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1<!DOCTYPE html>
2<html lang="en">
3<head>
4<title>How to Read the tz Database</title>
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6<style>
7pre {margin-left: 2em; white-space: pre-wrap;}
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16<body>
17<h2>How to Read the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tz_database">tz
18Database</a> Source Files</h2>
19<h3>by Bill Seymour</h3>
20<p>This page uses the <code>America/Chicago</code> and
21<code>Pacific/Honolulu</code> zones as examples of how to infer
22times of day from the <a href="tz-link.html">tz database</a>
23source files. It might be helpful, but not absolutely necessary,
24for the reader to have already downloaded the
25latest release of the database and become familiar with the basic layout
26of the data files. The format is explained in the &ldquo;man
27page&rdquo; for the zic compiler, <code>zic.8.txt</code>, in
28the <code>code</code> subdirectory.</p>
29
30<p>We&rsquo;ll begin by talking about the rules for changing between standard
31and daylight saving time since we&rsquo;ll need that information when we talk
32about the zones.</p>
33
34<p>First, let&rsquo;s consider the special daylight saving time rules
35for Chicago (from the <code>northamerica</code> file in
36the <code>data</code> subdirectory):</p>
37
38<table>
39<tr>
40  <th colspan="6">From the Source File</th>
41</tr>
42<tr>
43  <td colspan="6">
44    <table class="rule">
45      <tr><td style="border:none;text-align:left">
46<pre class="td">
47#Rule NAME    FROM TO    -   IN  ON      AT   SAVE LETTER
48Rule  Chicago 1920 only  -   Jun 13      2:00 1:00 D
49Rule  Chicago 1920 1921  -   Oct lastSun 2:00 0    S
50Rule  Chicago 1921 only  -   Mar lastSun 2:00 1:00 D
51Rule  Chicago 1922 1966  -   Apr lastSun 2:00 1:00 D
52Rule  Chicago 1922 1954  -   Sep lastSun 2:00 0    S
53Rule  Chicago 1955 1966  -   Oct lastSun 2:00 0    S
54</pre>
55  </td></tr></table></td>
56</tr>
57<tr>
58  <th colspan="6">Reformatted a Bit</th>
59</tr>
60<tr>
61  <th>From</th>
62  <th>To</th>
63  <th colspan="2">On</th>
64  <th>At</th>
65  <th>Action</th>
66</tr>
67<tr>
68  <td colspan="2">1920 only</td>
69  <td colspan="2">June 13<small><sup>th</sup></small></td>
70  <td rowspan="6">02:00 local</td>
71  <td>go to daylight saving time</td>
72</tr>
73<tr>
74  <td>1920</td>
75  <td>1921</td>
76  <td rowspan="5">last Sunday</td>
77  <td>in October</td>
78  <td>return to standard time</td>
79</tr>
80<tr>
81  <td colspan="2">1921 only</td>
82  <td>in March</td>
83  <td rowspan="2">go to daylight saving time</td>
84</tr>
85<tr>
86  <td rowspan="2">1922</td>
87  <td>1966</td>
88  <td>in April</td>
89</tr>
90<tr>
91  <td>1954</td>
92  <td>in September</td>
93  <td rowspan="2">return to standard time</td>
94</tr>
95<tr>
96  <td>1955</td>
97  <td>1966</td>
98  <td>in October</td>
99</tr>
100</table>
101
102<p>The <code>FROM</code> and <code>TO</code> columns, respectively, specify the
103first and last calendar years defining a contiguous range over which a specific
104Rule line is to apply.  The keyword <code>only</code> can be used in the
105<code>TO</code> field to repeat the value of the <code>FROM</code> field in the
106event that a rule should only apply to a single year.  Often, the keyword
107<code>max</code> is used to extend a rule&rsquo;s application into the
108indefinite future; it is a platform-agnostic stand-in for the largest
109representable year.
110
111<p>The next column, <code>-</code>, is reserved; for compatibility with earlier
112releases, it always contains a hyphen, which acts as a kind of null value.
113Prior to the 2020b release, it was called the <code>TYPE</code> field, though
114it was never used in the main data.  An obsolescent supplementary file used the
115field as a proof-of-concept to allow <code>zic</code> to apply a given Rule
116line only to certain &ldquo;types&rdquo; of years within the specified range as
117dictated by the output of a separate script, such as: only years which would
118have a US presidential election, or only years which wouldn&rsquo;t.
119
120<p>The <code>SAVE</code> column contains the local (wall clock) offset from
121local standard time.
122This is usually either zero for standard time or one hour for daylight
123saving time; but there&rsquo;s no reason, in principle, why it can&rsquo;t
124take on other values.
125
126<p>The <code>LETTER</code> (sometimes called <code>LETTER/S</code>)
127column can contain a variable
128part of the usual abbreviation of the time zone&rsquo;s name, or it can just
129be a hyphen if there&rsquo;s no variable part. For example, the abbreviation
130used in the central time zone will be either &ldquo;CST&rdquo; or
131&ldquo;CDT&rdquo;. The variable part is &lsquo;S&rsquo; or &lsquo;D&rsquo;;
132and, sure enough, that&rsquo;s just what we find in
133the <code>LETTER</code> column
134in the <code>Chicago</code> rules. More about this when we talk about
135&ldquo;Zone&rdquo; lines.
136
137<p>One important thing to notice is that &ldquo;Rule&rdquo; lines
138want at once to be both <i>transitions</i> and <i>steady states</i>:
139<ul>
140<li>On the one hand, they represent transitions between standard and
141daylight saving time; and any number of Rule lines can be in effect
142during a given period (which will always be a non-empty set of
143contiguous calendar years).</li>
144<li>On the other hand, the <code>SAVE</code> and <code>LETTER</code>
145columns contain state that exists between transitions. More about this
146when we talk about the US rules.</li>
147</ul>
148
149<p>In the example above, the transition to daylight saving time
150happened on the 13<small><sup>th</sup></small> of June in 1920, and on
151the last Sunday in March in 1921; but the return to standard time
152happened on the last Sunday in October in both of those
153years. Similarly, the rule for changing to daylight saving time was
154the same from 1922 to 1966; but the rule for returning to standard
155time changed in 1955. Got it?</p>
156
157<p>OK, now for the somewhat more interesting &ldquo;US&rdquo; rules:</p>
158
159<table>
160<tr>
161  <th colspan="6">From the Source File</th>
162</tr>
163<tr>
164  <td colspan="6">
165    <table class="rule">
166      <tr><td style="border:none;text-align:left">
167<pre class="td">
168#Rule NAME FROM TO    -   IN  ON        AT   SAVE LETTER/S
169Rule  US   1918 1919  -   Mar lastSun  2:00  1:00 D
170Rule  US   1918 1919  -   Oct lastSun  2:00  0    S
171Rule  US   1942 only  -   Feb 9        2:00  1:00 W # War
172Rule  US   1945 only  -   Aug 14      23:00u 1:00 P # Peace
173Rule  US   1945 only  -   Sep 30       2:00  0    S
174Rule  US   1967 2006  -   Oct lastSun  2:00  0    S
175Rule  US   1967 1973  -   Apr lastSun  2:00  1:00 D
176Rule  US   1974 only  -   Jan 6        2:00  1:00 D
177Rule  US   1975 only  -   Feb 23       2:00  1:00 D
178Rule  US   1976 1986  -   Apr lastSun  2:00  1:00 D
179Rule  US   1987 2006  -   Apr Sun&gt;=1   2:00  1:00 D
180Rule  US   2007 max   -   Mar Sun&gt;=8   2:00  1:00 D
181Rule  US   2007 max   -   Nov Sun&gt;=1   2:00  0    S
182</pre>
183  </td></tr></table></td>
184</tr>
185<tr>
186  <th colspan="6">Reformatted a Bit</th>
187</tr>
188<tr>
189  <th>From</th>
190  <th>To</th>
191  <th colspan="2">On</th>
192  <th>At</th>
193  <th>Action</th>
194</tr>
195<tr>
196  <td rowspan="2">1918</td>
197  <td rowspan="2">1919</td>
198  <td rowspan="2">last Sunday</td>
199  <td>in March</td>
200  <td rowspan="3">02:00 local</td>
201  <td>go to daylight saving time</td>
202</tr>
203<tr>
204  <td>in October</td>
205  <td>return to standard time</td>
206</tr>
207<tr>
208  <td colspan="2">1942 only</td>
209  <td colspan="2">February 9<small><sup>th</sup></small></td>
210  <td>go to &ldquo;war time&rdquo;</td>
211</tr>
212<tr>
213  <td colspan="2" rowspan="2">1945 only</td>
214  <td colspan="2">August 14<small><sup>th</sup></small></td>
215  <td>23:00 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Time">UT</a></td>
216  <td>
217    rename &ldquo;war time&rdquo; to &ldquo;peace<br>time;&rdquo;
218    clocks don&rsquo;t change
219  </td>
220</tr>
221<tr>
222  <td colspan="2">September 30<small><sup>th</sup></small></td>
223  <td rowspan="9">02:00 local</td>
224  <td rowspan="2">return to standard time</td>
225</tr>
226<tr>
227  <td rowspan="2">1967</td>
228  <td>2006</td>
229  <td rowspan="2">last Sunday</td>
230  <td>in October</td>
231</tr>
232<tr>
233  <td>1973</td>
234  <td>in April</td>
235  <td rowspan="6">go to daylight saving time</td>
236</tr>
237<tr>
238  <td colspan="2">1974 only</td>
239  <td colspan="2">January 6<small><sup>th</sup></small></td>
240</tr>
241<tr>
242  <td colspan="2">1975 only</td>
243  <td colspan="2">February 23<small><sup>rd</sup></small></td>
244</tr>
245<tr>
246  <td>1976</td>
247  <td>1986</td>
248  <td>last Sunday</td>
249  <td rowspan="2">in April</td>
250</tr>
251<tr>
252  <td>1987</td>
253  <td>2006</td>
254  <td>first Sunday</td>
255</tr>
256<tr>
257  <td rowspan="2">2007</td>
258  <td rowspan="2">present</td>
259  <td colspan="2">second Sunday in March</td>
260</tr>
261<tr>
262  <td colspan="2">first Sunday in November</td>
263  <td>return to standard time</td>
264</tr>
265</table>
266
267<p>There are two interesting things to note here.</p>
268
269<p>First, the time that something happens (in the <code>AT</code>
270column) is not necessarily the local (wall clock) time. The time can be
271suffixed with &lsquo;s&rsquo; (for &ldquo;standard&rdquo;) to mean
272local standard time, different from local (wall clock) time when observing
273daylight saving time; or it can be suffixed with &lsquo;g&rsquo;,
274&lsquo;u&rsquo;, or &lsquo;z&rsquo;, all three of which mean the
275standard time at the
276<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Meridian">prime meridian</a>.
277&lsquo;g&rsquo; stands for &ldquo;<a
278href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Mean_Time">GMT</a>&rdquo;;
279&lsquo;u&rsquo; stands for &ldquo;<a
280href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Time">UT</a>&rdquo; or &ldquo;<a
281href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinated_Universal_Time">UTC</a>&rdquo;
282(whichever was official at the time); &lsquo;z&rsquo; stands for the
283<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_time">nautical time zone</a>
284Z (a.k.a. &ldquo;Zulu&rdquo; which, in turn, stands for &lsquo;Z&rsquo;).
285The time can also be suffixed with &lsquo;w&rsquo; meaning local (wall
286clock) time; but it usually isn&rsquo;t because that&rsquo;s the
287default.</p>
288
289<p>Second, the day in the <code>ON</code> column, in addition to
290&ldquo;<code>lastSun</code>&rdquo; or a particular day of the month,
291can have the form, &ldquo;<code>Sun&gt;=</code><i>x</i>&rdquo; or
292&ldquo;<code>Sun&lt;=</code><i>x</i>,&rdquo; where <i>x</i> is a day
293of the month. For example, &ldquo;<code>Sun&gt;=8</code>&rdquo; means
294&ldquo;the first Sunday on or after the eighth of the month,&rdquo; in
295other words, the second Sunday of the month. Furthermore, although
296there are no examples above, the weekday needn&rsquo;t be
297&ldquo;<code>Sun</code>&rdquo; in either form, but can be the usual
298three-character English abbreviation for any day of the week.</p>
299
300<p>And the US rules give us more examples of a couple of things
301already mentioned:</p>
302
303<ul>
304<li>The rules for changing to and from daylight saving time are
305actually <i>different sets</i> of rules; and the two sets can change
306independently. Consider, for example, that the rule for the return to
307standard time stayed the same from 1967 to 2006; but the rule for the
308transition to daylight saving time changed several times in the same
309period.  There can also be periods, 1946 to 1966 for example, when no
310rule from this group is in effect, and so either no transition
311happened in those years, or some other rule is in effect (perhaps a
312state or other more local rule).</li>
313
314<li>The <code>SAVE</code> and <code>LETTER</code> columns
315contain <i>steady state</i>, not transitions. Consider, for example,
316the transition from &ldquo;war time&rdquo; to &ldquo;peace time&rdquo;
317that happened on August 14, 1945. The &ldquo;1:00&rdquo; in
318the <code>SAVE</code> column is <i>not</i> an instruction to advance
319the clock an hour. It means that clocks should <i>be</i> one hour
320ahead of standard time, which they already are because of the previous
321rule, so there should be no change.</li>
322
323</ul>
324
325<p>OK, now let&rsquo;s look at a Zone record:</p>
326
327<table>
328<tr>
329  <th colspan="5">From the Source File</th>
330</tr>
331<tr>
332  <td colspan="5">
333    <table class="rule">
334      <tr><td style="border:none;text-align:left">
335<pre class="td">
336#Zone       NAME      STDOFF   RULES FORMAT [UNTIL]
337Zone  America/Chicago -5:50:36 -       LMT  1883 Nov 18 12:09:24
338                      -6:00    US      C%sT 1920
339                      -6:00    Chicago C%sT 1936 Mar  1  2:00
340                      -5:00    -       EST  1936 Nov 15  2:00
341                      -6:00    Chicago C%sT 1942
342                      -6:00    US      C%sT 1946
343                      -6:00    Chicago C%sT 1967
344                      -6:00    US      C%sT
345</pre>
346  </td></tr></table></td>
347</tr>
348<tr>
349  <th colspan="5">Columns Renamed</th>
350</tr>
351<tr>
352  <th rowspan="2">Standard Offset<br>
353    from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Meridian">Prime
354    Meridian</a></th>
355  <th rowspan="2">Daylight<br>Saving Time</th>
356  <th rowspan="2">Abbreviation(s)</th>
357  <th colspan="2">Ending at Local Time</th>
358</tr>
359<tr>
360  <th>Date</th>
361  <th>Time</th>
362</tr>
363<tr>
364  <td>&minus;5:50:36</td>
365  <td>not observed</td>
366  <td>LMT</td>
367  <td>1883-11-18</td>
368  <td>12:09:24</td>
369</tr>
370<tr>
371  <td rowspan="2">&minus;6:00:00</td>
372  <td>US rules</td>
373  <td rowspan="2">CST or CDT</td>
374  <td>1920-01-01</td>
375  <td>00:00:00</td>
376</tr>
377<tr>
378  <td>Chicago rules</td>
379  <td>1936-03-01</td>
380  <td rowspan="2">02:00:00</td>
381</tr>
382<tr>
383  <td>&minus;5:00:00</td>
384  <td>not observed</td>
385  <td>EST</td>
386  <td>1936-11-15</td>
387</tr>
388<tr>
389  <td rowspan="4">&minus;6:00:00</td>
390  <td>Chicago rules</td>
391  <td>CST or CDT</td>
392  <td>1942-01-01</td>
393  <td rowspan="3">00:00:00</td>
394</tr>
395<tr>
396  <td>US rules</td>
397  <td>CST, CWT or CPT</td>
398  <td>1946-01-01</td>
399</tr>
400<tr>
401  <td>Chicago rules</td>
402  <td rowspan="2">CST or CDT</td>
403  <td>1967-01-01</td>
404</tr>
405<tr>
406  <td>US rules</td>
407  <td colspan="2">&mdash;</td>
408</tr>
409</table>
410
411<p>There are a couple of interesting differences between Zones and Rules.</p>
412
413<p>First, and somewhat trivially, whereas Rules are considered to
414contain one or more records, a Zone is considered to be a single
415record with zero or more <i>continuation lines</i>. Thus, the keyword,
416&ldquo;<code>Zone</code>,&rdquo; and the zone name are not
417repeated. The last line is the one without anything in
418the <code>[UNTIL]</code> column.</p>
419
420<p>Second, and more fundamentally, each line of a Zone represents a
421steady state, not a transition between states. The state exists from
422the date and time in the previous line&rsquo;s <code>[UNTIL]</code>
423column up to the date and time in the current
424line&rsquo;s <code>[UNTIL]</code> column. In other words, the date and
425time in the <code>[UNTIL]</code> column is the instant that separates
426this state from the next. Where that would be ambiguous because
427we&rsquo;re setting our clocks back, the <code>[UNTIL]</code> column
428specifies the first occurrence of the instant. The state specified by
429the last line, the one without anything in the <code>[UNTIL]</code>
430column, continues to the present.</p>
431
432<p>The first line typically specifies the mean solar time observed
433before the introduction of standard time. Since there&rsquo;s no line before
434that, it has no beginning. <code>8-) </code> For some places near the <a
435href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Date_Line">International
436Date Line</a>, the first <i>two</i> lines will show solar times
437differing by 24 hours; this corresponds to a movement of the Date
438Line.  For example:</p>
439
440<pre>
441#Zone NAME          STDOFF   RULES FORMAT [UNTIL]
442Zone America/Juneau 15:02:19 -     LMT    1867 Oct 18
443                    -8:57:41 -     LMT    ...
444</pre>
445
446<p>When Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867, the Date Line moved
447from the Alaska/Canada border to the Bering Strait; and the time in
448Alaska was then 24 hours earlier than it had
449been. <code>&lt;aside&gt;</code>(6 October in the Julian calendar,
450which Russia was still using then for religious reasons, was followed
451by <i>a second instance of the same day with a different name</i>, 18
452October in the Gregorian calendar. Isn&rsquo;t civil time
453wonderful? <code>8-)</code>)<code>&lt;/aside&gt;</code></p>
454
455<p>The abbreviation, &ldquo;LMT&rdquo; stands for &ldquo;local mean
456time&rdquo;, which is an invention of
457the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tz_database">tz
458database</a> and was probably never actually used during the
459period. Furthermore, the value is almost certainly wrong except in the
460archetypal place after which the zone is named. (The tz database
461usually doesn&rsquo;t provide a separate Zone record for places where
462nothing significant happened after 1970.)</p>
463
464<p>The <code>RULES</code> column tells us whether daylight saving time is being observed:
465<ul>
466<li>A hyphen, a kind of null value, means that we have not set our
467clocks ahead of standard time.</li>
468
469<li>An amount of time (usually but not necessarily &ldquo;1:00&rdquo;
470meaning one hour) means that we have set our clocks ahead by that
471amount.</li>
472
473<li>Some alphabetic string means that we <i>might have</i> set our
474clocks ahead; and we need to check the rule the name of which is the
475given alphabetic string.</li>
476</ul>
477
478<p>An example of a specific amount of time is:</p>
479<pre>
480#Zone NAME            STDOFF RULES FORMAT [UNTIL]
481Zone Pacific/Honolulu ...                 1933 Apr 30  2:00
482                      -10:30 1:00  HDT    1933 May 21 12:00
483                      ...
484</pre>
485
486<p>Hawaii tried daylight saving time for three weeks in 1933 and
487decided they didn&rsquo;t like it. <code>8-) </code>Note that
488the <code>STDOFF</code> column always contains the standard time
489offset, so the local (wall clock) time during this period was GMT &minus;
49010:30 + 1:00 = GMT &minus; 9:30.</p>
491
492<p>The <code>FORMAT</code> column specifies the usual abbreviation of
493the time zone name. It can have one of three forms:</p>
494<ul>
495
496<li>a string of three or more characters that are either ASCII alphanumerics,
497&ldquo;<code>+</code>&rdquo;, or &ldquo;<code>-</code>&rdquo;,
498in which case that&rsquo;s the abbreviation</li>
499
500<li>a pair of strings separated by a slash
501(&lsquo;<code>/</code>&rsquo;), in which case the first string is the
502abbreviation for the standard time name and the second string is the
503abbreviation for the daylight saving time name</li>
504
505<li>a string containing &ldquo;<code>%s</code>,&rdquo; in which case
506the &ldquo;<code>%s</code>&rdquo; will be replaced by the text in the
507appropriate Rule&rsquo;s <code>LETTER</code> column</li>
508</ul>
509
510<p>The last two make sense only if there&rsquo;s a named rule in effect.</p>
511
512<p>An example of a slash is:</p>
513<pre>
514#Zone NAME          STDOFF RULES FORMAT  [UNTIL]
515Zone  Europe/London ...                  1996
516                    0:00   EU    GMT/BST
517</pre>
518
519<p>The current time in the UK is called either Greenwich mean time or
520British summer time.</p>
521
522<p>One wrinkle, not fully explained in <code>zic.8.txt</code>, is what
523happens when switching to a named rule. To what values should
524the <code>SAVE</code> and <code>LETTER</code> data be initialized?</p>
525
526<ul>
527<li>If at least one transition has happened, use
528the <code>SAVE</code> and <code>LETTER</code> data from the most
529recent.</li>
530
531<li>If switching to a named rule before any transition has happened,
532assume standard time (<code>SAVE</code> zero), and use
533the <code>LETTER</code> data from the earliest transition with
534a <code>SAVE</code> of zero.
535
536</ul>
537
538<p>And three last things about the <code>FORMAT</code> column:</p>
539<ul>
540
541<li>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tz_database">tz
542database</a> gives abbreviations for time zones in <i>popular
543usage</i>, which is not necessarily &ldquo;correct&rdquo; by law. For
544example, the last line in
545<code>Zone</code> <code>Pacific/Honolulu</code> (shown below) gives
546&ldquo;HST&rdquo; for &ldquo;Hawaii standard time&rdquo; even though the
547<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/15/263">legal</a>
548name for that time zone is &ldquo;Hawaii-Aleutian standard time.&rdquo;
549This author has read that there are also some places in Australia where
550popular time zone names differ from the legal ones.
551
552<li>No attempt is made to <a
553href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalization_and_localization">localize</a>
554the abbreviations. They are intended to be the values returned through the
555<code>"%Z"</code> format specifier to
556<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_(programming_language)">C</a>&rsquo;s
557<a href="https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/strftime.html"><code>strftime</code></a>
558function in the
559<a href="https://kirste.userpage.fu-berlin.de/chemnet/use/info/libc/libc_19.html#SEC324">&ldquo;C&rdquo; locale</a>.
560
561<li>If there is no generally-accepted abbreviation for a time zone,
562a numeric offset is used instead, e.g., <code>+07</code> for 7 hours
563ahead of Greenwich. By convention, <code>-00</code> is used in a
564zone while uninhabited, where the offset is zero but in some sense
565the true offset is undefined.
566</ul>
567
568<p>As a final example, here&rsquo;s the complete history for Hawaii:</p>
569
570<table>
571<tr>
572  <th colspan="6">Relevant Excerpts from the US Rules</th>
573</tr>
574<tr>
575  <td colspan="6">
576    <table class="rule">
577      <tr><td style="border:none;text-align:left">
578<pre class="td">
579#Rule NAME FROM TO   -    IN  ON      AT     SAVE LETTER/S
580Rule  US   1918 1919 -    Oct lastSun  2:00  0    S
581Rule  US   1942 only -    Feb  9       2:00  1:00 W # War
582Rule  US   1945 only -    Aug 14      23:00u 1:00 P # Peace
583Rule  US   1945 only -    Sep lastSun  2:00  0    S
584</pre>
585  </td></tr></table></td>
586</tr>
587<tr>
588  <th colspan="6">The Zone Record</th>
589</tr>
590<tr>
591  <td colspan="6">
592    <table class="rule">
593      <tr><td style="border:none;text-align:left">
594<pre class="td">
595#Zone NAME            STDOFF    RULES FORMAT [UNTIL]
596Zone Pacific/Honolulu -10:31:26 -     LMT    1896 Jan 13 12:00
597                      -10:30    -     HST    1933 Apr 30  2:00
598                      -10:30    1:00  HDT    1933 May 21  2:00
599                      -10:30    US    H%sT   1947 Jun  8  2:00
600                      -10:00    -     HST
601</pre>
602  </td></tr></table></td>
603</tr>
604<tr>
605  <th colspan="6">What We Infer</th>
606</tr>
607<tr>
608  <th rowspan="2">Wall-Clock<br>Offset from<br>Prime Meridian</th>
609  <th rowspan="2">Adjust<br>Clocks</th>
610  <th colspan="2">Time Zone</th>
611  <th colspan="2">Ending at Local Time</th>
612</tr>
613<tr>
614  <th>Abbrv.</th>
615  <th>Name</th>
616  <th>Date</th>
617  <th>Time</th>
618</tr>
619<tr>
620  <td>&minus;10:31:26</td>
621  <td>&mdash;</td>
622  <td>LMT</td>
623  <td>local mean time</td>
624  <td>1896-01-13</td>
625  <td>12:00</td>
626</tr>
627<tr>
628  <td>&minus;10:30</td>
629  <td>+0:01:26</td>
630  <td>HST</td>
631  <td>Hawaii standard time</td>
632  <td>1933-04-30</td>
633  <td>02:00</td>
634</tr>
635<tr>
636  <td>&minus;9:30</td>
637  <td>+1:00</td>
638  <td>HDT</td>
639  <td>Hawaii daylight time</td>
640  <td>1933-05-21</td>
641  <td>12:00</td>
642</tr>
643<tr>
644  <td>&minus;10:30&sup1;</td>
645  <td>&minus;1:00&sup1;</td>
646  <td>HST&sup1;</td>
647  <td>Hawaii standard time</td>
648  <td>1942-02-09</td>
649  <td>02:00</td>
650</tr>
651<tr>
652  <td rowspan="2">&minus;9:30</td>
653  <td>+1:00</td>
654  <td>HWT</td>
655  <td>Hawaii war time</td>
656  <td>1945-08-14</td>
657  <td>13:30&sup2;</td>
658</tr>
659<tr>
660  <td>0</td>
661  <td>HPT</td>
662  <td>Hawaii peace time</td>
663  <td>1945-09-30</td>
664  <td rowspan="2">02:00</td>
665</tr>
666<tr>
667  <td>&minus;10:30</td>
668  <td>&minus;1:00</td>
669  <td rowspan="2">HST</td>
670  <td rowspan="2">Hawaii standard time</td>
671  <td>1947-06-08</td>
672</tr>
673<tr>
674  <td>&minus;10:00&sup3;</td>
675  <td>+0:30&sup3;</td>
676  <td colspan="2">&mdash;</td>
677</tr>
678<tr>
679  <td colspan="6" class="footnote">
680    &sup1;Switching to US rules&hellip;most recent transition (in 1919) was to standard time
681  </td>
682</tr>
683<tr>
684  <td colspan="6" class="footnote">
685    &sup2;23:00 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Time">UT</a>
686    + (&minus;9:30) = 13:30 local
687  </td>
688</tr>
689<tr>
690  <td colspan="6" class="footnote">
691    &sup3;Since <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601">1947&ndash;06&ndash;08T12:30Z</a>,
692    the civil time in Hawaii has been
693    <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Time">UT</a>/<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinated_Universal_Time">UTC</a>
694    &minus; 10:00 year-round.
695  </td>
696</tr>
697</table>
698
699<p>There will be a short quiz later. <code>8-)</code></p>
700
701<hr>
702<address>
703This web page is in the public domain, so clarified as of
7042015-10-20 by Bill Seymour.
705<br>
706All suggestions and corrections will be welcome; all flames will be amusing.
707Mail to was at pobox dot com.
708</address>
709</body>
710</html>
711