strctoposix

Purpose

Converts string dates to a matrix containing dates in POSIX date/time format, using the BSD strftime format specifiers.

Format

d = strctoposix(x, fmt)
Parameters:
  • x (NxK string array) – dates

  • fmt (string or ExE conformable string array) – containing strftime date/time format characters.

Returns:

d (NxK matrix) – containing dates in POSIX format (seconds since the Jan 1, 1970).

Examples

Example 1

print strctoposix("2012/06/23", "%Y/%m/%d");

produces the output:

1340409600

Example 2

print strctoposix("1945-11-22 18:36:29", "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S");

produces the output:

-760771411

Example 3

print strctoposix("January 29, 1973 at  4:19 PM", "%B %d, %Y at %l:%M %p");

produces the output:

97172340

Example 4

ds = "Oct 23, 2007" $| "Feb 16, 2008";
s = strctoposix(ds, "%b %d, %Y");

produces s equal to:

1193097600
1203120000

Example 5

ds = "10/23/07 20:45:42" $| "02/16/08 14:32:22";
s = strctoposix(ds, "%x %X");

produces s equal to:

1193172342
1203172342

Remarks

The following format specifiers are supported:

%A

The full weekday name.

%a

The abbreviated weekday name.

%B

The full month name.

%b, or %h

The abbreviated month name.

%C

The century (a year divided by 100 and truncated to an integer) as a decimal number (00-99).

%c

The locale’s appropriate date and time representation.

%D

The date format “%m/%d/%y”.

%d

The day of month as a decimal number (01-31).

%e

The day of month as a decimal number (1-31); single digits are preceded by a blank.

%F

The date format “%Y-%m-%d”.

%G

The ISO 8601 year with century as a decimal number.

%g

The ISO 8601 year without century as a decimal number (00-99).

%H

The hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number (00-23).

%I

The hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number (01-12).

%j

The day of the year as a decimal number (001-366).

%k

The hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number (0-23); single digits are preeded by a blank.

%l

The hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number (1-12); single digits are preeded by a blank.

%M

The minute as a decimal number (00-59).

%m

The month as a decimal number (01-12).

%n

A newline.

%p

The locale’s equivalent of either “AM” or “PM”.

%R

The time in the format “%H:%M”.

%r

The locale’s representation of 12-hour clock time using AM/PM notation.

%S

The second as a decimal number (00-60). The range of seconds is (00-60) instead of (00-59) to allow for the periodic occurrence of leap seconds.

%s

The number of seconds since the Epoch, UTC.

%T

The time in the format “%H:%M:%S”.

%t

A tab.

%U

The week number of the year (Sunday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number (00-53).

%u

The weekday (Monday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number (1-7).

%V

The week number of the year (Monday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number (01-53). If the week containing January 1 has four or more days in the new year, then it is week 1; otherwise it is week 53 of the previous year, and the next week is week 1.

%v

The date in the format “%e-%b-%Y”.

%W

The week number of the year (Monday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number (00-53).

%w

The weekday (Sunday as the first day of the week) as a decimal number (0-6).

%X

The locale’s appropriate time representation.

%x

The locale’s appropriate date representation.

%Y

The year with century as a decimal number.

%y

The year without century as a decimal number (00-99).

%q

The quarter, derived from the month. (1-4)

%Z

The time zone name, or by the empty string if this is not determinable.

%%

The ‘%’ sign.