Date::Calendar::Year(3)

NAME
Date::Calendar::Year - Implements embedded "year" objects for Date::Calendar

MOTTO
There is more than one way to do it - this is just one of them!

PREFACE
Note that Date::Calendar::Year (and Date::Calendar) can only deal with years lying within the range [1583..2299].

SYNOPSIS
  use Date::Calendar::Year qw( check_year empty_period );
  use Date::Calendar::Year qw( :all ); # same as above

  check_year(YEAR|DATE); # dies if year < 1583 or year > 2299
  empty_period();        # warns about empty interval if $^W is set

  $index = $year->date2index(YEAR,MONTH,DAY|DATE);
  $date  = $year->index2date(INDEX);

  use Date::Calendar::Profiles qw( $Profiles );
  $year_2000_US_FL = Date::Calendar::Year->new( 2000, $Profiles->{'US-FL'} [,LANG] );
  $year_2001_DE_NW = Date::Calendar::Year->new( 2001, $Profiles->{'DE-NW'} [,LANG] );

  $year = Date::Calendar::Year->new( 2001, {} );
  $year->init( 2002, $Profiles->{'DE-SN'} [,LANG] );

  $vector = $year->vec_full(); # vector of full holidays
  $vector = $year->vec_half(); # vector of half holidays
  $vector = $year->vec_work(); # NOT a vector of workdays but a workspace!
  $size   = $year->val_days(); # number of days in that year, size of vectors
  $base   = $year->val_base(); # number of days for [year,1,1] since [1,1,1]
  $number = $year->val_year(); # the year's number itself
  $number = $year->year();     # alias for val_year()

  @names    = $year->labels(YEAR,MONTH,DAY|DATE);
  @holidays = $year->labels();
  $holidays = $year->labels();

  @dates    = $year->search(PATTERN);
  $dates    = $year->search(PATTERN);

  $days     = $year->delta_workdays(YEAR,MONTH1,DAY1|DATE1
                                   ,YEAR,MONTH2,DAY2|DATE2
                                   ,FLAG1,FLAG2);

  ($date,$rest,$sign) = $year->add_delta_workdays(YEAR,MONTH,DAY|DATE
                                                 ,DELTA,SIGN);

  $flag     = $year->is_full(YEAR,MONTH,DAY|DATE);
  $flag     = $year->is_half(YEAR,MONTH,DAY|DATE);
  $flag     = $year->is_work(YEAR,MONTH,DAY|DATE);

INTERFACE
Note that whenever a year number, a date, a time or a combined date and time are expected as input parameters by one of the methods of this class, you can always pass a Date::Calc[::Object] date object or an array reference (of an array of appropriate length) instead!

See Date::Calc::Object(3) for more details.

So instead of calling a given method like this:

  $object->method1( $year,$month,$day );
  $object->method2( $year1,$month1,$day1, $year2,$month2,$day2 );
  $object->method3( $year1, $year2, $year3 );

You can also call it like so:

  $object->method1( $date );
  $object->method1( [1964,1,3] );

  $object->method2( $year1,$month1,$day1, $date2 );
  $object->method2( $date1, $year2,$month2,$day2 );
  $object->method2( $date1, $date2 );
  $object->method2( $year1,$month1,$day1, [2001,3,17] );
  $object->method2( [1964,1,3], $year2,$month2,$day2 );
  $object->method2( [1964,1,3], [2001,3,17] );
  $object->method2( $date1, [2001,3,17] );
  $object->method2( [1964,1,3], $date2 );

  $object->method3( $year1, $date2, [2001,3,17] );

And similarly if a time or a combined date and time are expected.

If you substitute an expected year number by an anonymous array (this is the recommended way of writing date constants, for increased readability of your programs), it must contain three values, nevertheless (otherwise the use of an anonymous array would be pointless).

Don't confuse year numbers and their substitutes (a date object or an array reference) with Date::Calendar::Year objects, which are a totally different thing!

But incidentally ":-)", you may also pass a Date::Calendar::Year object whenever a year number is expected. However, and perhaps against your expectations at times, only the year number from that object will be used, not the year object itself (the year object in question might be using the wrong profile!).

Moreover, whenever a method of this class returns a date, it does so by returning a Date::Calc[::Object] date object.

IMPLEMENTATION
Each Date::Calendar::Year object consists mainly of three bit vectors, plus some administrative attributes, all stored in a (blessed) hash.

All three bit vectors contain as many bits as there are days in the corresponding year, i.e., either 365 or 366.

The first bit vector, called "FULL", contains set bits for Saturdays, Sundays and all "full" legal holidays (i.e., days off, on which you usually do not work).

The second bit vector, called "HALF", contains set bits for all "half" holidays, i.e., holidays where you get only half a day off from work.

The third and last bit vector, called "WORK", is used as a workspace, in which various calculations are performed throughout this module.

Its name does NOT come from "working days" (as you might think), but from "workspace".

It only so happens that it is used to calculate the working days sometimes, at some places in this module.

But you are free to use it yourself, for whatever calculation you would like to carry out yourself.

The two other bit vectors, "FULL" and "HALF", should never be changed, unless you know EXACTLY what you're doing!

DESCRIPTION
Functions

•   "check_year(YEAR);"

    This function checks that the given year lies in the permitted range [1583..2299]. It returns nothing in case of success, and throws an exception ("given year out of range [1583..2299]") otherwise.

•   "empty_period();"

    This function issues a warning (from the perspective of the caller of a Date::* module) that the given range of dates is empty ("dates interval is empty"), provided that warnings are enabled (i.e., "$^W" is true).

    This function is currently used by the method "delta_workdays()" in this class, and by its equivalent from the Date::Calendar module.

    It is called whenever the range of dates of which the difference in working days is to be calculated is empty. This can happen for instance if you specify two adjacent dates both of which are not to be included in the difference.

Methods

•   "$index = $year->date2index(YEAR,MONTH,DAY|DATE);"

    This method converts a given date into the number of the day in that year (this is sometimes also referred to as the "julian" date), i.e., a number between 0 (for January 1st) and the number of days in the given year minus one, i.e., 364 or 365 (for December 31st).

    You may need this in order to access the bit vectors returned by the methods "vec_full()", "vec_half()" and "vec_work()".

    Note that there are shorthand methods in this module called "is_full()", "is_half()" and "is_work()", which serve to test individual bits of the three bit vectors which are a part of each Date::Calendar::Year object.

    An exception ("given year != object's year") is thrown if the year associated with the year object itself and the year from the given date do not match.

    An exception ("invalid date") is also thrown if the given arguments do not constitute a valid date, or ("given year out of range [1583..2299]") if the given year lies outside of the permitted range.

•   "$date = $year->index2date(INDEX);"

    This method converts an index (or "julian date") for the given year back into a date.

    An exception ("invalid index") is thrown if the given index is outside of the permitted range for the given year, i.e., "[0..364]" or "[0..365]".

    Note that this method returns a Date::Calc OBJECT!

•   "$year_2000_US_FL = Date::Calendar::Year->new( 2000, $Profiles->{'US-FL'} [,LANG] );"

    "$year_2001_DE_NW = Date::Calendar::Year->new( 2001, $Profiles->{'DE-NW'} [,LANG] );"

    "$year = Date::Calendar::Year->new( 2001, {} );"

    This is the constructor method. Call it to create a new Date::Calendar::Year object.

    The first argument must be a year number in the range [1583..2299].

    The second argument must be the reference of a hash, which usually contains names of holidays and commemorative days as keys and strings containing the date or formula for each holiday as values.

    Reading this hash and initializing the object's internal data is performed by an extra method, called "init()", which is called internally by the constructor method, and which is described immediately below, after this method.

    In case you call the "init()" method yourself, explicitly, after creating the object, you can pass an empty profile (e.g., just an empty anonymous hash) to the "new()" method in order to improve performance.

    The third argument is optional, and must consist of the valid name or number of a language as provided by the Date::Calc(3) module if given.

    This argument determines which language shall be used when reading the profile, since the profile may contain names of months and weekdays in its formulas in that language.

    The default is English if none is specified.

•   "$year->init( 2002, $Profiles->{'DE-SN'} [,LANG] );"

    This method is called by the "new()" constructor method, internally, and has the same arguments as the latter.

    See immediately above for a description of these arguments.

    Note that you can also call this method explicitly yourself, if needed, and you can of course subclass the Date::Calendar::Year class and override the "init()" method with an method of your own.

    The holiday scheme or "profile" (i.e., the reference of a hash passed as the second argument to this method) must obey the following semantics and syntax:

    The keys are the names of the holiday or commemorative day in question. Keys must be unique (but see further below).

    The difference between a holiday and a commemorative day is that you (usually) get a day off on a holiday, whereas on a purely commemorative day, you don't.

    A commemorative day is just a date with a name, nothing more.

    The values belonging to these keys can either be the code reference of a callback function (see Date::Calendar::Profiles(3) for more details and examples), or a string.

    All other values cause a fatal error with program abortion.

    The strings can specify three types of dates:

      -  fixed dates
         (like New Year, or first of January),

      -  dates relative to Easter Sunday
         (like Ascension = Easter Sunday + 39 days), and

      -  the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or last
         of a given day of week in a given month
         (like "the 4th Thursday of November", or Thanksgiving).

    All other types of dates must be specified via callback functions.

    Note that the "last" of a given day of week is written as the "5th", because the last is always either the 5th or the 4th of the given day of week. So the "init()" module first calculates the 5th of the requested day of week, and if that doesn't exist, takes the 4th instead.

    There are also two modifier characters which may prefix the string with the date formula, "#" and ":".

    The character "#" (mnemonic: it's only a comment) signals that the date in question is a purely commemorative day, i.e., it will not enter into any date calculations, but can be queried with the "labels()" and "search()" methods, and appears when printing a calendar, for instance.

    The character ":" (mnemonic: divided into two halfs) specifies that the date in question is only a "half" holiday, i.e., you only get half a day off instead of a full day. Some companies have this sort of thing. ":-)"

    The exact syntax for the date formula strings is the following (by example):

     -  Fixed dates:

        "Christmas"  =>  "24.12",   # European format (day, month)
        "Christmas"  =>  "24.12.",

        "Christmas"  =>  "24Dec",
        "Christmas"  =>  "24.Dec",
        "Christmas"  =>  "24Dec.",
        "Christmas"  =>  "24.Dec.",

        "Christmas"  =>  "24-12",
        "Christmas"  =>  "24-12-",

        "Christmas"  =>  "24-Dec",
        "Christmas"  =>  "24-Dec-",

        "Christmas"  =>  "12/25",   # American format (month, day)
        "Christmas"  =>  "Dec25",
        "Christmas"  =>  "Dec/25",

     -  Dates relative to Easter Sunday:

        "Ladies' Carnival"  =>  "-52",
        "Carnival Monday"   =>  "-48",
        "Mardi Gras"        =>  "-47",
        "Ash Wednesday"     =>  "-46",
        "Palm Sunday"       =>   "-7",
        "Maundy Thursday"   =>   "-3",
        "Good Friday"       =>   "-2",
        "Easter Sunday"     =>   "+0",
        "Easter Monday"     =>   "+1",
        "Ascension"         =>  "+39",
        "Whitsunday"        =>  "+49",
        "Whitmonday"        =>  "+50",
        "Corpus Christi"    =>  "+60",

     -  The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or last day of week:

        "Thanksgiving"      =>  "4Thu11",
        "Thanksgiving"      =>  "4/Thu/Nov",
        "Columbus Day"      =>  "2/Mon/Oct",
        "Columbus Day"      =>  "2/Mon/10",
        "Columbus Day"      =>  "2/1/Oct",
        "Columbus Day"      =>  "2/1/10",
        "Memorial Day"      =>  "5/Mon/May", # LAST Monday of May

    Remember that each of these date formula strings may also be prefixed with either "#" or ":":

        "Christmas"         =>  ":24.12.", # only half a day off
        "Valentine's Day"   =>  "#Feb/14", # not an official holiday

    Note that the name of the month or day of week may have any length you like, it just must specify the intended month or day of week unambiguously. So "D", "De", "Dec", "Dece", "Decem", "Decemb", "Decembe" and "December" would all be valid, for example. Note also that case is ignored.

    When specifying day and month numbers, or offsets relative to Easter Sunday, leading zeros are permitted (for nicely indented formatting, for instance) but ignored.

    Leading zeros are not permitted in front of the ordinal number [1..5] or the number of the day of week [1..7] when specifying the nth day of week in a month.

    BEWARE that if keys are not unique in the source code, later entries will overwrite previous ones! I.e.,

        ...
        "My special holiday" => "01-11",
        "My special holiday" => "02-11",
        ...

    will NOT set two holidays of the same name, one on November first, the other on November second, but only one, on November second!

    Therefore, in order to use sets of defaults and to be able to override some of them, you must FIRST include any hash containing the default definitions, and THEN write down your own definitions (see also the Date::Calendar::Profiles module for examples of this!), like this:

        $defaults =
        {
            "Holiday #1" => "01-01",
            "Holiday #2" => "02-02",
            "Holiday #3" => "03-03"
        };

        $variant1 =
        {
            %$defaults,
            "Holiday #2" => "09-02",
            "Holiday #4" => "04-04"
        };

    This is because of the way hashes work in Perl.

    The "init()" method proceeds as follows:

    First it checks whether the given year number lies in the range [1583..2299]. A fatal error occurs if not.

    Then it determines the number of days in the requested year, and stores it in the given Date::Calendar::Year object.

    It then calls the Bit::Vector(3) module to allocate three bit vectors with a number of bits equal to the number of days in the requested year, and stores the three object references (of the bit vectors) in the Date::Calendar::Year object.

    (See also the description of the three methods "vec_full()", "vec_half()" and "vec_full()" immediately below.)

    It then sets the bits which correspond to Saturdays and Sundays in the "full holidays" bit vector.

    At last, it iterates over the keys of the given holiday scheme (of the hash referred to by the hash reference passed to the "init()" method as the second argument), evaluates the formula (or calls the given callback function), and sets the corresponding bit in the "full" or "half" holidays bit vector if the calculated date is valid.

    A fatal error occurs if the date formula cannot be parsed or if the date returned by a formula or callback function is invalid (e.g. 30-Feb-2001 or the like) or lies outside the given year (e.g. Easter+365).

    Finally, the "init()" method makes sure that days marked as "full" holidays do not appear as "half" holidays as well.

    Then the "init()" method returns.

    Note that when deciphering the date formulas, the "init()" method uses the functions "Decode_Day_of_Week()" and "Decode_Month()" from the Date::Calc(3) module, which are language-dependent.

    Therefore the "init()" method allows you to pass it an optional third argument, which must consist of the valid name or number of a language as provided by the Date::Calc(3) module.

    For the time of scanning the given holiday scheme, the "init()" method will temporarily set the language to the value specified, and it will restore the original value before returning.

    The default is English if none is specified.

    This means that you can provide the names of months and days of week in your holiday profile in any of the languages supported by the Date::Calc(3) module, provided you give the "init()" method a clue (the third parameter) which language to expect.

•   "$vector = $year->vec_full();"

    This method returns a reference to the bit vector in the given year object which contains all "full" holidays.

    BEWARE that you should NEVER change the contents of this bit vector unless you know EXACTLY what you're doing!

    You should usually only read from this bit vector, or use it as an operand in bit vector operations - but never as an lvalue.

•   "$vector = $year->vec_half();"

    This method returns a reference to the bit vector in the given year object which contains all "half" holidays.

    BEWARE that you should NEVER change the contents of this bit vector unless you know EXACTLY what you're doing!

    You should usually only read from this bit vector, or use it as an operand in bit vector operations - but never as an lvalue.

•   "$vector = $year->vec_work();"

    This method returns a reference to the "workspace" bit vector in the given year object.

    Note that you cannot rely on the contents of this bit vector.

    You have to set it up yourself before performing any calculations with it.

    Currently the contents of this bit vector are modified by the two methods "delta_workdays()" and "add_delta_workdays()", in ways which are hard to predict.

    The size of this bit vector can be determined through either ""$days = $vector->Size();"" or ""$days = $year->val_days();"".

•   "$size = $year->val_days();"

    This method returns the number of days in the given year object, i.e., either 365 or 366. This is also the size (number of bits) of the three bit vectors contained in the given year object.

•   "$base = $year->val_base();"

    This method returns the value of the expression ""Date_to_Days($year->val_year(),1,1)"", or in other words, the number of days between January 1st of the year 1 and January 1st of the given year, plus one.

    This value is used internally by the method "date2index()" in order to calculate the "julian" date or day of the year for a given date.

    The expression above is computed only once in method "init()" and then stored in one of the year object's attributes, of which this method just returns the value.

•   "$number = $year->val_year();"

    "$number = $year->year();"

    These two methods are identical, the latter being a shortcut of the former.

    They return the number of the year for which a calendar has been stored in the given year object.

    The method name "val_year()" is used here in order to be consistent with the other attribute accessor methods of this class, and the method "year()" is necessary in order to be able to pass Date::Calendar::Year objects as parameters instead of a year number in the methods of the Date::Calendar and Date::Calendar::Year modules.

•   "@names = $year->labels(YEAR,MONTH,DAY|DATE);"

    "@holidays = $year->labels();"

    "$holidays = $year->labels();"

    If any arguments are given, they are supposed to represent a date. In that case, a list of all labels (= names of holidays) associated with that date are returned. The first item returned is always the name of the day of week for that date.

    If no arguments are given, the list of all available labels in the given year is returned. This list does NOT include any names of the days of week (which would be pointless in this case).

    In list context, the resulting list itself is returned. In scalar context, the number of items in the resulting list is returned.

•   "@dates = $year->search(PATTERN);"

    "$dates = $year->search(PATTERN);"

    This method searches through all the labels of the given year and returns a list of date objects with all dates whose labels match the given pattern.

    Note that this is a simple, case-insensitive substring search, NOT a full-fledged regular expression search!

    The result is guaranteed to be sorted chronologically.

    In scalar context, only the number of items in the resulting list is returned, instead of the resulting list itself (as in list context).

•   "$days = $year->delta_workdays(YEAR,MONTH1,DAY1, YEAR,MONTH2,DAY2, FLAG1,FLAG2);"

    "$days = $year->delta_workdays(DATE1,DATE2,FLAG1,FLAG2);"

    This method calculates the number of work days (i.e., the number of days, but excluding all holidays) between two dates.

    In other words, this method is equivalent to the "Delta_Days()" function of the Date::Calc module, except that it disregards holidays in its counting.

    The two flags indicate whether the start and end dates should be included in the counting (that is, of course, only in case they aren't holidays), or not.

    It is common, for example, that you want to know how many work days are left between the current date and a given deadline.

    Typically, you will want to count the current date but not the deadline's date. So you would specify "true" ("1") for FLAG1 and "false" ("0") for FLAG2 in order to achieve that.

    In other words, a value of "true" means "including this date", a value of "false" means "excluding this date".

    As with the "Delta_Days()" function from the Date::Calc module, the dates have to be given in chronological order to yield a positive result. If the dates are reversed, the result will be negative.

    The parameter FLAG1 is associated with the first given date, the parameter FLAG2 with the second given date (regardless of whether the dates are in chronological order or not).

    An exception ("given year != object's year") is thrown if the year number of either of the two given dates does not match the year number associated with the given year object.

    An exception ("invalid date") is also raised if either of the two date arguments does not constitute a valid date.

•   "($date,$rest,$sign) = $year->add_delta_workdays(YEAR,MONTH,DAY, DELTA, SIGN);"

    "($date,$rest,$sign) = $year->add_delta_workdays(DATE,DELTA,SIGN);"

    This method is the equivalent of the "Add_Delta_Days()" function from the Date::Calc module, except that it adds work days and skips holidays.

    In other words, you can add or subtract a number of work days "DELTA" to/from a given date and get a new date as the result (as a Date::Calc object).

    You add days (i.e., you go forward in time) with a positive offset "DELTA", and you subtract days (i.e., you go backwards in time) with a negative offset.

    Note that an exception ("invalid date") is raised if the given date argument (the "start" date) does not constitute a valid date.

    Beware that this method is limited to date calculations within a single year (in contrast to the method with the same name from the Date::Calendar module).

    Therefore, the method does not only return a date (object), but also a "rest" and a "sign".

    The "rest" indicates how many days are still left from your original DELTA after going in the desired direction and reaching a year boundary.

    The "sign" indicates in which direction (future or past) one needs to go in order to "eat up" the "rest" (by subtracting a day from the "rest" for each work day passed), or to adjust the resulting date (in order to skip any holidays directly after a year boundary), if at all.

    The "sign" is -1 for going backwards in time, +1 for going forward, and 0 if the result doesn't need any more fixing (for instance because the result lies in the same year as the starting date).

    The method "add_delta_workdays()" from the Date::Calendar module uses the "rest" and "sign" return values from this method in order to perform calculations which may cross year boundaries.

    Therefore, it is not recommended to use this method here directly, as it is rather clumsy to use, but to use the method with the same name from the Date::Calendar module instead, which does the same but is much easier to use and moreover allows calculations which cross an arbitrary number of year boundaries.

•   "$flag = $year->is_full(YEAR,MONTH,DAY|DATE);"

    This method returns "true" ("1") if the bit corresponding to the given date is set in the bit vector representing "full" holidays, and "false" ("0") otherwise.

    I.e., the method returns "true" if the given date is a (full) holiday (according to the calendar profile associated with the given year object).

•   "$flag = $year->is_half(YEAR,MONTH,DAY|DATE);"

    This method returns "true" ("1") if the bit corresponding to the given date is set in the bit vector representing "half" holidays, and "false" ("0") otherwise.

    I.e., the method returns "true" if the given date is a half holiday (according to the calendar profile associated with the given year object).

    Note that if a date is a "full" holiday, the "half" bit is never set, even if you try to do so in your calendar profile, on purpose or by accident.

•   "$flag = $year->is_work(YEAR,MONTH,DAY|DATE);"

    This method returns "true" ("1") if the bit corresponding to the given date is set in the bit vector used to perform all sorts of calculations, and "false" ("0") otherwise.

    BEWARE that the "work" in this method's name does NOT come from "work days"!

    It comes from the fact that the corresponding bit vector can be used for any "work" that you need to do. In other words, it's a "work space".

    Therefore, this bit vector might contain about everything you could imagine - including a bit pattern which marks all "work days" with set bits, if it so happens!

    But you better don't rely on it, unless you put the bit pattern there yourself in the first place.

    Note that you can get a reference to this bit vector (in order to fill it with any bit pattern you like) using the method "vec_work()", described further above in this document.

    The number of bits in this bit vector is the same as the number of days in the given year "$year", which you can retrieve through either ""$days = $year->vec_work->Size();"" or ""$days = $year->val_days();"".

    See also Bit::Vector(3) for more details.

SEE ALSO
Bit::Vector(3), Date::Calendar(3), Date::Calendar::Profiles(3), Date::Calc::Object(3), Date::Calc(3).

VERSION
This man page documents "Date::Calendar::Year" version 5.3.

AUTHOR
  Steffen Beyer
  mailto:sb@engelschall.com
  http://www.engelschall.com/u/sb/download/

COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2000 - 2002 by Steffen Beyer. All rights reserved.

LICENSE
This package is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself, i.e., under the terms of the "Artistic License" or the "GNU General Public License".

Please refer to the files "Artistic.txt" and "GNU_GPL.txt" in this distribution for details!

DISCLAIMER
This package is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

See the "GNU General Public License" for more details.