DateTime::Duration(3) User Contributed Perl DocumentationDateTime::Duration(3)NAME
DateTime::Duration - Duration objects for date math
VERSION
version 0.70
SYNOPSIS
use DateTime::Duration;
$dur = DateTime::Duration->new(
years => 3,
months => 5,
weeks => 1,
days => 1,
hours => 6,
minutes => 15,
seconds => 45,
nanoseconds => 12000
);
my ( $days, $hours, $seconds ) = $dur->in_units('days', 'hours', 'seconds');
# Human-readable accessors, always positive, but consider using
# DateTime::Format::Duration instead
$dur->years;
$dur->months;
$dur->weeks;
$dur->days;
$dur->hours;
$dur->minutes;
$dur->seconds;
$dur->nanoseconds;
$dur->is_wrap_mode
$dur->is_limit_mode
$dur->is_preserve_mode
print $dur->end_of_month_mode;
# Multiply all values by -1
my $opposite = $dur->inverse;
my $bigger = $dur1 + $dur2;
my $smaller = $dur1 - $dur2; # the result could be negative
my $bigger = $dur1 * 3;
my $base_dt = DateTime->new( year => 2000 );
my @sorted =
sort { DateTime::Duration->compare( $a, $b, $base_dt ) } @durations;
if ( $dur->is_positive ) { ... }
if ( $dur->is_zero ) { ... }
if ( $dur->is_negative ) { ... }
DESCRIPTION
This is a simple class for representing duration objects. These objects
are used whenever you do date math with DateTime.pm.
See the How Date Math is Done section of the DateTime.pm documentation
for more details. The short course: One cannot in general convert
between seconds, minutes, days, and months, so this class will never do
so. Instead, create the duration with the desired units to begin with,
for example by calling the appropriate subtraction/delta method on a
"DateTime.pm" object.
METHODS
Like "DateTime" itself, "DateTime::Duration" returns the object from
mutator methods in order to make method chaining possible.
"DateTime::Duration" has the following methods:
· new( ... )
This method takes the parameters "years", "months", "weeks",
"days", "hours", "minutes", "seconds", "nanoseconds", and
"end_of_month". All of these except "end_of_month" are numbers. If
any of the numbers are negative, the entire duration is negative.
All of the numbers must be integers.
Internally, years as just treated as 12 months. Similarly, weeks
are treated as 7 days, and hours are converted to minutes. Seconds
and nanoseconds are both treated separately.
The "end_of_month" parameter must be either "wrap", "limit", or
"preserve". This parameter specifies how date math that crosses the
end of a month is handled.
In "wrap" mode, adding months or years that result in days beyond
the end of the new month will roll over into the following month.
For instance, adding one year to Feb 29 will result in Mar 1.
If you specify "end_of_month" mode as "limit", the end of the month
is never crossed. Thus, adding one year to Feb 29, 2000 will result
in Feb 28, 2001. If you were to then add three more years this will
result in Feb 28, 2004.
If you specify "end_of_month" mode as "preserve", the same
calculation is done as for "limit" except that if the original date
is at the end of the month the new date will also be. For instance,
adding one month to Feb 29, 2000 will result in Mar 31, 2000.
For positive durations, the "end_of_month" parameter defaults to
wrap. For negative durations, the default is "limit". This should
match how most people "intuitively" expect datetime math to work.
· clone
Returns a new object with the same properties as the object on
which this method was called.
· in_units( ... )
Returns the length of the duration in the units (any of those that
can be passed to new) given as arguments. All lengths are integral,
but may be negative. Smaller units are computed from what remains
after taking away the larger units given, so for example:
my $dur = DateTime::Duration->new( years => 1, months => 15 );
$dur->in_units( 'years' ); # 2
$dur->in_units( 'months' ); # 27
$dur->in_units( 'years', 'months' ); # (2, 3)
$dur->in_units( 'weeks', 'days' ); # (0, 0) !
The last example demonstrates that there will not be any conversion
between units which don't have a fixed conversion rate. The only
conversions possible are:
· years <=> months
· weeks <=> days
· hours <=> minutes
· seconds <=> nanoseconds
For the explanation of why this is the case, please see the How
Datetime Math Works section of the DateTime.pm documentation
Note that the numbers returned by this method may not match the
values given to the constructor.
In list context, in_units returns the lengths in the order of the
units given. In scalar context, it returns the length in the first
unit (but still computes in terms of all given units).
If you need more flexibility in presenting information about
durations, please take a look a "DateTime::Format::Duration".
· is_positive, is_zero, is_negative
Indicates whether or not the duration is positive, zero, or
negative.
If the duration contains both positive and negative units, then it
will return false for all of these methods.
· is_wrap_mode, is_limit_mode, is_preserve_mode
Indicates what mode is used for end of month wrapping.
· end_of_month_mode
Returns one of "wrap", "limit", or "preserve".
· calendar_duration
Returns a new object with the same calendar delta (months and days
only) and end of month mode as the current object.
· clock_duration
Returns a new object with the same clock deltas (minutes, seconds,
and nanoseconds) and end of month mode as the current object.
· inverse( ... )
Returns a new object with the same deltas as the current object,
but multiple by -1. The end of month mode for the new object will
be the default end of month mode, which depends on whether the new
duration is positive or negative.
You can set the end of month mode in the inverted duration
explicitly by passing "end_of_month => ..." to the "inverse()"
method.
· add_duration( $duration_object ), subtract_duration(
$duration_object )
Adds or subtracts one duration from another.
· add( ... ), subtract( ... )
Syntactic sugar for addition and subtraction. The parameters given
to these methods are used to create a new object, which is then
passed to "add_duration()" or "subtract_duration()", as
appropriate.
· multiply( $number )
Multiplies each unit in the by the specified number.
· DateTime::Duration->compare( $duration1, $duration2, $base_datetime
)
This is a class method that can be used to compare or sort
durations. Comparison is done by adding each duration to the
specified "DateTime.pm" object and comparing the resulting
datetimes. This is necessary because without a base, many durations
are not comparable. For example, 1 month may or may not be longer
than 29 days, depending on what datetime it is added to.
If no base datetime is given, then the result of "DateTime->now" is
used instead. Using this default will give non-repeatable results
if used to compare two duration objects containing different units.
It will also give non-repeatable results if the durations contain
multiple types of units, such as months and days.
However, if you know that both objects only consist of one type of
unit (months or days or hours, etc.), and each duration contains
the same type of unit, then the results of the comparison will be
repeatable.
· delta_months, delta_days, delta_minutes, delta_seconds,
delta_nanoseconds
These methods provide the information "DateTime.pm" needs for doing
date math. The numbers returned may be positive or negative. This
is mostly useful for doing date math in DateTime.
· deltas
Returns a hash with the keys "months", "days", "minutes",
"seconds", and "nanoseconds", containing all the delta information
for the object. This is mostly useful for doing date math in
DateTime.
· years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, seconds, nanoseconds
These methods return numbers indicating how many of the given unit
the object represents, after having done a conversion to any larger
units. For example, days are first converted to weeks, and then
the remainder is returned. These numbers are always positive.
Here's what each method returns:
$dur->years() == abs( $dur->in_units('years') )
$dur->months() == abs( ( $dur->in_units( 'months', 'years' ) )[0] )
$dur->weeks() == abs( $dur->in_units( 'weeks' ) )
$dur->days() == abs( ( $dur->in_units( 'days', 'weeks' ) )[0] )
$dur->hours() == abs( $dur->in_units( 'hours' ) )
$dur->minutes == abs( ( $dur->in_units( 'minutes', 'hours' ) )[0] )
$dur->seconds == abs( $dur->in_units( 'seconds' ) )
$dur->nanoseconds() == abs( ( $dur->in_units( 'nanoseconds', 'seconds' ) )[0] )
If this seems confusing, remember that you can always use the
"in_units()" method to specify exactly what you want.
Better yet, if you are trying to generate output suitable for
humans, use the "DateTime::Format::Duration" module.
Overloading
This class overloads addition, subtraction, and mutiplication.
Comparison is not overloaded. If you attempt to compare durations using
"<=>" or "cmp", then an exception will be thrown! Use the "compare()"
class method instead.
SUPPORT
Support for this module is provided via the datetime@perl.org email
list. See http://lists.perl.org/ for more details.
SEE ALSO
datetime@perl.org mailing list
http://datetime.perl.org/
AUTHOR
Dave Rolsky <autarch@urth.org>
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This software is Copyright (c) 2011 by Dave Rolsky.
This is free software, licensed under:
The Artistic License 2.0 (GPL Compatible)
perl v5.12.5 2013-08-25 DateTime::Duration(3)