Time/Format version 1.00 ======================== Time::Format provides a very easy way to format dates and times. The formatting functions are tied to hash variables, so they can be used inside strings as well as in ordinary expressions. The formatting codes used are meant to be easy to remember, use, and read. They follow a simple, consistent pattern. If I've done my job right, once you learn the codes, you should never have to refer to the documentation again. A quick-reference page is included, just in case. ;-) Also provided is a tied-hash interface to POSIX::strftime and Date::Manip::UnixDate. If the I18N::Langinfo module is available, Time::Format provides weekday and month names in a language appropriate for your locale. A companion module, Time::Format_XS, is also available; if it is installed, Time::Format will detect and use it, which will result in a significant speed improvement. EXAMPLES $time{'Weekday Month d, yyyy'} Thursday June 5, 2003 $time{'Day Mon d, yyyy'} Thu Jun 5, 2003 $time{'DAY MON d, yyyy'} THU JUN 5, 2003 $time{'dd/mm/yyyy'} 05/06/2003 $time{yymmdd} 030605 $time{'yymmdd',time-86400} 030604 $time{'H:mm:ss am'} 1:02:14 pm $time{'hh:mm:ss.uuuuuu'} 13:02:14.171447 $time{'yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss.mmm'} 2003/06/05 13:02:14.171 $strftime{'%A %B %d, %Y'} Thursday June 05, 2003 $strftime{'%A %B %d, %Y',time+86400} Friday June 06, 2003 $manip{'%m/%d/%Y'} 06/05/2003 $manip{'%m/%d/%Y','yesterday'} 06/04/2003 $manip{'%m/%d/%Y','first monday in November 2000'} 11/06/2000 There are also corresponding functions for each of these hashes, which you can use if you prefer (or need) a function-based interface. DEVELOPMENT STATE No bug reports or feature requests have been submitted in the twelve months since v0.13 was released; therefore it seems safe to up the version number to 1.00 and call it "released" -- either there are no serious bugs, or nobody's using the module! If you find any bugs, or if any behavior of Time::Format surprises you, I would be grateful if you could send me an email message about it. Thanks. INSTALLATION To install this module, do the standard Perl module four-step: perl Makefile.PL or perl Makefile.pl LIB='my/install/path' make make test make install WINDOWS (ACTIVESTATE) USERS Versions 0.11 and 0.13 fix some problems ActiveState users had with installation. Also, a ppm installation is now available. This is still experimental, as the author is not experienced with the AS product. Try the included PPD file. It points to the Time::Format ppm file at CPAN. The author would appreciate feedback on this. :-) DEPENDENCIES This module requires these other modules and libraries: I18N::Langinfo (optional) POSIX (optional) Time::HiRes (optional) Date::Manip (optional) Time::Format_XS (optional) Test::More (used by the test suite only) Time::Local (used by the test suite only) COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE Eric J. Roode, roode@cpan.org Copyright (c) 2003-2004 by Eric J. Roode. All Rights Reserved. This module is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.