Obtain a standard datetime format that works across locales

The standard_date_time() function can be invoked in the format argument of the fdt() function to help generate a locale-specific formatting string of a certain 'type' of formatted datetime. The type value is a keyword that represents precision and verbosity; the available keywords are "short" (the default), "medium", "long", and "full".

Usage

standard_date_time(type = c("short", "medium", "long", "full"))

Arguments

type

One of four standardized types for the resulting datetime that range in precision and verbosity. These are "short" (the default), "medium", "long", and "full".

Value

A vector of class date_time_pattern.

Examples

With an input datetime of "2018-07-04 22:05(America/Vancouver)", we can format the date and time in a standardized way with standard_date_time() providing the correct formatting string. This function is invoked in the format argument of fdt():

fdt(
  input = "2018-07-04 22:05(America/Vancouver)",
  format = standard_date_time(type = "full")
)

#> [1] "Wednesday, July 4, 2018 at 10:05:00 PM Pacific Daylight Time"

The locale can be changed and we don't have to worry about the particulars of the formatting string (they are standardized across locales).

fdt(
  input = "2018-07-04 22:05(America/Vancouver)",
  format = standard_date_time(type = "full"),
  locale = fdt_locales_lst$nl
)

#> [1] "woensdag 4 juli 2018 om 22:05:00 Pacific-zomertijd"

We can use different type values to control the output datetime string. The default is "short".

fdt(
  input = "2018-07-04 22:05(America/Vancouver)",
  format = standard_date_time()
)

#> [1] "7/4/18, 10:05 PM"

After that, it's "medium":

fdt(
  input = "2018-07-04 22:05(America/Vancouver)",
  format = standard_date_time(type = "medium")
)

#> [1] "Jul 4, 2018, 10:05:00 PM"

The "short" and "medium" types don't display time zone information in the output. Beginning with "long", the tz is shown.

fdt(
  input = "2018-07-04 22:05(America/Vancouver)",
  format = standard_date_time(type = "long")
)

#> [1] "July 4, 2018 at 10:05:00 PM PDT"

If you don't include time zone information in the input, the "UTC" time zone will be assumed:

fdt(
  input = "2018-07-04 22:05",
  format = standard_date_time(type = "full")
)

#> [1] "Wednesday, July 4, 2018 at 10:05:00 PM GMT+00:00"