime::LeapSecond manpage).
%t
Arbitrary whitespace.
%T
Equivalent to %H:%M:%S.
%U
The week number with Sunday the first day of the week (0-53). The first Sunday of January is the first day of week 1.
%u
The weekday number (1-7) with Monday = 1. This is the DateTime standard.
%w
The weekday number (0-6) with Sunday = 0.
%W
The week number with Monday the first day of the week (0-53). The first Monday of January is the first day of week 1.
%y
The year within century (0-99). When a century is not otherwise specified, values in the range 69-99 refer to years in the twen- tieth century (1969-1999); values in the range 00-68 refer to years in the twenty-first century (2000-2068).
%Y
The year, including century (for example, 1991).
%z
An RFC-822/ISO 8601 standard time zone specification. (For example +1100) [See note below]
%Z
The timezone name. (For example EST -- which is ambiguous) [See note below]
%O
This extended token allows the use of Olson Time Zone names to appear in parsed strings. NOTE: This pattern cannot be passed to DateTime's strftime() method, but can be passed to format_datetime().

NOTES

on_error
Default behavior of this module is now to return undef on erroring.

SUPPORT

Support for this module is provided via the datetime@perl.org email list. See http://lists.perl.org/ for more details.

Alternatively, log them via the CPAN RT system via the web or email:

        bug-datetime-format-strptime@rt.cpan.org

This makes it much easier for me to track things and thus means your problem is less likely to be neglected.

LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

The full text of the licenses can be found in the LICENCE file included with this module.

AUTHOR

Rick Measham <rickm@cpan.org>