Supported date and time formats
Date formats:
- "yyyyMMdd[-|T|_]HHmmss" (if timezone offset hint provided),
- "yyyyMMdd[-|T|_]HHmmssZ",
- "yyyyMMdd[-|T|_]HHmmss[+|-]HH",
- "yyyyMMdd[-|T|_]HHmmss[+|-]HHmm",
Examples:
- valid: Prefix_YYYYMMDD_hhmmss.wav, Prefix_YYYYMMDD_hhmmssZ.wav
- valid: prefix_20140101_235959.mp3, a_00000000_000000.a, a_99999999_999999.dnsb48364JSFDSD, prefix_20140101_235959Z.mp3
- valid: SERF_20130314_000021_000.wav, a_20130314_000021_a.a, a_99999999_999999_a.dnsb48364JSFDSD
- valid: prefix_20140101-235959+10.mp3, a_00000000-000000+00.a, a_99999999-999999+9999.dnsb48364JSFDSD
- valid: prefix_20140101_235959+10.mp3, a_00000000_000000+00.a, a_99999999_999999+9999.dnsb48364JSFDSD
- ISO8601-ish (supports a file compatible variant of ISO8601)
- valid: prefix_20140101T235959+10.mp3, a_00000000T000000+00.a, a_99999999T999999+9999.dnsb48364JSFDSD
Problems with dates
- There is one true date format: ISO8601
- Dates and times can be ambiguous
- Time zones are silly
- Daylight savings (e.g. AEDT)
- Time zones change regularly
- E.g. Sudan changed time zone from UTC +3 to UTC +2 on 1 November 2017
- Time zone offsets are very important
- How many hours from UTC
- Less problems than time zones
| Bad Example | Problem | Solution | Better Example | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3:45 | Can occur twice a day | Use 24 hour time HH:mm | 03:45 | |
| 3/3/2018 | Month can come first | Use ISO8601 dates | 2018-03-03 | |
| 16:30 03/03/2018 | Not sortable | Order date components from largest to smallest (ISO8601) | 2018-03-03 03:45:00 | |
| 2018-03-03 03:45:00 | Could refer to 37 different points in time today | Always use a time zone offset | 2018-03-03 03:45:00+10:00 | |
| 592D42A3 | Unreadable (…but not ambiguous) | Make it readable | 20180303T034500Z | |
| 2018-03-03 03:45:00+10:00 | Invalid filename characters | ISO8601 alternative format | 20180303T034500+1000 |