Provided by: libtime-period-perl_1.20-8_all bug

NAME

       Time::Period - A Perl module to deal with time periods.

SYNOPSIS

       "use Time::Period;"

       "$result = inPeriod($time, $period);"

DESCRIPTION

       The inPeriod function determines if a given time falls within a given period.  inPeriod
       returns 1 if the time does fall within the given period, 0 if not, and -1 if inPeriod
       detects a malformed time or period.

       The time is specified as per the "time()" function, which is assumed to be the number of
       non-leap seconds since January 1, 1970.

       The period is specified as a string which adheres to the format

               sub-period[, sub-period...]

       or the string "none" or whitespace.  The string "none" is not case sensitive.

       If the period is blank, then any time period is assumed because the time period has not
       been restricted.  In that case, inPeriod returns 1.  If the period is "none", then no time
       period applies and inPeriod returns 0.

       A sub-period is of the form

               scale {range [range ...]} [scale {range [range ...]}]

       Scale must be one of nine different scales (or their equivalent codes):

               Scale  ⎪ Scale ⎪ Valid Range Values
                      ⎪ Code  ⎪
               *******⎪*******⎪************************************************
               year   ⎪  yr   ⎪ n     where n is an integer 0<=n<=99 or n>=1970
               month  ⎪  mo   ⎪ 1-12  or  jan, feb, mar, apr, may, jun, jul,
                      ⎪       ⎪           aug, sep, oct, nov, dec
               week   ⎪  wk   ⎪ 1-6
               yday   ⎪  yd   ⎪ 1-365
               mday   ⎪  md   ⎪ 1-31
               wday   ⎪  wd   ⎪ 1-7   or  su, mo, tu, we, th, fr, sa
               hour   ⎪  hr   ⎪ 0-23  or  12am 1am-11am 12noon 12pm 1pm-11pm
               minute ⎪  min  ⎪ 0-59
               second ⎪  sec  ⎪ 0-59

       The same scale type may be specified multiple times.  Additional scales simply extend the
       range defined by previous scales of the same type.

       The range for a given scale must be a valid value in the form of

               v

       or

               v-v

       For the range specification v-v, if the second value is larger than the first value, the
       range wraps around unless the scale specification is year.

       Year does not wrap because the year is never really reset, it just increments.  Ignoring
       that fact has lead to the dreaded year 2000 nightmare.  When the year rolls over from 99
       to 00, it has really rolled over a century, not gone back a century.  inPeriod supports
       the dangerous two digit year notation because it is so rampant.  However, inPeriod
       converts the two digit notation to four digits by prepending the first two digits from the
       current year.  In the case of 99-1972, the 99 is translated to whatever current century it
       is (probably 20th), and then range 99-1972 is treated as 1972-1999.  If it were the 21st
       century, then the range would be 1972-2099.

       Anyway, if v-v is 9-2 and the scale is month, September, October, November, December,
       January, and February are the months that the range specifies.  If v-v is 2-9, then the
       valid months are February, March, April, May, Jun, July, August, and September.  9-2 is
       the same as Sep-Feb.

       v isn't a point in time.  In the context of the hour scale, 9 specifies the time period
       from 9:00:00 am to 9:59:59 am.  This is what most people would call 9-10.  In other words,
       v is discrete in its time scale.  9 changes to 10 when 9:59:59 changes to 10:00:00, but it
       is 9 from 9:00:00 to 9:59:59.  Just before 9:00:00, v was 8.

       Note that whitespace can be anywhere and case is not important.  Note also that scales
       must be specified either in long form (year, month, week, etc.) or in code form (yr, mo,
       wk, etc.).  Scale forms may be mixed in a period statement.

       Furthermore, when using letters to specify ranges, only the first two for week days or the
       first three for months are significant.  January is a valid specification for jan, and
       Sunday is a valid specification for su.  Sun is also valid for su.

       PERIOD EXAMPLES

       To specify a time period from Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm, use a period such as

               wd {Mon-Fri} hr {9am-4pm}

       When specifing a range by using -, it is best to think of - as meaning through.  It is 9am
       through 4pm, which is just before 5pm.

       To specify a time period from Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm on Monday, Wednesday, and
       Friday, and 9am to 3pm on Tuesday and Thursday, use a period such as

               wd {Mon Wed Fri} hr {9am-4pm}, wd{Tue Thu} hr {9am-2pm}

       To specify a time period that extends Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, but alternates weeks in a month,
       use a period such as

               wk {1 3 5} wd {Mon Wed Fri} hr {9am-4pm}

       Or how about a period that specifies winter?

               mo {Nov-Feb}

       This is equivalent to the previous example:

               mo {Jan-Feb Nov-Dec}

       As is

               mo {jan feb nov dec}

       And this is too:

               mo {Jan Feb}, mo {Nov Dec}

       Wait!  So is this:

               mo {Jan Feb} mo {Nov Dec}

       To specify a period that describes every other half-hour, use something like

               minute { 0-29 }

       To specify the morning, use

               hour { 12am-11am }

       Remember, 11am is not 11:00:00am, but rather 11:00:00am - 11:59:59am.

       Hmmmm, 5 second blocks could be a fun period...

               sec {0-4 10-14 20-24 30-34 40-44 50-54}

       To specify every first half-hour on alternating week days, and the second half-hour the
       rest of the week, use the period

               wd {1 3 5 7} min {0-29}, wd {2 4 6} min {30-59}

VERSION

       1.20

HISTORY

               Version 1.20
               ------------
                       - Added the ability to specify no time period.

               Version 1.13
               ------------
                       - Cleaned up the error checking code.

               Version 1.12
               ------------
                       - Updated email and web space information.

               Version 1.11
               ------------
                       - Minor bug fix in 1.10.

               Version 1.10
               ------------
                       - Released.

AUTHOR

       Patrick Ryan <pgryan@geocities.com>

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) 1997 Patrick Ryan.  All rights reserved.  This Perl module uses the
       conditions given by Perl.  This module may only be distributed and or modified under the
       conditions given by Perl.

DATE

       August 26, 1997

SOURCE

       This distribution can be found at

               http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/8456/

       or

               http://www.perl.com/CPAN/modules/by-module/Time/