1.37.2 Get methods

date <-compare: date -> {smaller,equal,larger}

Compare to date objects and return one of smaller (before), equal (same time) or larger (after). May be used by chain->sort. The following example sorts a chain of file objects according to their last modification time:

send(Files, sort,
         ?(@arg1?time, compare, @arg2?time))

date <-convert: string -> date

Convert a date from textual representation. It uses the public domain getdate.y file converting many commonly used textual representations of date/time.

Before using the getdate.y library it tries to convert the XML-Schema defined dateTime representation. See also date<-string, date<-rfc_string and date<-xml_string.

Inherits description from: date->convert

date <-difference: to=[date], unit=[{second,minute,hour,day,week,year}] -> units=int

Difference relative to the argument date in the specified unit. The value is always rounded downwards. to defaults to the epoch. units defaults to seconds. Note that the result is returned as a PCE integer and the maximum value of a PCE integer is not sufficient to represent all time differences in second units. An error (int_range) is generated on overflow.

See also date->before, date->equal and date->after.

date <-posix_value: -> real

date <-print_name: -> string

Equivalent to date<-string. The methods date<-print_name and date<-convert are used by class text_item to represent and modify objects.

See also

date<-string

date <-rfc_string: -> string

date<-string in RFC compatible format. See also date<-xml_string.

date <-string: -> string

New string object representing date. This method uses the C-library function ctime(). It's format is:

_Mon Sep 14 17:23:18 1992_

See also date<-rfc_string and date<-xml_string for conversion to other popular representations.

Bugs: There is no way to manipulate the printed representations of a date apart from redefining this method from scratch.

See also

- date<-print_name
- pce<-date

date <-xml_string: -> string

date<-string in the XML-Schema defined dateTime format. The time is always represented in UTZ (ending with a Z). See also date<-rfc_string, date<-string and date<-convert.

This format is defined as CCYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss[Z|+-hh:mm]. See the XML schema definition for details.