NAME

DateTime::Format::Intl - A Web Intl.DateTimeFormat Class Implementation

SYNOPSIS

use DateTime;
use DateTime::Format::Intl;
my $dt = DateTime->now;
my $fmt = DateTime::Format::Intl->new(
    # You can use ja-JP (Unicode / web-style) or ja_JP (system-style), it does not matter.
    'ja_JP', {
        localeMatcher => 'best fit',
        # The only one supported. You can use 'gregory' or 'gregorian' indifferently
        calendar => 'gregorian',
        # see getNumberingSystems() in Locale::Intl for the supported number systems
        numberingSystem => 'latn',
        formatMatcher => 'best fit',
        dateStyle => 'long',
        timeStyle => 'long',
    },
) || die( DateTime::Format::Intl->error );
say $fmt->format( $dt );

my $fmt = DateTime::Format::Intl->new(
    # You can also use ja-JP (Unicode / web-style) or ja_JP (system-style), it does not matter.
    'ja_JP', {
        localeMatcher => 'best fit',
        # The only one supported
        calendar => 'gregorian',
        numberingSystem => 'latn',
        hour12 => 0,
        timeZone => 'Asia/Tokyo',
        weekday => 'long',
        era => 'short',
        year => 'numeric',
        month => '2-digit',
        day => '2-digit',
        dayPeriod => 'long',
        hour => '2-digit',
        minute => '2-digit',
        second => '2-digit',
        fractionalSecondDigits => 3,
        timeZoneName => 'long',
        formatMatcher => 'best fit',
    },
) || die( DateTime::Format::Intl->error );
say $fmt->format( $dt );

In basic use without specifying a locale, DateTime::Format::Intl uses the default locale and default options:

use DateTime;
my $date = DateTime->new(
    year    => 2012,
    month   => 11,
    day     => 20,
    hour    => 3,
    minute  => 0,
    second  => 0,
    # Default
    time_zone => 'UTC',
);
# toLocaleString without arguments depends on the implementation,
# the default locale, and the default time zone
say DateTime::Format::Intl->new->format( $date );
# "12/19/2012" if run with en-US locale (language) and time zone America/Los_Angeles (UTC-0800)

Using timeStyle and dateStyle:

Possible values are: full, long, medium and short

my $now = DateTime->new(
    year => 2024,
    month => 9,
    day => 13,
    hour => 14,
    minute => 12,
    second => 10,
    time_zone => 'Europe/Paris',
);
my $shortTime = DateTime::Format::Intl->new('en', {
    timeStyle => 'short',
});
say $shortTime->format( $now ); # "2:12 PM"

my $shortDate = DateTime::Format::Intl->new('en', {
    dateStyle => 'short',
});
say $shortDate->format( $now ); # "09/13/24"

my $mediumTime = DateTime::Format::Intl->new('en', {
    timeStyle => 'medium',
    dateStyle => 'short',
});
say $mediumTime->format( $now ); # "09/13/24, 2:12:10 PM"

my $shortDate = DateTime::Format::Intl->new('en', {
    dateStyle => 'medium',
});
say $shortDate->format( $now ); # "13 Sep 2024"

my $shortDate = DateTime::Format::Intl->new('en', {
    dateStyle => 'long',
});
say $shortDate->format( $now ); # "September 13, 2024"

my $shortDate = DateTime::Format::Intl->new('en', {
    dateStyle => 'long',
    timeStyle => 'long',
});
say $shortDate->format( $now ); # "September 13, 2024 at 2:12:10 PM GMT+1"

my $shortDate = DateTime::Format::Intl->new('en', {
    dateStyle => 'full',
});
say $shortDate->format( $now ); # "Friday, September 13, 2024"

my $shortDate = DateTime::Format::Intl->new('en', {
    dateStyle => 'full',
    timeStyle => 'full',
});
say $shortDate->format( $now ); # "Friday, September 13, 2024 at 2:12:10 PM Central European Standard Time"

Using dayPeriod:

Use the dayPeriod option to output a string for the times of day (in the morning, at night, noon, etc.). Note, that this only works when formatting for a 12 hour clock (hourCycle => 'h12' or hourCycle => 'h11') and that for many locales the strings are the same irrespective of the value passed for the dayPeriod.

my $date = DateTime->new(
    year    => 2012,
    month   => 11,
    day     => 17,
    hour    => 4,
    minute  => 0,
    second  => 42,
    # Default
    time_zone => 'UTC',
);

say DateTime::Format::Intl->new( 'en-GB', {
    hour        => 'numeric',
    hourCycle   => 'h12',
    dayPeriod   => 'short',
    # or 'time_zone' is ok too
    timeZone    => 'UTC',
})->format( $date );
# "4 at night" (same formatting in en-GB for all dayPeriod values)

say DateTime::Format::Intl->new( 'fr', {
    hour        => 'numeric',
    hourCycle   => 'h12',
    dayPeriod   => 'narrow',
    # or 'time_zone' is ok too
    timeZone    => 'UTC',
})->format( $date );
# "4 mat."  (same output in French for both narrow/short dayPeriod)

say DateTime::Format::Intl->new( 'fr', {
    hour        => 'numeric',
    hourCycle   => 'h12',
    dayPeriod   => 'long',
    # or 'time_zone' is ok too
    timeZone    => 'UTC',
})->format( $date );
# "4 du matin"

Using timeZoneName:

Use the timeZoneName option to output a string for the timezone (GMT, Pacific Time, etc.).

my $date = DateTime->new(
    year    => 2021,
    month   => 11,
    day     => 17,
    hour    => 3,
    minute  => 0,
    second  => 42,
    # Default
    time_zone => 'UTC',
);
my $timezoneNames = [qw(
    short
    long
    shortOffset
    longOffset
    shortGeneric
    longGeneric
)];

foreach my $zoneName ( @$timezoneNames )
{
    # Do something with currentValue
    my $formatter = DateTime::Format::Intl->new( 'en-US', {
        timeZone        => 'America/Los_Angeles',
        timeZoneName    => $zoneName,
    });
    say "${zoneName}: ", $formatter->format( $date);
}

# Yields the following:
# short: 12/16/2021, PST
# long: 12/16/2021, Pacific Standard Time
# shortOffset: 12/16/2021, GMT-8
# longOffset: 12/16/2021, GMT-08:00
# shortGeneric: 12/16/2021, PT
# longGeneric: 12/16/2021, Pacific Time

# Enabling fatal exceptions
use v5.34;
use experimental 'try';
no warnings 'experimental';
try
{
    my $fmt = DateTime::Format::Intl->new( 'x', fatal => 1 );
    # More code
}
catch( $e )
{
    say "Oops: ", $e->message;
}

Or, you could set the global variable $FATAL_EXCEPTIONS instead:

use v5.34;
use experimental 'try';
no warnings 'experimental';
local $DateTime::Format::Intl::FATAL_EXCEPTIONS = 1;
try
{
    my $fmt = DateTime::Format::Intl->new( 'x' );
    # More code
}
catch( $e )
{
    say "Oops: ", $e->message;
}

VERSION

v0.1.8

DESCRIPTION

This module provides the equivalent of the JavaScript implementation of Intl.DateTimeFormat

It relies on DateTime::Format::Unicode, DateTime::Locale::FromCLDR, Locale::Unicode::Data, which provides access to all the Unicode CLDR (Common Locale Data Repository), and Locale::Intl to achieve similar results. It requires perl v5.10.1 minimum to run.

It is very elaborate and the algorithm provides the same result you would get with a web browser. The algorithm itself is quite complex and took me several months to implement, given all the dependencies with the modules aforementioned it relies on, that I also had to build to make the whole thing work.

I hope they will benefit you as they benefit me.

Because, just like its JavaScript equivalent, DateTime::Format::Intl does quite a bit of look-ups and sensible guessing upon object instantiation, you want to create an object for a specific format, cache it and re-use it rather than creating a new one for each date formatting.

DateTime::Format::Intl uses a set of culturally sensible default values derived directly from the web browsers own default. Upon object instantiation, it uses a culturally sensitive scoring to find the best matching format pattern available in the Unicode CLDR (Common Locale Data Repository) data for the options provided. It appends any missing components, if any. Finally, it adjusts the best pattern retained to match perfectly the options of the user.

CONSTRUCTOR

new

This takes a locale (a.k.a. language code compliant with ISO 15924 as defined by IETF) and an hash or hash reference of options and will return a new DateTime::Format::Intl object, or upon failure undef in scalar context and an empty list in list context.

Each option can also be accessed or changed using their corresponding method of the same name.

See the CLDR (Unicode Common Locale Data Repository) page for more on the format patterns used.

Supported options are:

Locale options

localeMatcher

The locale matching algorithm to use. Possible values are lookup and best fit; the default is best fit. For information about this option, see Locale identification and negotiation.

Whatever value you provide, does not actually have any influence on the algorithm used. best fit will always be the one used.
calendar

The calendar to use, such as chinese, gregorian (or gregory), persian, and so on. For a list of calendar types, see Intl.Locale.prototype.getCalendars(), and the method getAllCalendars in the perl module Locale::Intl. This option can also be set through the ca Unicode extension key; if both are provided, this options property takes precedence. See "ca" in Locale::Unicode

For example, a Japanese locale with the japanese calendar extension set:
```
my $fmt = DateTime::Format::Intl->new( 'ja-Kana-JP-u-ca-japanese' );
```
The only value calendar type supported by this module is gregorian. Any other value will return an error.
numberingSystem

The numbering system to use for number formatting, such as fullwide, hant, mathsans, and so on. For a list of supported numbering system types, see getNumberingSystems(). This option can also be set through the nu Unicode extension key; if both are provided, this options property takes precedence.

For example, a Japanese locale with the latn number system extension set and with the jptyo time zone:
```
my $fmt = DateTime::Format::Intl->new( 'ja-u-nu-latn-tz-jptyo' );
```
However, note that you can only provide a number system that is supported by the locale, and whose type is numeric, i.e. not algorithmic. For instance, you cannot specify a locale ar-SA (arab as spoken in Saudi Arabia) with a number system of Japan:
```
my $fmt = DateTime::Format::Intl->new( 'ar-SA', { numberingSystem => 'japn' } );
say $fmt->resolvedOptions->{numberingSystem}; # arab
```
It would reject it, and issue a warning, if warnings are enabled, and fallback to the locale's default number system, which is, in this case, arab

Additionally, even though the number system jpanfin is supported by the locale ja, it would not be acceptable, because it is not suitable for datetime formatting, since it is not of type numeric, or at least this is how it is treated by web browsers (see here the web browser engine implementation and here for the Unicode ICU implementation). This API could easily make it acceptable, but it was designed to closely mimic the web browser implementation of the JavaScript API Intl.DateTimeFormat. Thus:
```
my $fmt = DateTime::Format::Intl->new( 'ja-u-nu-jpanfin-tz-jptyo' );
say $fmt->resolvedOptions->{numberingSystem}; # latn
```
See Mozilla documentation, and also the perl module Locale::Intl
hour12

Whether to use 12-hour time (as opposed to 24-hour time). Possible values are true (1) and false (0); the default is locale dependent. When true, this option sets hourCycle to either h11 or h12, depending on the locale. When false, it sets hourCycle to h23. hour12 overrides both the hc locale extension tag and the hourCycle option, should either or both of those be present.
hourCycle

The hour cycle to use. Possible values are h11, h12, h23, and h24. This option can also be set through the hc Unicode extension key; if both are provided, this options property takes precedence.

See Mozilla documentation
timeZone

The time zone to use. Time zone names correspond to the Zone and Link names of the IANA Time Zone Database, such as UTC, Asia/Tokyo, Asia/Kolkata, and America/New_York. Additionally, time zones can be given as UTC offsets in the format ±hh:mm, ±hhmm, or ±hh, for example as +01:00, -2359, or +23. The default is the runtime's default time zone.

See Mozilla documentation

Date-time component options

weekday

The representation of the weekday. Possible values are:
- long
  
  For example: Thursday
- short
  
  For example: Thu
- narrow
  
  For example: T
  
  Two weekdays may have the same narrow style for some locales (e.g. Tuesday's narrow style is also T).
era

The representation of the era. Possible values are:
- long
  
  For example: Anno Domini
- short
  
  For example: AD
- narrow
  
  For example: A
year

The representation of the year. Possible values are numeric and 2-digit.
month

The representation of the month. Possible values are:
- numeric
  
  For example: 3
- 2-digit
  
  For example: 03
- long
  
  For example: March
- short
  
  For example: Mar
- narrow
  
  For example: M.
  
  Two months may have the same narrow style for some locales (e.g. May's narrow style is also M).
day

The representation of the day. Possible values are numeric and 2-digit.
dayPeriod or day_period

The formatting style used for day periods like in the morning, am, noon, n etc. Possible values are narrow, short, and long.

Note: This option only has an effect if a 12-hour clock (hourCycle: h12 or hourCycle: h11) is used. Many locales use the same string irrespective of the width specified.
hour

The representation of the hour. Possible values are numeric and 2-digit.
minute

The representation of the minute. Possible values are numeric and 2-digit.
second

The representation of the second. Possible values are numeric and 2-digit.
fractionalSecondDigits

The number of digits used to represent fractions of a second (any additional digits are truncated). Possible values are from 1 to 3.
timeZoneName

The localized representation of the time zone name. Possible values are:
- long
  
  Long localized form (e.g., Pacific Standard Time, Nordamerikanische Westküsten-Normalzeit)
- short
  
  Short localized form (e.g.: PST, GMT-8)
- shortOffset
  
  Short localized GMT format (e.g., GMT-8)
- longOffset
  
  Long localized GMT format (e.g., GMT-08:00)
- shortGeneric
  
  Short generic non-location format (e.g.: PT, Los Angeles Zeit).
- longGeneric
  
  Long generic non-location format (e.g.: Pacific Time, Nordamerikanische Westküstenzeit)
  
  The default value for each date-time component option is undef, but if all component properties are undef, then year, month, and day default to numeric. If any of the date-time component options is specified, then dateStyle and timeStyle must be undef.
formatMatcher

The format matching algorithm to use. Possible values are basic and best fit; the default is best fit.

Whatever value you provide, does not actually have any influence on the algorithm used. best fit will always be the one used.

Implementations are required to support displaying at least the following subsets of date-time components:
- weekday, year, month, day, hour, minute, second
- weekday, year, month, day
- year, month, day
- year, month
- month, day
- hour, minute, second
- hour, minute>
Implementations may support other subsets, and requests will be negotiated against all available subset-representation combinations to find the best match. The algorithm for best fit is implementation-defined, and basic is defined by the spec. This option is only used when both dateStyle and timeStyle are undefined (so that each date-time component's format is individually customizable).

Style shortcuts

dateStyle

The date formatting style to use when calling format(). Possible values are full, long, medium, and short.
timeStyle

The time formatting style to use when calling format(). Possible values are full, long, medium, and short.

Note: dateStyle and timeStyle can be used with each other, but not with other date-time component options (e.g. weekday, hour, month, etc.).

METHODS

format

my $options = 
{
  weekday => 'long',
  year => 'numeric',
  month => 'long',
  day => 'numeric',
};
my $date = DateTime->new(
    year => 2012,
    month => 6,
    day => 1,
    time_zone => 'UTC',
);

my $dateTimeFormat1 = DateTime::Format::Intl->new('sr-RS', $options);
say $dateTimeFormat1->format( $date );
# Expected output: "петак, 1. јун 2012."

my $dateTimeFormat2 = DateTime::Format::Intl->new('en-GB', $options);
say $dateTimeFormat2->format( $date );
# Expected output: "Friday, 1 June 2012"

my $dateTimeFormat3 = DateTime::Format::Intl->new('en-US', $options);
say $dateTimeFormat3->format( $date );
# Expected output: "Friday, June 1, 2012"

This takes a DateTime object, and returns a string representing the given date formatted according to the locale and formatting options of this DateTime::Format::Intl object.

format_range

Same as formatRange

format_range_to_parts

Same as formatRangeToParts

format_to_parts

Same as formatToParts

formatRange

my $d1 = DateTime->new(
    year    => 2024,
    month   => 5,
    day     => 10,
    hour    => 13,
    minute  => 0,
    second  => 0,
);
my $d2 = DateTime->new(
    year    => 2024,
    month   => 5,
    day     => 11,
    hour    => 14,
    minute  => 0,
    second  => 0,
);
my $fmt = DateTime::Format::Intl->new( 'fr-FR' );
say $fmt->formatRange( $d1 => $d2 ); # 10/05/2024 - 11/05/2024

my $fmt2 = DateTime::Format::Intl->new( 'ja-JP' );
say $fmt2->formatRange( $d1 => $d2 ); # 2024/05/10～2024/05/11

my $fmt3 = DateTime::Format::Intl->new( 'fr-FR', {
    weekday => 'long',
    year    => 'numeric',
    month   => 'long',
    day     => 'numeric',
});
say $fmt3->formatRange( $d1 => $d2 ); # vendredi 10 mai 2024 - samedi 11 mai 2024

This formatRange() method takes 2 DateTime objects, and formats the range between 2 dates and returns a string.

The format used is the most concise way based on the locales and options provided when instantiating the new DateTime::Format::Intl object. When no option were provided upon object instantiation, it default to a short version of the date format using date_format_short), which, in turn, gets interpreted in various formats depending on the locale chosen. In British English, this would be 10/05/2024 for May 10th, 2024.

formatRangeToParts

my $d1 = DateTime->new(
    year    => 2024,
    month   => 5,
    day     => 10,
    hour    => 13,
    minute  => 0,
    second  => 0,
);
my $d2 = DateTime->new(
    year    => 2024,
    month   => 5,
    day     => 11,
    hour    => 14,
    minute  => 0,
    second  => 0,
);
my $fmt = DateTime::Format::Intl->new( 'fr-FR', {
    weekday => 'long',
    year    => 'numeric',
    month   => 'long',
    day     => 'numeric',
});
say $fmt->formatRange( $d1, $d2 ); # mercredi 10 janvier à 19:00 – jeudi 11 janvier à 20:00
my $ref = $fmt->formatRangeToParts( $d1, $d2 );

This would return an array containing the following hash references:

{ type => 'weekday', value => 'mercredi',   source => 'startRange' },
{ type => 'literal', value => ' ',          source => 'startRange' },
{ type => 'day',     value => '10',         source => 'startRange' },
{ type => 'literal', value => ' ',          source => 'startRange' },
{ type => 'month',   value => 'janvier',    source => 'startRange' },
{ type => 'literal', value => ' à ',        source => 'startRange' },
{ type => 'hour',    value => '19',         source => 'startRange' },
{ type => 'literal', value => ':',          source => 'startRange' },
{ type => 'minute',  value => '00',         source => 'startRange' },
{ type => 'literal', value => ' – ',        source => 'shared' },
{ type => 'weekday', value => 'jeudi',      source => 'endRange' },
{ type => 'literal', value => ' ',          source => 'endRange' },
{ type => 'day',     value => '11',         source => 'endRange' },
{ type => 'literal', value => ' ',          source => 'endRange' },
{ type => 'month',   value => 'janvier',    source => 'endRange' },
{ type => 'literal', value => ' à ',        source => 'endRange' },
{ type => 'hour',    value => '20',         source => 'endRange' },
{ type => 'literal', value => ':',          source => 'endRange' },
{ type => 'minute',  value => '00',         source => 'endRange' }

The formatRangeToParts() method returns an array of locale-specific tokens representing each part of the formatted date range produced by this DateTime::Format::Intl object. It is useful for custom formatting of date strings.

formatToParts

my $d = DateTime->new(
    year    => 2024,
    month   => 5,
    day     => 10,
    hour    => 13,
    minute  => 0,
    second  => 0,
);
my $fmt = DateTime::Format::Intl->new( 'fr-FR', {
    weekday => 'long',
    year    => 'numeric',
    month   => 'long',
    day     => 'numeric',
});
say $fmt->format( $d ); # mercredi 10 janvier à 19:00
my $ref = $fmt->formatToParts( $d );

This would return an array containing the following hash references:

{ type => 'weekday', value => 'mercredi' },
{ type => 'literal', value => ' ' },
{ type => 'day',     value => '10' },
{ type => 'literal', value => ' ' },
{ type => 'month',   value => 'janvier' },
{ type => 'literal', value => ' à ' },
{ type => 'hour',    value => '19' },
{ type => 'literal', value => ':' },
{ type => 'minute',  value => '00' }

The formatToParts() method takes an optional DateTime object, and returns an array of locale-specific tokens representing each part of the formatted date produced by this DateTime::Format::Intl object. It is useful for custom formatting of date strings.

If no DateTime object is provided, it will default to the current date and time.

The properties of the hash references returned are as follows:

day

The string used for the day, for example 17.
dayPeriod

The string used for the day period, for example, AM, PM, in the morning, or noon
era

The string used for the era, for example BC or AD.
fractionalSecond

The string used for the fractional seconds, for example 0 or 00 or 000.
hour

The string used for the hour, for example 3 or 03.
literal

The string used for separating date and time values, for example /, ,, o'clock, de, etc.
minute

The string used for the minute, for example 00.
month

The string used for the month, for example 12.
relatedYear

The string used for the related 4-digit Gregorian year, in the event that the calendar's representation would be a yearName instead of a year, for example 2019.
second

The string used for the second, for example 07 or 42.
timeZoneName

The string used for the name of the time zone, for example UTC. Default is the timezone of the current environment.
weekday

The string used for the weekday, for example M, Monday, or Montag.
year

The string used for the year, for example 2012 or 96.
yearName

The string used for the yearName in relevant contexts, for example geng-zi

resolvedOptions

The resolvedOptions() method returns an hash reference with the following properties reflecting the locale and date and time formatting options computed during the object instantiation.

locale

The BCP 47 language tag for the locale actually used. If any Unicode extension values were requested in the input BCP 47 language tag that led to this locale, the key-value pairs that were requested and are supported for this locale are included in locale.
calendar

E.g. gregory
numberingSystem

The values requested using the Unicode extension keys ca and nu or filled in as default values.
timeZone

The value provided for this property in the options argument; defaults to the runtime's default time zone. Should never be undefined.
hour12

The value provided for this property in the options argument or filled in as a default.
weekday, era, year, month, day, hour, minute, second, timeZoneName

The values resulting from format matching between the corresponding properties in the options argument and the available combinations and representations for date-time formatting in the selected locale. Some of these properties may not be present, indicating that the corresponding components will not be represented in formatted output.

OTHER NON-CORE METHODS

error

Sets or gets an exception object

When called with parameters, this will instantiate a new DateTime::Format::Intl::Exception object, passing it all the parameters received.

When called in accessor mode, this will return the latest exception object set, if any.

fatal

$fmt->fatal(1); # Enable fatal exceptions
$fmt->fatal(0); # Disable fatal exceptions
my $bool = $fmt->fatal;

Sets or get the boolean value, whether to die upon exception, or not. If set to true, then instead of setting an exception object, this module will die with an exception object. You can catch the exception object then after using try. For example:

use v.5.34; # to be able to use try-catch blocks in perl
use experimental 'try';
no warnings 'experimental';
try
{
    my $fmt = DateTime::Format::Intl->new( 'x', fatal => 1 );
}
catch( $e )
{
    say "Error occurred: ", $e->message;
    # Error occurred: Invalid locale value "x" provided.
}

greatest_diff

my $fmt = DateTime::Format::Intl->new( 'fr-FR' );
say $fmt->formatRange( $d1 => $d2 ); # 10/05/2024 - 11/05/2024
# Found that day ('d') is the greatest difference between the two datetimes
my $component = $fmt->greatest_diff; # d

Read-only method.

Returns a string representing the component that is the greatest difference between two datetimes.

This value can be retrieved after formatRange or formatRangeToParts has been called, otherwise, it would merely return undef