NAME

Acme::CPANModules::FormattingDate - List of various methods to format dates

VERSION

This document describes version 0.002 of Acme::CPANModules::FormattingDate (from Perl distribution Acme-CPANModules-FormattingDate), released on 2023-10-29.

DESCRIPTION

Overview

Date formatting modules can be categorized by their expected input format and the formatting styles.

Input format: Some modules accept date in the form of Unix epoch (an integer), or a list of integer produced by running the epoch through the builtin gmtime() or localtime() function. Some others might expect the date as DateTime object. For formatting style: there's strftime in the POSIX core module, and then there's the others.

This list is organized using the latter criteria (formatting style).

strftime (and variants)

The POSIX module provides the strftime() routine which lets you format using a template string containing sprintf-style conversions like %Y (for 4-digit year), %m (2-digit month number from 1-12), and so on. There's also Date::strftimeq which provides an extension to this.

You can actually add some modifiers for the conversions to set width/zero-padding/alignment, like you can do with sprintf (e.g. %03d supposing you want 3-digit day of month numbers). But this feature is platform-dependent.

yyyy-mm-dd template

This "yyyy-mm-dd" (for lack of a better term) format is much more commonly used in the general computing world, from spreadsheets to desktop environment clocks. And this format is probably older than strftime. The template is more intuitive to use for people as it gives a clear picture of how wide each component (and the whole string) will be.

There are some modules you can use to format dates using this style. First of all there's Date::Formatter. I find its API a little bit annoying, from the verbose date component key names and inconsistent usage of plurals, to having to use a separate method to "create the formatter" first.

PHP

PHP decided to invent its own date template format. Its date() function accepts template string in which you specify single letter conversions like Y' (for 4-digit year),y(2-digit year), and so on. Some of the letters mean the same like their counterpart in strftime, but some are different (examples:i, a,M`, and so on). The use of single letter means it's more concise, but the format becomes unsuitable if you want to put other stuffs (like some string alphabetical literals) in addition to date components.

In Perl, you can use the PHP::DateTime to format dates using PHP date() format.

ACME::CPANMODULES ENTRIES

Date::strftimeq

Author: PERLANCAR

Date::Formatter

Author: BIANCHINI

PHP::DateTime

Author: BLUEFEET

FAQ

What is an Acme::CPANModules::* module?

An Acme::CPANModules::* module, like this module, contains just a list of module names that share a common characteristics. It is a way to categorize modules and document CPAN. See Acme::CPANModules for more details.

What are ways to use this Acme::CPANModules module?

Aside from reading this Acme::CPANModules module's POD documentation, you can install all the listed modules (entries) using cpanm-cpanmodules script (from App::cpanm::cpanmodules distribution):

 % cpanm-cpanmodules -n FormattingDate

Alternatively you can use the cpanmodules CLI (from App::cpanmodules distribution):

    % cpanmodules ls-entries FormattingDate | cpanm -n

or Acme::CM::Get:

    % perl -MAcme::CM::Get=FormattingDate -E'say $_->{module} for @{ $LIST->{entries} }' | cpanm -n

or directly:

    % perl -MAcme::CPANModules::FormattingDate -E'say $_->{module} for @{ $Acme::CPANModules::FormattingDate::LIST->{entries} }' | cpanm -n

This Acme::CPANModules module also helps lcpan produce a more meaningful result for lcpan related-mods command when it comes to finding related modules for the modules listed in this Acme::CPANModules module. See App::lcpan::Cmd::related_mods for more details on how "related modules" are found.

HOMEPAGE

Please visit the project's homepage at https://metacpan.org/release/Acme-CPANModules-FormattingDate.

SOURCE

Source repository is at https://github.com/perlancar/perl-Acme-CPANModules-FormattingDate.

SEE ALSO

Bencher::Scenario::FormattingDate

Acme::CPANModules - about the Acme::CPANModules namespace

cpanmodules - CLI tool to let you browse/view the lists

AUTHOR

perlancar <perlancar@cpan.org>

CONTRIBUTING

To contribute, you can send patches by email/via RT, or send pull requests on GitHub.

Most of the time, you don't need to build the distribution yourself. You can simply modify the code, then test via:

 % prove -l

If you want to build the distribution (e.g. to try to install it locally on your system), you can install Dist::Zilla, Dist::Zilla::PluginBundle::Author::PERLANCAR, Pod::Weaver::PluginBundle::Author::PERLANCAR, and sometimes one or two other Dist::Zilla- and/or Pod::Weaver plugins. Any additional steps required beyond that are considered a bug and can be reported to me.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2023 by perlancar <perlancar@cpan.org>.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

BUGS

Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=Acme-CPANModules-FormattingDate

When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature.

cpanm Acme::CPANModules::FormattingDate

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Acme::CPANModules::FormattingDate