Date-time R←X ⎕DT Y

This function validates date-times or converts date-times between one format and another.

A date-time is a date and time of day represented by a timestamp, a time number or a military time-zone character.

Y is an array of any shape whose elements contain a timestamp, time number or military time zone character, in any combination.

X may be a single integer value or a 2-element integer vector.

When X is a single integer value, it must be either 0 or a date-time code listed in the tables below. 0 specifies that the elements of Y are to be validated. A non-zero value specifies the date-time representation to which the elements of Y are to be converted. In this case, the numeric elements of Y are interpreted as follows:

When X is a 2-element integer vector, X[1] is a date-time code that explicitly specifies the date-time representation of the numeric elements in Y. X[2] is either 0 or a date-time code listed in the tables below. 0 specifies that the elements of Y are to be validated. A non-zero value specifies the date-time representation to which the elements of Y are to be converted.

Character scalars in Y are always interpreted as meaning "now".

R is an array of the same shape as Y, where each element is either a timestamp, time number or Boolean value as determined by the second or only element in X.

Note: time numbers in R may be of type DECF even if ⎕FR is 645 if their magnitude can be too great to store precisely in a double. See the table below for the type numbers where this is so.

Time Numbers

If a value in X is positive it indicates that a time number type is expected in Y or generated in R, as follows. Note that the last column indicated whether (Yes) or not (No) negative numbers are allowed.

Group Code Description Category Date and time1represented by 0 (Epoch) Negative values allowed?8
Dyalog APL 1 Dyalog Date Number Day count with fractional part 1899-12-31 00:00 Yes
2 Dyalog component file time Tick count
1÷60s ticks2
1970-01-01 00:00 Yes
Other languages 10 J (J nanosecond time) Tick count3
1ns ticks2
2000-01-01 00:00 Yes
11 Shakti K7 Tick count
1ms ticks2
2024-01-01 00:00 Yes
12 JavaScript / D / Q Tick count
1ms ticks2
1970-01-01 00:00 Yes
13 R (R chron format) Day count with fractional part 1970-01-01 00:00 Yes
14 Shakti K9 Tick count
1ms ticks2
2001-01-01 00:00 Yes
UNIX 20 Unix time Tick count
1s ticks2
1970-01-01 00:00 Yes
Microsoft 30 Microsoft DOS date/time Encoded broken-down time
2s resolution
N/A No
31 Microsoft Win32 FILETIME Tick count3
100ns ticks
1601-01-01 00:00 No
32 Microsoft CLR DateTime (.NET)(Ticks property thereof) Tick count3
100ns ticks
0001-01-01 00:00 No
33 Microsoft OLE Automation Date(also known as Variant Time) Day count with fractional part 1899-12-30 00:00 Yes8
Application 40 Excel (1900 Date System)4/ Lotus 1-2-3 Day count with fractional part5 1899-12-31 00:006 No
41 Excel (1904 Date System)4 Day count with fractional part 1904-01-01 00:00 No
42 Stata statistics package Tick count
1ms ticks2
1960-01-01 00:00 Yes
43 SPSS statistics package Tick count
1s ticks2
1582-10-14 00:00 No
44 SAS Tick count
1s ticks2
1960-01-01 00:00 Yes
Julian Date and variants 50 Julian Date Day count with fractional part ¯4717-11-24 12:00 No
51 J (J dayno) Day count with fractional part 1800-01-01 00:00 No
52 Reduced Julian Date Day count with fractional part 1858-11-16 12:00 Yes
53 Modified Julian Date Day count with fractional part 1858-11-17 00:00 Yes
54 Dublin Julian Date Day count with fractional part 1899-12-31 12:00 Yes
55 CNES Julian Date Day count with fractional part 1950-01-01 00:00 Yes
56 CCSDS Julian Date Day count with fractional part 1958-01-01 00:00 Yes
Decimal encoded9 60 Floating-point decimal encoded format
Digits take the form yyyymmdd.hhmmss
Encoded broken-down time
1s resolution
N/A No
61 Integer decimal encoded format
Digits take the form yyyymmddhhmmss(J digit time)
Encoded broken-down time
1s resolution
N/A No
Time Stamps

If a value in X is negative it indicates that a timestamp type is expected in Y or generated in R, as follows:

Group Code Description Max elements Element contents11 Elided element implicit values (in Y)33
APL 7-element vector ¯1 Millisecond precision (⎕TS) 7 Year, month, day-of-month, hour, minute, second, millisecond 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
¯2 Microsecond precision 7 Year, month, day-of-month, hour, minute, second, microsecond 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
¯3 Nanosecond precision (J expanded digit time) 7 Year, month, day-of-month, hour, minute, second, nanosecond 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
ISO components ¯10 ISO day-of-year components 6 Year, day-of-year, hour, minute, second, microsecond 1 1 0 0 0 0
¯11 ISO day-of-week components 7 Year, week, day-of-week, hour, minute, second, microsecond 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Decimal encoded2 ¯20 Decimal encoded date and time2 2 Decimal encoded date, decimal encoded time 10101 0
DateTimePicker ¯30 DateTime format 7 International Day Number (IDN), hour, minute second 1 1 1 0 0 0
Military time zone characters

Any element in Y may be specified as a military time zone character and is implicitly replaced by the current time in the time zone they represent. The time zones are as follows:

Character Time zone name Time zone
A Alpha UTC +1
B Bravo UTC +2
C Charlie UTC +3
D Delta UTC +4
E Echo UTC +5
F Foxtrot UTC +6
G Golf UTC +7
H Hotel UTC +8
I India UTC +9
J Juliet Local time
K Kilo UTC +10
L Lima UTC +11
M Mike UTC +12
N November UTC -1
O Oscar UTC -2
P Papa UTC -3
Q Quebec UTC -4
R Romeo UTC -5
S Sierra UTC -6
T Tango UTC -7
U Uniform UTC -8
V Victor UTC -9
W Whisky UTC -10
X X-ray UTC -11
Y Yankee UTC -12
Z Zulu UTC +0

Note that the resolutions of system clocks vary by platform.

Examples: Timestamp to time number conversion

      ¯1 1 ⎕DT ⊂⎕TS
43886.48039
      1 ⎕DT ⊂⎕TS
43886.48039
      1 ⎕DT ⎕TS 'J'
43886.48039 43886.48039

      1 ⎕DT ⊂⍬ ⍝ cf Elided element implicit values
¯693594
      1 ⎕DT ⊂1 1 1 0 0 0 0
¯693594
       ¯30 1 ⎕DT⊂(44217 15 13 54)
44217.63465


Examples: Time number to timestamp conversion

      1 ¯1 ⎕DT 0 43508.42843
┌──────────────────┬──────────────────────┐
│1899 12 31 0 0 0 0│2019 2 13 10 16 56 352│
└──────────────────┴──────────────────────┘
      ¯1 ⎕DT 0 43508.42843
┌──────────────────┬──────────────────────┐
│1899 12 31 0 0 0 0│2019 2 13 10 16 56 352│
└──────────────────┴──────────────────────┘
      2 ¯1 ⎕DT 3⊃⎕FRDCI 1 1
┌──────────────────────┐
│2020 2 26 11 33 54 466│
└──────────────────────┘
      1 ¯30 ⎕DT 44217.63465
┌──────────────┐
│44217 15 13 53│
└──────────────┘

Examples: Time number to time number conversion

      2 1 ⎕DT 3⊃⎕FRDCI 1 1
43886.48188
      1 ⎕DT 'J'
43886.48371
      ⍝ Local time is UTC-05:00
      3600÷⍨-/20 ⎕DT 'JZ'
¯5

Examples: Timestamp to timestamp conversions

      ¯30 ⎕DT ⊂⎕TS
┌─────────────┐
│44216 16 5 46│
└─────────────┘
      ¯30 ¯1 ⎕DT⊂32000 15 10 0
┌───────────────────┐
│1987 8 12 15 10 0 0│
└───────────────────┘

Examples: Validation

      0 ⎕DT ⎕TS (2020 13 1) 'J' 'DT' #
1 0 1 0 0

      ¯30 0 ⎕DT⊂32000 15 10 0
1