• Home
  • Line#
  • Scopes#
  • Navigate#
  • Raw
  • Download
1## Unicode Technical Standard #35
2
3# Unicode Locale Data Markup Language (LDML)<br/>Part 4: Dates
4
5|Version|42                |
6|-------|------------------|
7|Editors|Peter Edberg and <a href="tr35.md#Acknowledgments">other CLDR committee members</a>|
8
9For the full header, summary, and status, see [Part 1: Core](tr35.md).
10
11### _Summary_
12
13This document describes parts of an XML format (_vocabulary_) for the exchange of structured locale data. This format is used in the [Unicode Common Locale Data Repository](https://www.unicode.org/cldr/).
14
15This is a partial document, describing only those parts of the LDML that are relevant for date, time, and time zone formatting. For the other parts of the LDML see the [main LDML document](tr35.md) and the links above.
16
17### _Status_
18
19_This document has been reviewed by Unicode members and other interested parties, and has been approved for publication by the Unicode Consortium. This is a stable document and may be used as reference material or cited as a normative reference by other specifications._
20
21> _**A Unicode Technical Standard (UTS)** is an independent specification. Conformance to the Unicode Standard does not imply conformance to any UTS._
22
23_Please submit corrigenda and other comments with the CLDR bug reporting form [[Bugs](tr35.md#Bugs)]. Related information that is useful in understanding this document is found in the [References](tr35.md#References). For the latest version of the Unicode Standard see [[Unicode](tr35.md#Unicode)]. For a list of current Unicode Technical Reports see [[Reports](tr35.md#Reports)]. For more information about versions of the Unicode Standard, see [[Versions](tr35.md#Versions)]._
24
25## <a name="Parts" href="#Parts">Parts</a>
26
27The LDML specification is divided into the following parts:
28
29*   Part 1: [Core](tr35.md#Contents) (languages, locales, basic structure)
30*   Part 2: [General](tr35-general.md#Contents) (display names & transforms, etc.)
31*   Part 3: [Numbers](tr35-numbers.md#Contents) (number & currency formatting)
32*   Part 4: [Dates](tr35-dates.md#Contents) (date, time, time zone formatting)
33*   Part 5: [Collation](tr35-collation.md#Contents) (sorting, searching, grouping)
34*   Part 6: [Supplemental](tr35-info.md#Contents) (supplemental data)
35*   Part 7: [Keyboards](tr35-keyboards.md#Contents) (keyboard mappings)
36*   Part 8: [Person Names](tr35-personNames.md#Contents) (person names)
37
38## <a name="Contents" href="#Contents">Contents of Part 4, Dates</a>
39
40* 1 [Overview: Dates Element, Supplemental Date and Calendar Information](#Overview_Dates_Element_Supplemental)
41* 2 [Calendar Elements](#Calendar_Elements)
42  * 2.1 [Elements months, days, quarters, eras](#months_days_quarters_eras)
43  * 2.2 [Elements monthPatterns, cyclicNameSets](#monthPatterns_cyclicNameSets)
44  * 2.3 [Element dayPeriods](#dayPeriods)
45  * 2.4 [Element dateFormats](#dateFormats)
46  * 2.5 [Element timeFormats](#timeFormats)
47  * 2.6 [Element dateTimeFormats](#dateTimeFormats)
48    * 2.6.1 [Element dateTimeFormat](#dateTimeFormat)
49      * Table: [Date-Time Combination Examples](#Date_Time_Combination_Examples)
50    * 2.6.2 [Elements availableFormats, appendItems](#availableFormats_appendItems)
51      * Table: [Mapping Requested Time Skeletons To Patterns](#Mapping_Requested_Time_Skeletons_To_Patterns)
52      * 2.6.2.1 [Matching Skeletons](#Matching_Skeletons)
53      * 2.6.2.2 [Missing Skeleton Fields](#Missing_Skeleton_Fields)
54    * 2.6.3 [Element intervalFormats](#intervalFormats)
55* 3 [Calendar Fields](#Calendar_Fields)
56* 4 [Supplemental Calendar Data](#Supplemental_Calendar_Data)
57  * 4.1 [Calendar Data](#Calendar_Data)
58  * 4.2 [Calendar Preference Data](#Calendar_Preference_Data)
59  * 4.3 [Week Data](#Week_Data)
60    * Table: [Week Designation Types](#Week_Designation_Types)
61  * 4.4 [Time Data](#Time_Data)
62  * 4.5 [Day Period Rule Sets](#Day_Period_Rule_Sets)
63    * 4.5.1 [Day Period Rules](#Day_Period_Rules)
64      * 4.5.1.1 [Fixed periods](#Fixed_periods)
65      * 4.5.1.2 [Variable periods](#Variable_periods)
66      * 4.5.1.3 [Parsing Day Periods](#Parsing_Day_Periods)
67* 5 [Time Zone Names](#Time_Zone_Names)
68  * Table: [timeZoneNames Elements Used for Fallback](#timeZoneNames_Elements_Used_for_Fallback)
69  * 5.1 [Metazone Names](#Metazone_Names)
70* 6 [Supplemental Time Zone Data](#Supplemental_Time_Zone_Data)
71  * 6.1 [Metazones](#Metazones)
72  * 6.2 [Windows Zones](#Windows_Zones)
73  * 6.3 [Primary Zones](#Primary_Zones)
74* 7 [Using Time Zone Names](#Using_Time_Zone_Names)
75  * 7.1 [Time Zone Format Terminology](#Time_Zone_Format_Terminology)
76  * 7.2 [Goals](#Time_Zone_Goals)
77  * 7.3 [Parsing](#Time_Zone_Parsing)
78* 8 [Date Format Patterns](#Date_Format_Patterns)
79  * Table: [Date Format Pattern Examples](#Date_Format_Pattern_Examples)
80  * Table: [Date Field Symbol Table](#Date_Field_Symbol_Table)
81  * 8.1 [Localized Pattern Characters (deprecated)](#Localized_Pattern_Characters)
82  * 8.2 [AM / PM](#Date_Patterns_AM_PM)
83  * 8.3 [Eras](#Date_Patterns_Eras)
84  * 8.4 [Week of Year](#Date_Patterns_Week_Of_Year)
85  * 8.5 [Week Elements](#Date_Patterns_Week_Elements)
86* 9 [Parsing Dates and Times](#Parsing_Dates_Times)
87
88## 1 <a name="Overview_Dates_Element_Supplemental" href="#Overview_Dates_Element_Supplemental">Overview: Dates Element, Supplemental Date and Calendar Information</a>
89
90```xml
91<!ELEMENT dates (alias | (calendars?, fields?, timeZoneNames?, special*)) >
92```
93
94The LDML top-level `<dates>` element contains information regarding the format and parsing of dates and times, the formatting of date/time intervals, and the naming of various calendar elements.
95
96*   The `<calendars>` element is described in section 2 [Calendar Elements](#Calendar_Elements).
97*   The `<fields>` element is described in section 3 [Calendar Fields](#Calendar_Fields).
98*   The `<timeZoneNames>` element is described in section 5 [Time Zone Names](#Time_Zone_Names).
99*   The formats use pattern characters described in section 8 [Date Format Patterns](#Date_Format_Patterns).
100
101```xml
102<!ELEMENT supplementalData ( …, calendarData?, calendarPreferenceData?, weekData?, timeData?, …, timezoneData?, …, metazoneInfo?, …, dayPeriodRuleSet*, metaZones?, primaryZones?, windowsZones?, …) >
103```
104
105The relevant top-level supplemental elements are listed above.
106
107*   The `<calendarData>`, `<calendarPreferenceData>`, `<weekData>`, `<timeData>`, and `<dayPeriodRuleSet>` elements are described in section 4 [Supplemental Calendar Data](#Supplemental_Calendar_Data).
108*   The `<timezoneData>` element is deprecated and no longer used; the `<metazoneInfo>` element is deprecated at this level, and is now only used as a sub-element of `<metaZones>`.
109*   The `<metaZones>`, `<primaryZones>`, and `<windowsZones>` elements are described in section 6 [Supplemental Time Zone Data](#Supplemental_Time_Zone_Data).
110
111## 2 <a name="Calendar_Elements" href="#Calendar_Elements">Calendar Elements</a>
112
113```xml
114<!ELEMENT calendars (alias | (calendar*, special*)) >
115<!ELEMENT calendar (alias | (months?, monthPatterns?, days?, quarters?, dayPeriods?, eras?, cyclicNameSets?, dateFormats?, timeFormats?, dateTimeFormats?, special*))>
116<!ATTLIST calendar type NMTOKEN #REQUIRED >
117```
118
119The `<calendars>` element contains multiple `<calendar>` elements, each of which specifies the fields used for formatting and parsing dates and times according to the calendar specified by the `type` attribute (e.g. "gregorian", "buddhist", "islamic"). The behaviors for different calendars in a locale may share certain aspects, such as the names for weekdays. They differ in other respects; for example, the Japanese calendar is similar to the Gregorian calendar but has many more eras (one for each Emperor), and years are numbered within each era. All calendar data inherits either from the Gregorian calendar or other calendars in the same locale (and if not present there then from the parent up to root), or else inherits directly from the parent locale for certain calendars, so only data that differs from what would be inherited needs to be supplied. See _[Multiple Inheritance](tr35.md#Multiple_Inheritance)_.
120
121Each calendar provides—directly or indirectly—two general types of data:
122
123*   _Calendar symbols, such as names for eras, months, weekdays, and dayPeriods._ Names for weekdays, quarters and dayPeriods are typically inherited from the Gregorian calendar data in the same locale. Symbols for eras and months should be provided for each calendar, except that the "Gregorian-like" Buddhist, Japanese, and Minguo (ROC) calendars also inherit their month names from the Gregorian data in the same locale.
124*   _Format data for dates, times, and date-time intervals._ Non-Gregorian calendars inherit standard time formats (in the `<timeFormats>` element) from the Gregorian calendar in the same locale. Most non-Gregorian calendars (other than Chinese and Dangi) inherit general date format data (in the `<dateFormats>` and `<dateTimeFormats>` elements) from the "generic" calendar format data in the same locale, which in turn inherits from Gregorian.
125
126Calendars that use cyclicNameSets and monthPatterns (such as Chinese and Dangi) have additional symbols and distinct formats, and typically inherit these items (along with month names) from their parent locales, instead of inheriting them from Gregorian or generic data in the same locale.
127
128The primary difference between Gregorian and "generic" format data is that date formats in "generic" usually include era with year, in order to provide an indication of which calendar is being used (Gregorian calendar formats may also commonly include era with year when Gregorian is not the default calendar for the locale). Otherwise, the "generic" date formats should normally be consistent with those in the Gregorian calendar. The "generic" calendar formats are intended to provide a consistent set of default formats for non-Gregorian calendars in the locale, so that in most cases the only data items that need be provided for non-Gregorian calendars are the era names and month names (and the latter only for calendars other than Buddhist, Japanese, and Minguo, since those inherit month names from Gregorian).
129
130### 2.1 <a name="months_days_quarters_eras" href="#months_days_quarters_eras">Elements months, days, quarters, eras</a>
131
132```xml
133<!ELEMENT months ( alias | (monthContext*, special*)) >
134<!ELEMENT monthContext ( alias | (default*, monthWidth*, special*)) >
135<!ATTLIST monthContext type ( format | stand-alone ) #REQUIRED >
136<!ELEMENT monthWidth ( alias | (month*, special*)) >
137<!ATTLIST monthWidth type ( abbreviated| narrow | wide) #REQUIRED >
138<!ELEMENT month ( #PCDATA )* >
139<!ATTLIST month type ( 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 ) #REQUIRED >
140<!ATTLIST month yeartype ( standard | leap ) #IMPLIED >
141
142<!ELEMENT days ( alias | (dayContext*, special*)) >
143<!ELEMENT dayContext ( alias | (default*, dayWidth*, special*)) >
144<!ATTLIST dayContext type ( format | stand-alone ) #REQUIRED >
145<!ELEMENT dayWidth ( alias | (day*, special*)) >
146<!ATTLIST dayWidth type NMTOKEN #REQUIRED >
147<!ELEMENT day ( #PCDATA ) >
148<!ATTLIST day type ( sun | mon | tue | wed | thu | fri | sat ) #REQUIRED >
149
150<!ELEMENT quarters ( alias | (quarterContext*, special*)) >
151<!ELEMENT quarterContext ( alias | (default*, quarterWidth*, special*)) >
152<!ATTLIST quarterContext type ( format | stand-alone ) #REQUIRED >
153<!ELEMENT quarterWidth ( alias | (quarter*, special*)) >
154<!ATTLIST quarterWidth type NMTOKEN #REQUIRED >
155<!ELEMENT quarter ( #PCDATA ) >
156<!ATTLIST quarter type ( 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ) #REQUIRED >
157
158<!ELEMENT eras (alias | (eraNames?, eraAbbr?, eraNarrow?, special*)) >
159<!ELEMENT eraNames ( alias | (era*, special*) ) >
160<!ELEMENT eraAbbr ( alias | (era*, special*) ) >
161<!ELEMENT eraNarrow ( alias | (era*, special*) ) >
162```
163
164The month and quarter names are identified numerically, starting at 1. The weekday names are identified with short strings, since there is no universally-accepted numeric designation.
165
166Month, day, and quarter names may vary along two axes: the width and the context.
167
168The context is either _format_ (the default), the form used within a complete date format string (such as "Saturday, November 12"), or _stand-alone_, the form for date elements used independently, such as in calendar headers. The _stand-alone_ form may be used in any other date format that shares the same form of the name. For month names, this is typically the nominative grammatical form, and might also be used in patterns such as "LLLL y" (month name + year). The _format_ form is an additional form that can be used in contexts where it is different than the stand-alone form. For example, in many languages, patterns that combine month name with day-of-month (and possibly other elements) may require the month name to be in a grammatical form such as genitive or partitive.
169* In past versions of CLDR, the distinction between format and stand-alone forms was used to control capitalization (with stand-alone forms using titlecase); however, this can be controlled separately and more precisely using the `<contextTransforms>` element as described in _[ContextTransform Elements](tr35-general.md#Context_Transform_Elements)_, so both format and stand-alone forms should generally use middle-of-sentence capitalization.
170* However, if in a given language, certain context/width combinations are always used in a titlecase form — for example, stand-alone narrow forms for months or weekdays — then these should be provided in that form.
171* The distinctions between stand-alone (e.g. LLLL) and format (e.g. MMMM) forms are only relevant for how date elements are used within a date format. They are not intended to reflect how a date format is used within a sentence. For example, they are not intended to be used to generate the dative form of a date format when that format is used after a preposition that takes dative form.
172
173The width can be _wide_ (the default), _abbreviated_, or _narrow_; for days only, the width can also be _short,_ which is ideally between the abbreviated and narrow widths, but must be no longer than abbreviated and no shorter than narrow (if short day names are not explicitly specified, abbreviated day names are used instead). Note that for `<monthPattern>`, described in the next section:
174
175*   There is an additional context type _numeric_
176*   When the context type is numeric, the width has a special type _all_
177
178The format values must be distinct for the wide, abbreviated, and short widths. However, values for the narrow width in either format or stand-alone contexts, as well as values for other widths in stand-alone contexts, need not be distinct; they might only be distinguished by context. For example, "S" may be used both for Saturday and for Sunday. The narrow width is typically used in calendar headers; it must be the shortest possible width, no more than one character (or grapheme cluster, or exemplar set element) in stand-alone values (not including punctuation), and the shortest possible widths (in terms of grapheme clusters) in format values. The short width (if present) is often the shortest unambiguous form.
179
180Era names should be distinct within each of the widths, including narrow; there is less disambiguating information for them, and they are more likely to be used in a format that requires parsing.
181
182Due to aliases in root, the forms inherit "sideways". (See _[Multiple Inheritance](tr35.md#Multiple_Inheritance)_.) For example, if the abbreviated format data for Gregorian does not exist in a language X (in the chain up to root), then it inherits from the wide format data in that same language X.
183
184```xml
185<monthContext type="format">
186    <monthWidth type="abbreviated">
187        <alias source="locale" path="../monthWidth[@type='wide']"/>
188    </monthWidth>
189    <monthWidth type="narrow">
190        <alias source="locale" path="../../monthContext[@type='stand-alone']/monthWidth[@type='narrow']"/>
191    </monthWidth>
192    <monthWidth type="wide">
193        <month type="1">1</month>
194        ...
195        <month type="12">12</month>
196    </monthWidth>
197</monthContext>
198<monthContext type="stand-alone">
199    <monthWidth type="abbreviated">
200        <alias source="locale" path="../../monthContext[@type='format']/monthWidth[@type='abbreviated']"/>
201    </monthWidth>
202    <monthWidth type="narrow">
203        <month type="1">1</month>
204        ...
205        <month type="12">12</month>
206    </monthWidth>
207    <monthWidth type="wide">
208        <alias source="locale" path="../../monthContext[@type='format']/monthWidth[@type='wide']"/>
209    </monthWidth>
210</monthContext>
211```
212
213The `yeartype` attribute for months is used to distinguish alternate month names that would be displayed for certain calendars during leap years. The practical example of this usage occurs in the Hebrew calendar, where the 7th month "Adar" occurs in non-leap years, with the 6th month being skipped, but in leap years there are two months named "Adar I" and "Adar II". There are currently only two defined year types, standard (the implied default) and leap.
214
215For `era` elements, an additional `alt="variant"` form may be supplied. This is primarily intended for use in the "gregorian" calendar, with which two parallel sets of era designations are used in some locales: one set with a religious reference (e.g. English BC/AD), and one set without (e.g. English BCE/CE). The most commonly-used set for the locale should be provided as the default, and the other set may be provided as the `alt="variant"` forms. See the example below.
216
217Example:
218
219```xml
220<calendar type="gregorian">
221    <months>
222        <monthContext type="format">
223            <monthWidth type="wide">
224                <month type="1">January</month>
225                <month type="2">February</month>
226                ...
227                <month type="11">November</month>
228                <month type="12">December</month>
229            </monthWidth>
230            <monthWidth type="abbreviated">
231                <month type="1">Jan</month>
232                <month type="2">Feb</month>
233                ...
234                <month type="11">Nov</month>
235                <month type="12">Dec</month>
236            </monthWidth>
237        </monthContext>
238        <monthContext type="stand-alone">
239            <default type="wide"/>
240            <monthWidth type="wide">
241                <month type="1">Januaria</month>
242                <month type="2">Februaria</month>
243                ...
244                <month type="11">Novembria</month>
245                <month type="12">Decembria</month>
246            </monthWidth>
247            <monthWidth type="narrow">
248                <month type="1">J</month>
249                <month type="2">F</month>
250                ...
251                <month type="11">N</month>
252                <month type="12">D</month>
253            </monthWidth>
254        </monthContext>
255    </months>
256
257    <days>
258        <dayContext type="format">
259            <dayWidth type="wide">
260                <day type="sun">Sunday</day>
261                <day type="mon">Monday</day>
262                ...
263                <day type="fri">Friday</day>
264                <day type="sat">Saturday</day>
265            </dayWidth>
266            <dayWidth type="abbreviated">
267                <day type="sun">Sun</day>
268                <day type="mon">Mon</day>
269                ...
270                <day type="fri">Fri</day>
271                <day type="sat">Sat</day>
272            </dayWidth>
273            <dayWidth type="narrow">
274                <day type="sun">Su</day>
275                <day type="mon">M</day>
276                ...
277                <day type="fri">F</day>
278                <day type="sat">Sa</day>
279            </dayWidth>
280        </dayContext>
281        <dayContext type="stand-alone">
282            <dayWidth type="narrow">
283                <day type="sun">S</day>
284                <day type="mon">M</day>
285                ...
286                <day type="fri">F</day>
287                <day type="sat">S</day>
288            </dayWidth>
289        </dayContext>
290    </days>
291
292    <quarters>
293        <quarterContext type="format">
294            <quarterWidth type="abbreviated">
295                <quarter type="1">Q1</quarter>
296                <quarter type="2">Q2</quarter>
297                <quarter type="3">Q3</quarter>
298                <quarter type="4">Q4</quarter>
299            </quarterWidth>
300            <quarterWidth type="wide">
301                <quarter type="1">1st quarter</quarter>
302                <quarter type="2">2nd quarter</quarter>
303                <quarter type="3">3rd quarter</quarter>
304                <quarter type="4">4th quarter</quarter>
305            </quarterWidth>
306        </quarterContext>
307    </quarters>
308
309    <eras>
310        <eraAbbr>
311            <era type="0">BC</era>
312            <era type="0" alt="variant">BCE</era>
313            <era type="1">AD</era>
314            <era type="1" alt="variant">CE</era>
315        </eraAbbr>
316        <eraNames>
317            <era type="0">Before Christ</era>
318            <era type="0" alt="variant">Before Common Era</era>
319            <era type="1">Anno Domini</era>
320            <era type="1" alt="variant">Common Era</era>
321        </eraNames>
322        <eraNarrow>
323            <era type="0">B</era>
324            <era type="1">A</era>
325        </eraNarrow>
326    </eras>
327```
328
329### 2.2 <a name="monthPatterns_cyclicNameSets" href="#monthPatterns_cyclicNameSets">Elements monthPatterns, cyclicNameSets</a>
330
331```xml
332<!ELEMENT monthPatterns ( alias | (monthPatternContext*, special*)) >
333<!ELEMENT monthPatternContext ( alias | (monthPatternWidth*, special*)) >
334<!ATTLIST monthPatternContext type ( format | stand-alone | numeric ) #REQUIRED >
335<!ELEMENT monthPatternWidth ( alias | (monthPattern*, special*)) >
336<!ATTLIST monthPatternWidth type ( abbreviated| narrow | wide | all ) #REQUIRED >
337<!ELEMENT monthPattern ( #PCDATA ) >
338<!ATTLIST monthPattern type ( leap | standardAfterLeap | combined ) #REQUIRED >
339
340<!ELEMENT cyclicNameSets ( alias | (cyclicNameSet*, special*)) >
341<!ELEMENT cyclicNameSet ( alias | (cyclicNameContext*, special*)) >
342<!ATTLIST cyclicNameSet type ( years | months | days | dayParts | zodiacs | solarTerms ) #REQUIRED >
343<!ELEMENT cyclicNameContext ( alias | (cyclicNameWidth*, special*)) >
344<!ATTLIST cyclicNameContext type ( format | stand-alone ) #REQUIRED >
345<!ELEMENT cyclicNameWidth ( alias | (cyclicName*, special*)) >
346<!ATTLIST cyclicNameWidth type ( abbreviated | narrow | wide ) #REQUIRED >
347<!ELEMENT cyclicName ( #PCDATA ) >
348<!ATTLIST cyclicName type NMTOKEN #REQUIRED >
349```
350
351The Chinese lunar calendar can insert a leap month after nearly any month of its year; when this happens, the month takes the name of the preceding month plus a special marker. The Hindu lunar calendars can insert a leap month before any one or two months of the year; when this happens, not only does the leap month take the name of the following month plus a special marker, the following month also takes a special marker. Moreover, in the Hindu calendar sometimes a month is skipped, in which case the preceding month takes a special marker plus the names of both months. The `<monthPatterns>` element structure supports these special kinds of month names. It parallels the `<months>` element structure, with various contexts and widths, but with some differences:
352
353* Since the month markers may be applied to numeric months as well, there is an additional `monthPatternContext` type `numeric` for this case. When the numeric context is used, there is no need for different widths, so the `monthPatternWidth` type is `all` for this case.
354* The `<monthPattern>` element itself is a pattern showing how to create the modified month name from the standard month name(s). The three types of possible pattern are for `leap`, `standardAfterLeap`, and `combined`.
355* The `<monthPatterns>` element is not present for calendars that do not need it.
356
357The Chinese and Hindu lunar calendars also use a 60-name cycle for designating years. The Chinese lunar calendars can also use that cycle for months and days, and can use 12-name cycles for designating day subdivisions or zodiac names associated with years; a 24-name cycle of solar terms (12 pairs of minor and major terms) is used to mark intervals in the solar cycle. The `<cyclicNameSets>` element structure supports these special kinds of name cycles; a `cyclicNameSet` can be provided for types `year`, `month`, `day`, `dayParts`, or `zodiacs`. For each `cyclicNameSet`, there is a context and width structure similar to that for day names. For a given context and width, a set of `cyclicName` elements provides the actual names.
358
359Example:
360
361```xml
362    <monthPatterns>
363        <monthPatternContext type="format">
364            <monthPatternWidth type="wide">
365                <monthPattern type="leap">闰{0}</monthPattern>
366            </monthPatternWidth>
367        </monthPatternContext>
368        <monthPatternContext type="stand-alone">
369            <monthPatternWidth type="narrow">
370                <monthPattern type="leap">闰{0}</monthPattern>
371            </monthPatternWidth>
372        </monthPatternContext>
373        <monthPatternContext type="numeric">
374            <monthPatternWidth type="all">
375                <monthPattern type="leap">闰{0}</monthPattern>
376            </monthPatternWidth>
377        </monthPatternContext>
378    </monthPatterns>
379    <cyclicNameSets>
380        <cyclicNameSet type="years">
381            <cyclicNameContext type="format">
382                <cyclicNameWidth type="abbreviated">
383                    <cyclicName type="1">甲子</cyclicName>
384                    <cyclicName type="2">乙丑</cyclicName>
385                    ...
386                    <cyclicName type="59">壬戌</cyclicName>
387                    <cyclicName type="60">癸亥</cyclicName>
388                </cyclicNameWidth>
389            </cyclicNameContext>
390        </cyclicNameSet>
391        <cyclicNameSet type="zodiacs">
392            <cyclicNameContext type="format">
393                <cyclicNameWidth type="abbreviated">
394                    <cyclicName type="1">鼠</cyclicName>
395                    <cyclicName type="2">牛</cyclicName>
396                    ...
397                    <cyclicName type="11">狗</cyclicName>
398                    <cyclicName type="12">猪</cyclicName>
399                </cyclicNameWidth>
400            </cyclicNameContext>
401        </cyclicNameSet>
402        <cyclicNameSet type="solarTerms">
403            <cyclicNameContext type="format">
404                <cyclicNameWidth type="abbreviated">
405                    <cyclicName type="1">立春</cyclicName>
406                    <cyclicName type="2">雨水</cyclicName>
407                    ...
408                    <cyclicName type="23">小寒</cyclicName>
409                    <cyclicName type="24">大寒</cyclicName>
410                </cyclicNameWidth>
411            </cyclicNameContext>
412        </cyclicNameSet>
413    </cyclicNameSets>
414```
415
416### 2.3 <a name="dayPeriods" href="#dayPeriods">Element dayPeriods</a>
417
418The former `am`/`pm` elements have been deprecated, and replaced by the more flexible `dayPeriods`.
419
420```xml
421<!ELEMENT dayPeriods ( alias | (dayPeriodContext*) ) >
422
423<!ELEMENT dayPeriodContext (alias | dayPeriodWidth*) >
424<!ATTLIST dayPeriodContext type NMTOKEN #REQUIRED >
425
426<!ELEMENT dayPeriodWidth (alias | dayPeriod*) >
427<!ATTLIST dayPeriodWidth type NMTOKEN #REQUIRED >
428
429<!ELEMENT dayPeriod ( #PCDATA ) >
430<!ATTLIST dayPeriod type NMTOKEN #REQUIRED >
431```
432
433These behave like months, days, and so on in terms of having context and width. Each locale has an associated dayPeriodRuleSet in the supplemental data, rules that specify when the day periods start and end for that locale. Each type in the rules needs to have a translation in a dayPeriod (but if translation data is missing for a particular variable dayPeriod in the locale’s language and script, formatting should fall back to using the am/pm values). For more information, see _[Day Period Rules](#Day_Period_Rules)_.
434
435The dayPeriod names should be distinct within each of the context/width combinations, including narrow; as with era names, there is less disambiguating information for them, and they are more likely to be used in a format that requires parsing. In some unambiguous cases, it is acceptable for certain overlapping dayPeriods to be the same, such as the names for "am" and "morning", or the names for "pm" and "afternoon".
436
437Example:
438
439```xml
440    <dayPeriods>
441        <dayPeriodContext type="format">
442            <dayPeriodWidth type="wide">
443                <dayPeriod type="am">AM</dayPeriod>
444                <dayPeriod type="noon">noon</dayPeriod>
445                <dayPeriod type="pm">PM</dayPeriod>
446            </dayPeriodWidth>
447        </dayPeriodContext>
448    </dayPeriods>
449```
450
451### 2.4 <a name="dateFormats" href="#dateFormats">Element dateFormats</a>
452
453```xml
454<!ELEMENT dateFormats (alias | (default*, dateFormatLength*, special*)) >
455<!ELEMENT dateFormatLength (alias | (default*, dateFormat*, special*)) >
456<!ATTLIST dateFormatLength type ( full | long | medium | short ) #REQUIRED >
457<!ELEMENT dateFormat (alias | (pattern*, datetimeSkeleton*, displayName*, special*)) >
458<!ELEMENT pattern ( #PCDATA ) >
459<!ATTLIST pattern numbers CDATA #IMPLIED >
460<!ATTLIST pattern alt NMTOKENS #IMPLIED >
461<!ATTLIST pattern draft (approved | contributed | provisional | unconfirmed) #IMPLIED >
462<!ELEMENT datetimeSkeleton ( #PCDATA ) >
463<!ATTLIST datetimeSkeleton numbers CDATA #IMPLIED >
464<!ATTLIST datetimeSkeleton alt NMTOKENS #IMPLIED >
465<!ATTLIST datetimeSkeleton draft (approved | contributed | provisional | unconfirmed) #IMPLIED >
466```
467
468Standard date formats have the following form:
469
470```xml
471    <dateFormats>
472        <dateFormatLength type="full">
473            <dateFormat>
474                <pattern>EEEE, MMMM d, y</pattern>
475                <datetimeSkeleton>yMMMMEEEEd</datetimeSkeleton>
476            </dateFormat>
477        </dateFormatLength>
478        ...
479        <dateFormatLength type="medium">
480            <dateFormat>
481                <pattern>MMM d, y</pattern>
482                <datetimeSkeleton>yMMMd</datetimeSkeleton>
483            </dateFormat>
484        </dateFormatLength>
485        ...
486    <dateFormats>
487
488    <dateFormats>
489        ...
490        <dateFormatLength type="medium">
491            <dateFormat>
492                <pattern numbers="hebr">d בMMMM y</pattern>
493                <datetimeSkeleton numbers="hebr">yMMMMd</datetimeSkeleton>
494            </dateFormat>
495        </dateFormatLength>
496        ...
497    <dateFormats>
498
499    <dateFormats>
500        ...
501        <dateFormatLength type="long">
502            <dateFormat>
503                <pattern numbers="d=hanidays">rU年MMMMd</pattern>
504                <datetimeSkeleton numbers="d=hanidays">rMMMMd</datetimeSkeleton>
505            </dateFormat>
506        </dateFormatLength>
507        ...
508```
509
510The patterns for date formats and time formats are defined in _[Date Format Patterns](#Date_Format_Patterns)._ These patterns are intended primarily for display of isolated date and time strings in user-interface elements, rather than for date and time strings in the middle of running text, so capitalization and grammatical form should be chosen appropriately.
511
512Standard date and time patterns are each normally provided in four types: full (usually with weekday name), long (with wide month name), medium, and short (usually with numeric month).
513
514The `numbers` attribute can be used to explicitly specify a number system to be used for all of the numeric fields in the date format (as in `numbers="hebr"`), or for a specific field in the date format (as in `numbers="d=hanidays"`). This attribute overrides any default numbering system specified for the locale.
515
516The `datetimeSkeleton` element contains a _skeleton_ (see [availableFormats](#availableFormats_appendItems)) derived from the pattern. In the future the intent is to be able to generate the standard patterns from these `datetimeSkeleton` elements. However, in CLDR 40, the mechanisms associated with the `availableFormats` elements are not quite powerful enough to generate patterns that exactly match all of the ones provided in the `pattern` elements.
517
518### 2.5 <a name="timeFormats" href="#timeFormats">Element timeFormats</a>
519
520```xml
521<!ELEMENT timeFormats (alias | (default*, timeFormatLength*, special*)) >
522<!ELEMENT timeFormatLength (alias | (default*, timeFormat*, special*)) >
523<!ATTLIST timeFormatLength type ( full | long | medium | short ) #REQUIRED >
524<!ELEMENT timeFormat (alias | (pattern*, datetimeSkeleton*, displayName*, special*)) >
525```
526Standard time formats have the following form:
527
528```xml
529    <timeFormats>
530        <timeFormatLength type="full">
531            <timeFormat>
532                <displayName>DIN 5008 (EN 28601)</displayName>
533                <pattern>h:mm:ss a z</pattern>
534                <datetimeSkeleton>ahmmssz</datetimeSkeleton>
535            </timeFormat>
536        </timeFormatLength>
537        <timeFormatLength type="medium">
538            <timeFormat>
539                <pattern>h:mm:ss a</pattern>
540                <datetimeSkeleton>ahmmss</datetimeSkeleton>
541            </timeFormat>
542        </timeFormatLength>
543    </timeFormats>
544```
545
546The preference of 12 hour versus 24 hour for the locale can be derived from the [Time Data](#Time_Data). If the preferred hour symbol is 'h' or 'K' then the format is 12 hour; otherwise it is 24 hour. Formats with 'h' or 'K' must also include a field with one of the day period pattern characters: 'a', 'b', or 'B'.
547
548To account for customary usage in some countries, APIs should allow for formatting times that go beyond 23:59:59. For example, in some countries it would be customary to indicate that opening hours extending from _Friday at 7pm_ to _Saturday at 2am_ in a format like the following:
549
550Friday: 19:00 – 26:00
551
552Time formats use the specific non-location format (z or zzzz) for the time zone name. This is the format that should be used when formatting a specific time for presentation. When formatting a time referring to a recurring time (such as a meeting in a calendar), applications should substitute the generic non-location format (v or vvvv) for the time zone in the time format pattern. See _[Using Time Zone Names](#Using_Time_Zone_Names)_ for a complete description of available time zone formats and their uses.
553
554### 2.6 <a name="dateTimeFormats" href="#dateTimeFormats">Element dateTimeFormats</a>
555
556```xml
557<!ELEMENT dateTimeFormats (alias | (default*, dateTimeFormatLength*, availableFormats*, appendItems*, intervalFormats*, special*)) >
558```
559
560Date/Time formats have the following form:
561```xml
562    <dateTimeFormats>
563        <dateTimeFormatLength type="full">
564            <dateTimeFormat>
565                <pattern>{1}, {0}</pattern>
566            </dateTimeFormat>
567            <dateTimeFormat type="atTime">
568                <pattern>{1} 'at' {0}</pattern>
569            </dateTimeFormat>
570        </dateTimeFormatLength>
571        <dateTimeFormatLength type="long">
572            <dateTimeFormat>
573                <pattern>{1}, {0}</pattern>
574            </dateTimeFormat>
575            <dateTimeFormat type="atTime">
576                <pattern>{1} 'at' {0}</pattern>
577            </dateTimeFormat>
578        </dateTimeFormatLength>
579        <dateTimeFormatLength type="medium">
580            <dateTimeFormat>
581                <pattern>{1}, {0}</pattern>
582            </dateTimeFormat>
583        </dateTimeFormatLength>
584        <dateTimeFormatLength type="short">
585            <dateTimeFormat>
586                <pattern>{1}, {0}</pattern>
587            </dateTimeFormat>
588        </dateTimeFormatLength>
589        <availableFormats>
590            <dateFormatItem id="Hm">HH:mm</dateFormatItem>
591            <dateFormatItem id="Hms">HH:mm:ss</dateFormatItem>
592            <dateFormatItem id="M">L</dateFormatItem>
593            <dateFormatItem id="MEd">E, M/d</dateFormatItem>
594            <dateFormatItem id="MMM">LLL</dateFormatItem>
595            <dateFormatItem id="MMMEd">E, MMM d</dateFormatItem>
596            <dateFormatItem id="MMMMEd">E, MMMM d</dateFormatItem>
597            <dateFormatItem id="MMMMd">MMMM d</dateFormatItem>
598            <dateFormatItem id="MMMd">MMM d</dateFormatItem>
599            <dateFormatItem id="Md">M/d</dateFormatItem>
600            <dateFormatItem id="d">d</dateFormatItem>
601            <dateFormatItem id="hm">h:mm a</dateFormatItem>
602            <dateFormatItem id="ms">mm:ss</dateFormatItem>
603            <dateFormatItem id="y">yyyy</dateFormatItem>
604            <dateFormatItem id="yM">M/yyyy</dateFormatItem>
605            <dateFormatItem id="yMEd">EEE, M/d/yyyy</dateFormatItem>
606            <dateFormatItem id="yMMM">MMM yyyy</dateFormatItem>
607            <dateFormatItem id="yMMMEd">EEE, MMM d, yyyy</dateFormatItem>
608            <dateFormatItem id="yMMMM">MMMM yyyy</dateFormatItem>
609            <dateFormatItem id="yQ">Q yyyy</dateFormatItem>
610            <dateFormatItem id="yQQQ">QQQ yyyy</dateFormatItem>
611            . . .
612        </availableFormats>
613        <appendItems>
614            <appendItem request="Day">{0} ({2}: {1})</appendItem>
615            <appendItem request="Day-Of-Week">{0} {1}</appendItem>
616            <appendItem request="Era">{0} {1}</appendItem>
617            <appendItem request="Hour">{0} ({2}: {1})</appendItem>
618            . . .
619        </appendItems>
620    </dateTimeFormats>
621
622</calendar>
623
624<calendar type="buddhist">
625    <eras>
626        <eraAbbr>
627            <era type="0">BE</era>
628        </eraAbbr>
629    </eras>
630</calendar>
631```
632
633These formats allow for date and time formats to be composed in various ways.
634
635#### 2.6.1 <a name="dateTimeFormat" href="#dateTimeFormat">Element dateTimeFormat</a>
636
637```xml
638<!ELEMENT dateTimeFormatLength (alias | (default*, dateTimeFormat*, special*))>
639<!ATTLIST dateTimeFormatLength type ( full | long | medium | short ) #IMPLIED >
640<!ELEMENT dateTimeFormat (alias | (pattern*, displayName*, special*))>
641<!ATTLIST dateTimeFormat type NMTOKEN "standard" >
642    <!--@MATCH:literal/standard, atTime-->
643```
644
645The `dateTimeFormat` element works like the dateFormats and timeFormats, except that the pattern is of the form "{1} {0}", where {0} is replaced by the time format, and {1} is replaced by the date format, with results such as "8/27/06 7:31 AM". Except for the substitution markers {0} and {1}, text in the dateTimeFormat is interpreted as part of a date/time pattern, and is subject to the same rules described in [Date Format Patterns](#Date_Format_Patterns). This includes the need to enclose ASCII letters in single quotes if they are intended to represent literal text.
646
647When combining a standard date pattern with a standard time pattern, start with the `dateTimeFormatLength` whose `type` matches the type of the *date* pattern, and then use one of the `dateTimeFormat`s for that `dateTimeFormatLength` (as described after the following table). For example:
648
649###### Table: <a name="Date_Time_Combination_Examples" href="#Date_Time_Combination_Examples">Date-Time Combination Examples</a>
650
651| Date-Time Combination   | dateTimeFormat            | Results |
652| ----------------------- | ------------------------- | ------- |
653| full date + short time  | full, e.g. "{1} 'at' {0}" | Wednesday, September 18, 2013 at 4:30 PM |
654| medium date + long time | medium, e.g. "{1}, {0}"   | Sep 18, 2013, 4:30:00 PM PDT |
655
656For each `dateTimeFormatLength`, there is a standard `dateTimeFormat`. In addition to the placeholders {0} and {1}, this should not have characters other than space and punctuation; it should impose no grammatical context that might require specific grammatical forms for the date and/or time. For English, this might be “{1}, {0}”.
657
658In addition, especially for the full and long `dateTimeFormatLength`s, there may be a `dateTimeFormat` with `type="atTime"`. This is used to indicate an event at a specific time, and may impose specific grammatical requirements on the formats for date and/or time. For English, this might be “{1} 'at' {0}”.
659
660The default guidelines for choosing which `dateTimeFormat` to use for a given `dateTimeFormatLength` are as follows:
661* If an interval is being formatted, use the standard combining pattern to produce e.g. “March 15, 3:00 – 5:00 PM” or “March 15, 9:00 AM – March 16, 5:00 PM”.
662* If a single date or relative date is being combined with a single time, by default use the atTime pattern (if available) to produce an event time: “March 15 at 3:00 PM” or “tomorrow at 3:00 PM”.  However, at least in the case of combining a single date and time, APIs should also offer a “current time” option of using the standard combining pattern to produce a format more suitable for indicating  the current time: “March 15, 3:00 PM”.
663* For all other uses of these patterns, use the standard pattern.
664
665#### 2.6.2 <a name="availableFormats_appendItems" href="#availableFormats_appendItems">Elements availableFormats, appendItems</a>
666
667```xml
668<!ELEMENT availableFormats (alias | (dateFormatItem*, special*))>
669<!ELEMENT dateFormatItem ( #PCDATA ) >
670<!ATTLIST dateFormatItem id CDATA #REQUIRED >
671```
672
673The `availableFormats` element and its subelements provide a more flexible formatting mechanism than the predefined list of patterns represented by dateFormatLength, timeFormatLength, and dateTimeFormatLength. Instead, there is an open-ended list of patterns (represented by `dateFormatItem` elements as well as the predefined patterns mentioned above) that can be matched against a requested set of calendar fields and field lengths. Software can look through the list and find the pattern that best matches the original request, based on the desired calendar fields and lengths. For example, the full month and year may be needed for a calendar application; the request is MMMMyyyy, but the best match may be "y MMMM" or even "G yy MMMM", depending on the locale and calendar.
674
675For some calendars, such as Japanese, a displayed year must have an associated era, so for these calendars dateFormatItem patterns with a year field should also include an era field. When matching availableFormats patterns: If a client requests a format string containing a year, and all the availableFormats patterns with a year also contain an era, then include the era as part of the result.
676
677The `id` attribute is a so-called "skeleton", containing only field information, and in a canonical order. Examples are "yMMMM" for year + full month, or "MMMd" for abbreviated month + day. In particular:
678
679* The fields are from the [Date Field Symbol Table](#Date_Field_Symbol_Table) in _[Date Format Patterns](#Date_Format_Patterns)_.
680* The canonical order is from top to bottom in that table; that is, "yM" not "My".
681* Only one field of each type is allowed; that is, "Hh" is not valid.
682
683In order to support user overrides of default locale behavior, data should be supplied for both 12-hour-cycle time formats (using h or K) and 24-hour-cycle time formats (using H or k), even if one of those styles is not commonly used; the locale's actual preference for 12-hour or 24-hour time cycle is determined from the [Time Data](#Time_Data) as described above in [timeFormats](#timeFormats). Thus skeletons using h or K should have patterns that only use h or K for hours, while skeletons using H or k should have patterns that only use H or k for hours.
684
685The rules governing use of day period pattern characters in patterns and skeletons are as follows:
686
687* Patterns and skeletons for 24-hour-cycle time formats (using H or k) currently _should not_ include fields with day period characters (a, b, or B); these pattern characters should be ignored if they appear in skeletons. However, in the future, CLDR may allow use of B (but not a or b) in 24-hour-cycle time formats.
688* Patterns for 12-hour-cycle time formats (using h or K) _must_ include a day period field using one of a, b, or B.
689* Skeletons for 12-hour-cycle time formats (using h or K) _may_ include a day period field using one of a, b, or B. If they do not, the skeleton will be treated as implicitly containing a.
690
691Locales should generally provide availableFormats data for a fairly complete set of time skeletons without B, typically the following:
692
693`H, h, Hm, hm, Hms, hms, Hmv, hmv, Hmsv, hmsv`
694
695Locales that use 12-hour-cycle time formats with B may provide availableFormats data for a smaller set of time skeletons with B, for example:
696
697`Bh, Bhm, Bhms`
698
699When matching a requested skeleton containing b or B to the skeletons actually available in the data, if there is no skeleton matching the specified day period field, then find a match in which the b or B matches an explicit or implicit 'a' in the skeleton, but replace the 'a' in the corresponding pattern with the requested day period b or B. The following table illustrates how requested skeletons map to patterns with different sets of `availableFormats` data:
700
701###### Table: <a name="Mapping_Requested_Time_Skeletons_To_Patterns" href="#Mapping_Requested_Time_Skeletons_To_Patterns">Mapping Requested Time Skeletons To Patterns</a>
702
703<!-- HTML: spanning columns, header cells on non-first row -->
704<table><tbody>
705<tr><th></th><th colspan="2">results for different availableFormats data sets</th></tr>
706<tr><th>requested skeleton</th>
707    <th>set 1:<br/>
708        ...id="H"&gt;H&lt;/date...<br/>
709        ...id="h"&gt;h a&lt;/date...</th>
710    <th>set 2:<br/>
711        ...id="H"&gt;H&lt;/date...<br/>
712        ...id="h"&gt;h a&lt;/date...<br/>
713        ...id="Bh"&gt;B h&lt;/date...</th></tr>
714<tr><td>"h" (or "ah")</td><td>"h a"</td><td>"h a"</td></tr><tr><td>"bh"</td><td>"h b"</td><td>"h b"</td></tr>
715<tr><td>"Bh"</td><td>"h B"</td><td>"B h"</td></tr><tr><td>"H" (or "aH", "bH", "BH")</td><td>"H"</td><td>"H"</td></tr>
716</tbody></table>
717
718The hour input skeleton symbols 'j', 'J', and 'C' can be used to select the best hour format (h, H, …) before processing, and the appropriate dayperiod format (a, b, B) after a successful match that contains an 'a' symbol.
719
720The dateFormatItems inherit from their parent locale, so the inherited items need to be considered when processing.
721
722##### 2.6.2.1 <a name="Matching_Skeletons" href="#Matching_Skeletons">Matching Skeletons</a>
723
724It is not necessary to supply `dateFormatItem`s with skeletons for every field length; fields in the skeleton and pattern are expected to be adjusted in parallel to handle a request.
725
726Typically a “best match” from requested skeleton to the `id` portion of a `dateFormatItem` is found using a closest distance match, such as:
727
7281. Skeleton symbols requesting a best choice for the locale are replaced.
729   * j → one of {H, k, h, K}; C → one of {a, b, B}
730
7312. For skeleton and `id` fields with symbols representing the same type (year, month, day, etc):
732   1. Most symbols have a small distance from each other.
733      * M ≅ L; E ≅ c; a ≅ b ≅ B; H ≅ k ≅ h ≅ K; ...
734   2. Width differences among fields, other than those marking text vs numeric, are given small distance from each other.
735      * MMM ≅ MMMM
736      * MM ≅ M
737   3. Numeric and text fields are given a larger distance from each other.
738      * MMM ≈ MM
739   4. Symbols representing substantial differences (week of year vs week of month) are given a much larger distance from each other.
740      * d ≋ D; ...
741
7423. A requested skeleton that includes both seconds and fractional seconds (e.g. “mmssSSS”) is allowed to match a dateFormatItem skeleton that includes seconds but not fractional seconds (e.g. “ms”). In this case the requested sequence of ‘S’ characters (or its length) should be retained separately and used when adjusting the pattern, as described below.
743
7444. Otherwise, missing or extra fields between requested skeleton and `id` cause a match to fail. (But see **[Missing Skeleton Fields](#Missing_Skeleton_Fields)** below.)
745
746Once a best match is found between requested skeleton and `dateFormatItem` `id`, the corresponding `dateFormatItem` pattern is used, but with adjustments primarily to make the pattern field lengths match the skeleton field lengths. However, the pattern field lengths should not be matched in some cases:
747
7481. When the best-match `dateFormatItem` has an alphabetic field (such as MMM or MMMM) that corresponds to a numeric field in the pattern (such as M or MM), that numeric field in the pattern should _not_ be adjusted to match the skeleton length, and vice versa; i.e. adjustments should _never_ convert a numeric element in the pattern to an alphabetic element, or the opposite. See the second set of examples below.
749
7502. When the pattern field corresponds to an availableFormats skeleton with a field length that matches the field length in the requested skeleton, the pattern field length should _not_ be adjusted. This permits locale data to override a requested field length; see the third example below.
751
7523. Pattern field lengths for hour, minute, and second should by default not be adjusted to match the requested field length (i.e. locale data takes priority). However APIs that map skeletons to patterns should provide the option to override this behavior for cases when a client really does want to force a specific pattern field length.
753
754---
755
756For an example of general behavior, consider the following `dateFormatItem`:
757
758```xml
759<dateFormatItem id="yMMMd">d MMM y</dateFormatItem>
760```
761
762If this is the best match for yMMMMd, the pattern is automatically expanded to produce a pattern "d MMMM y" in response to the request. Of course, if the desired behavior is that a request for yMMMMd should produce something _other_ than "d MMMM y", a separate `dateFormatItem` must be present, for example:
763
764```xml
765<dateFormatItem id="yMMMMd">d 'de' MMMM 'de' y</dateFormatItem>
766```
767
768---
769
770For an example of not converting a pattern fields between numeric and alphabetic (point 1 above), consider the following `dateFormatItem`:
771
772```xml
773<dateFormatItem id="yMMM">y年M月</dateFormatItem>
774```
775
776If this is the best match for a requested skeleton yMMMM, automatic expansion should not produce a corresponding pattern “y年MMMM月”; rather, since “y年M月” specifies a numeric month M, automatic expansion should not modify the pattern, and should produce “y年M月” as the match for requested skeleton yMMMM.
777
778---
779
780For an example of not converting a pattern field length if the corresponding skeleton field matches the requested field length (point 2 above), consider the following `dateFormatItem`:
781
782```xml
783<dateFormatItem id="MMMEd">E, d בMMMM</dateFormatItem>
784```
785
786For Hebrew calendar date formats in the Hebrew locale, only the full month names should be used, even if abbreviated months are requested. Hence the `dateFormatItem` maps a request for abbreviated months to a pattern with full months. The same `dateFormatItem` can be expanded to expanded to match a request for “MMMMEd” to the same pattern.
787
788---
789
790Finally: If the requested skeleton included both seconds and fractional seconds and the dateFormatItem skeleton included seconds but not fractional seconds, then the seconds field of the corresponding pattern should be adjusted by appending the locale’s decimal separator, followed by the sequence of ‘S’ characters from the requested skeleton.
791
792##### 2.6.2.2 <a name="Missing_Skeleton_Fields" href="#Missing_Skeleton_Fields">Missing Skeleton Fields</a>
793
794If a client-requested set of fields includes both date and time fields, and if the `availableFormats` data does not include a `dateFormatItem` whose skeleton matches the same set of fields, then the request should be handled as follows:
795
7961. Divide the request into a date fields part and a time fields part.
7972. For each part, find the matching `dateFormatItem`, and expand the pattern as above.
7983. Combine the patterns for the two `dateFormatItem`s using the appropriate dateTimeFormat pattern, determined as follows from the requested date fields:
799   * If the requested date fields include wide month (MMMM, LLLL) and weekday name of any length (e.g. E, EEEE, c, cccc), use `<dateTimeFormatLength type="full">`
800   * Otherwise, if the requested date fields include wide month, use `<dateTimeFormatLength type="long">`
801   * Otherwise, if the requested date fields include abbreviated month (MMM, LLL), use `<dateTimeFormatLength type="medium">`
802   * Otherwise use `<dateTimeFormatLength type="short">`
803
804```xml
805<!ELEMENT appendItems (alias | (appendItem*, special*))>
806<!ELEMENT appendItem ( #PCDATA ) >
807<!ATTLIST appendItem request CDATA >
808```
809
810In case the best match does not include all the requested calendar fields, the `appendItems` element describes how to append needed fields to one of the existing formats. Each `appendItem` element covers a single calendar field. In the pattern, {0} represents the format string, {1} the data content of the field, and {2} the display name of the field (see [Calendar Fields](#Calendar_Fields)).
811
812#### 2.6.3 <a name="intervalFormats" href="#intervalFormats">Element intervalFormats</a>
813
814```xml
815<!ELEMENT intervalFormats (alias | (intervalFormatFallback*, intervalFormatItem*, special*)) >
816
817<!ELEMENT intervalFormatFallback ( #PCDATA ) >
818
819<!ELEMENT intervalFormatItem (alias | (greatestDifference*, special*)) >
820<!ATTLIST intervalFormatItem id NMTOKEN #REQUIRED >
821
822<!ELEMENT greatestDifference ( #PCDATA ) >
823<!ATTLIST greatestDifference id NMTOKEN #REQUIRED >
824```
825
826Interval formats allow for software to format intervals like "Jan 10-12, 2008" as a shorter and more natural format than "Jan 10, 2008 - Jan 12, 2008". They are designed to take a "skeleton" pattern (like the one used in availableFormats) plus start and end datetime, and use that information to produce a localized format.
827
828The data supplied in CLDR requires the software to determine the calendar field with the greatest difference before using the format pattern. For example, the greatest difference in "Jan 10-12, 2008" is the day field, while the greatest difference in "Jan 10 - Feb 12, 2008" is the month field. This is used to pick the exact pattern.
829
830The pattern is then designed to be broken up into two pieces by determining the first repeating field. For example, "MMM d-d, y" would be broken up into "MMM d-" and "d, y". The two parts are formatted with the first and second datetime, as described in more detail below.
831
832For the purposes of determining a repeating field, standalone fields and format fields are considered equivalent. For example, given the pattern "LLL d - MMM d, Y", the repeating field would be "M" since standalone month field "L" is considered equivalent to format field "M" when determining the repeating field. Therefore the pattern would be broken up into "LLL d - " and "MMM d, Y".
833
834In case there is no matching pattern, the intervalFormatFallback defines the fallback pattern. The fallback pattern is of the form "{0} - {1}" or "{1} - {0}", where {0} is replaced by the start datetime, and {1} is replaced by the end datetime. The fallback pattern determines the default order of the interval pattern. "{0} - {1}" means the first part of the interval patterns in current local are formatted with the start datetime, while "{1} - {0}" means the first part of the interval patterns in current locale are formatted with the end datetime.
835
836The `id` attribute of intervalFormatItem is the "skeleton" pattern (like the one used in availableFormats) on which the format pattern is based. The `id` attribute of `greatestDifference` is the calendar field letter, for example 'M', which is the greatest difference between start and end datetime.
837
838The greatest difference defines a specific interval pattern of start and end datetime on a "skeleton" and a greatestDifference. As stated above, the interval pattern is designed to be broken up into two pieces. Each piece is similar to the pattern defined in date format. Also, each interval pattern could override the default order defined in fallback pattern. If an interval pattern starts with "latestFirst:", the first part of this particular interval pattern is formatted with the end datetime. If an interval pattern starts with "earliestFirst:", the first part of this particular interval pattern is formatted with the start datetime. Otherwise, the order is the same as the order defined in `intervalFormatFallback`.
839
840For example, the English rules that produce "Jan 10–12, 2008", "Jan 10 – Feb 12, 2008", and "Jan 10, 2008 – Feb. 12, 2009" are as follows:
841
842```xml
843<intervalFormatItem id="yMMMd">
844    <greatestDifference id="M">MMM d – MMM d, yyyy</greatestDifference>
845    <greatestDifference id="d">MMM d–d, yyyy</greatestDifference>
846    <greatestDifference id="y">MMM d, yyyy – MMM d, yyyy</greatestDifference>
847</intervalFormatItem>
848```
849
850To format a start and end datetime, given a particular "skeleton":
851
8521. Look for the `intervalFormatItem` element that matches the "skeleton", starting in the current locale and then following the locale fallback chain up to, but not including root (better results are obtained by following steps 2-6 below with locale- or language-specific data than by using matching intervalFormats from root).
8532. If no match was found from the previous step, check what the closest match is in the fallback locale chain, as in `availableFormats`. That is, this allows for adjusting the string value field's width, including adjusting between "MMM" and "MMMM", and using different variants of the same field, such as 'v' and 'z'.
8543. If no match was found from the previous steps and the skeleton combines date fields such as y,M,d with time fields such as H,h,m,s, then an `intervalFormatItem` can be synthesized as follows:
855   1. For `greatestDifference` values corresponding to the date fields in the skeleton, use the mechanisms described under [availableFormats](#availableFormats_appendItems) to generate the complete date-time pattern corresponding to the skeleton, and then combine two such patterns using the `intervalFormatFallback` pattern (the result will be the same for each `greatestDifference` of a day or longer). For example:
856      MMMdHm/d → "MMM d 'at' H:mm – MMM d 'at' H:mm" → "Jan 3 at 9:00 – Jan 6 at 11:00"
857   2. For `greatestDifference` values corresponding to the time fields in the skeleton, separate the skeleton into a date fields part and a time fields part. Use the mechanisms described under availableFormats to generate a date pattern corresponding to the date fields part. Use the time fields part to look up an `intervalFormatItem`. For each `greatestDifference` in the `intervalFormatItem`, generate a pattern by using the [dateTimeFormat](#dateTimeFormat) to combine the date pattern with the `intervalFormatItem`’s `greatestDifference` element value. For example:
858      MMMdHm/H → "MMM d 'at' H:mm – H:mm" → "Jan 3 at 9:00 – 11:00"
8594. If a match is found from previous steps, compute the calendar field with the greatest difference between start and end datetime. If there is no difference among any of the fields in the pattern, format as a single date using `availableFormats`, and return.
8605. Otherwise, look for `greatestDifference` element that matches this particular greatest difference.
8616. If there is a match, use the pieces of the corresponding pattern to format the start and end datetime, as above.
8627. Otherwise, format the start and end datetime using the fallback pattern.
863
864## 3 <a name="Calendar_Fields" href="#Calendar_Fields">Calendar Fields</a>
865
866```xml
867<!ELEMENT fields ( alias | (field*, special*)) >
868<!ELEMENT field ( alias | (displayName*, relative*, relativeTime*, relativePeriod*, special*)) >
869<!ATTLIST field type ( era | era-short | era-narrow | year | year-short | year-narrow | quarter | quarter-short | quarter-narrow | month | month-short | month-narrow | week | week-short | week-narrow | weekOfMonth | weekOfMonth-short | weekOfMonth-narrow | day | day-short | day-narrow | dayOfYear | dayOfYear-short | dayOfYear-narrow | weekday | weekday-short | weekday-narrow | weekdayOfMonth | weekdayOfMonth-short | weekdayOfMonth-narrow | sun | sun-short | sun-narrow | mon | mon-short | mon-narrow | tue | tue-short | tue-narrow | wed | wed-short | wed-narrow | thu | thu-short | thu-narrow | fri | fri-short | fri-narrow | sat | sat-short | sat-narrow | dayperiod | dayperiod-short | dayperiod-narrow | hour | hour-short | hour-narrow | minute | minute-short | minute-narrow | second | second-short | second-narrow | zone | zone-short | zone-narrow ) #IMPLIED >
870
871<!ELEMENT relative (#PCDATA) >
872<!ATTLIST relative type NMTOKEN #IMPLIED >
873
874<!ELEMENT relativeTime ( alias | (relativeTimePattern*, special*)) >
875<!ATTLIST relativeTime type NMTOKEN #REQUIRED >
876
877<!ELEMENT relativeTimePattern ( #PCDATA ) >
878<!ATTLIST relativeTimePattern count ( zero | one | two | few | many | other ) #REQUIRED >
879
880<!ELEMENT relativePeriod (#PCDATA) >
881```
882
883Translations may be supplied for names of calendar fields (elements of a calendar, such as Day, Month, Year, Hour, and so on), and for relative values for those fields (for example, the day with relative value -1 is "Yesterday"). There are four types of translations; some are only relevant or useful for certain types of fields:
884
885* `<displayName>` General display name for the field type. This should be relevant for all elements, including those like era and zone that might not have useful forms for the other name types. These are typically presented in titlecase (eg “Day”) since they are intended as labels in a UI.
886* `<relative>` Display names for the current instance of the field, and one or two past and future instances. In English, data is provided for year, quarter, month, week, day, specific days of the week (sun, mon, tue, …), and—with offset 0 only—for hour, minute, and second.
887* `<relativeTime>` Display names for an instance of the field that is a counted number of units in the past or the future relative to the current instance; this needs plural forms. In English, data is provided for year, quarter, month, week, day, specific days of the week, hour, minute, and second.
888* `<relativePeriod>` Pattern for designating an instance of the specified field in relation to some other date reference. This is currently only used for weeks, and provides a pattern such as “the week of {0}” which can be used to generate designations such as “the week of April 11, 2016” or “the week of April 11–15”.
889
890Where there is not a convenient, customary word or phrase in a particular language for a particular type of relative value, it should be omitted.
891
892Examples, first for English:
893
894```xml
895<fields>
896897    <field type="day">
898        <displayName>Day</displayName>
899        <relative type="-1">yesterday</relative>
900        <relative type="0">today</relative>
901        <relative type="1">tomorrow</relative>
902        <relativeTime type="future">
903            <relativeTimePattern count="one">in {0} day</relativeTimePattern>
904            <relativeTimePattern count="other">in {0} days</relativeTimePattern>
905        </relativeTime>
906        <relativeTime type="past">
907            <relativeTimePattern count="one">{0} day ago</relativeTimePattern>
908            <relativeTimePattern count="other">{0} days ago</relativeTimePattern>
909        </relativeTime>
910    </field>
911    <field type="weekday">
912        <displayName>Day of the Week</displayName>
913    </field>
914    <field type="sun">
915        <relative type="-1">last Sunday</relative>
916        <relative type="0">this Sunday</relative>
917        <relative type="1">next Sunday</relative>
918        <relativeTime type="future">
919            <relativeTimePattern count="one">in {0} Sunday</relativeTimePattern>
920            <relativeTimePattern count="other">in {0} Sundays</relativeTimePattern>
921        </relativeTime>
922        <relativeTime type="past">
923            <relativeTimePattern count="one">{0} Sunday ago</relativeTimePattern>
924            <relativeTimePattern count="other">{0} Sundays ago</relativeTimePattern>
925        </relativeTime>
926    </field>
927928    <field type="hour">
929        <displayName>Hour</displayName>
930        <relative type="0">now</relative>
931        <relativeTime type="future">
932            <relativeTimePattern count="one">in {0} hour</relativeTimePattern>
933            <relativeTimePattern count="other">in {0} hours</relativeTimePattern>
934        </relativeTime>
935        <relativeTime type="past">
936            <relativeTimePattern count="one">{0} hour ago</relativeTimePattern>
937            <relativeTimePattern count="other">{0} hours ago</relativeTimePattern>
938        </relativeTime>
939    </field>
940941</fields>
942
943```
944
945Second, for German; includes relative type="-2"/"2", present in the English example:
946
947```xml
948<fields>
949950    <field type="day">
951        <displayName>Tag</displayName>
952        <relative type="-2">Vorgestern</relative>
953        <relative type="-1">Gestern</relative>
954        <relative type="0">Heute</relative>
955        <relative type="1">Morgen</relative>
956        <relative type="2">Übermorgen</relative>
957        <relativeTime type="future">
958            <relativeTimePattern count="one">In {0} Tag</relativeTimePattern>
959            <relativeTimePattern count="other">In {0} Tagen</relativeTimePattern>
960        </relativeTime>
961        <relativeTime type="past">
962            <relativeTimePattern count="one">Vor {0} Tag</relativeTimePattern>
963            <relativeTimePattern count="other">Vor {0} Tagen</relativeTimePattern>
964        </relativeTime>
965    </field>
966967</fields>
968```
969
970A special name for “now” is indicated using `<relative type="0">` for the "second" field. For example, in English:
971
972```xml
973<field type="second">
974    <displayName>Second</displayName>
975    <relative type="0">now</relative>
976977</field>
978```
979
980Different widths can be supplied for certain fields, such as:
981
982```xml
983<field type="year-short">
984    <displayName>yr.</displayName>
985    <relative type="-1">last yr.</relative>
986    <relative type="0">this yr.</relative>
987    <relative type="1">next yr.</relative>
988    <relativeTime type="future">
989        <relativeTimePattern count="one">in {0} yr.</relativeTimePattern>
990        <relativeTimePattern count="other">in {0} yr.</relativeTimePattern>
991    </relativeTime>
992    <relativeTime type="past">
993        <relativeTimePattern count="one">{0} yr. ago</relativeTimePattern>
994        <relativeTimePattern count="other">{0} yr. ago</relativeTimePattern>
995    </relativeTime>
996</field>
997```
998
999As in other cases, **narrow** may be ambiguous out of context.
1000
1001## 4 <a name="Supplemental_Calendar_Data" href="#Supplemental_Calendar_Data">Supplemental Calendar Data</a>
1002
1003### 4.1 <a name="Calendar_Data" href="#Calendar_Data">Calendar Data</a>
1004
1005```xml
1006<!ELEMENT calendarData ( calendar* )>
1007<!ELEMENT calendar ( calendarSystem?, eras? )>
1008<!ATTLIST calendar type NMTOKENS #REQUIRED>
1009<!ATTLIST calendar territories NMTOKENS #IMPLIED > <!-- deprecated, replaced by calendarPreferenceData -->
1010
1011<!ELEMENT calendarSystem EMPTY>
1012<!ATTLIST calendarSystem type (solar | lunar | lunisolar | other) #REQUIRED>
1013
1014<!ELEMENT eras ( era* )>
1015
1016<!ELEMENT era EMPTY>
1017<!ATTLIST era type NMTOKENS #REQUIRED>
1018<!ATTLIST era start CDATA #IMPLIED>
1019<!ATTLIST era end CDATA #IMPLIED>
1020```
1021
1022The `<calendarData>` element now provides only locale-independent data about calendar behaviors via its `<calendar>` subelements, which for each calendar can specify the astronomical basis of the calendar (solar, lunar, etc.) and the date ranges for its eras.
1023
1024Era start or end dates are specified in terms of the equivalent proleptic Gregorian date (in "y-M-d" format). Eras may be open-ended, with unspecified start or end dates. For example, here are the eras for the Gregorian calendar:
1025
1026```xml
1027<era type="0" end="0" />
1028<era type="1" start="1" />
1029```
1030
1031For a sequence of eras with specified start dates, the end of each era need not be explicitly specified (it is assumed to match the start of the subsequent era). For example, here are the first few eras for the Japanese calendar:
1032
1033```xml
1034<era type="0" start="645-6-19" />
1035<era type="1" start="650-2-15" />
1036<era type="2" start="672-1-1" />
10371038```
1039
1040**Note:** The `territories` attribute in the `calendar` element is deprecated. It was formerly used to indicate calendar preference by territory, but this is now given by the _[Calendar Preference Data](#Calendar_Preference_Data)_ below.
1041
1042### 4.2 <a name="Calendar_Preference_Data" href="#Calendar_Preference_Data">Calendar Preference Data</a>
1043
1044```xml
1045<!ELEMENT calendarPreferenceData ( calendarPreference* ) >
1046<!ELEMENT calendarPreference EMPTY >
1047<!ATTLIST calendarPreference territories NMTOKENS #REQUIRED >
1048<!ATTLIST calendarPreference ordering NMTOKENS #REQUIRED >
1049```
1050
1051The `calendarPreference` element provides a list of commonly used calendar types in a territory. The `ordering` attribute indicates the list of calendar types in preferred order. The first calendar type in the list is the default calendar type for the territory. For example:
1052
1053```xml
1054<calendarPreference territories="001" ordering="gregorian"/>
1055<calendarPreference territories="JP" ordering="gregorian japanese"/>
1056<calendarPreference territories="TH" ordering="buddhist gregorian"/>
1057```
1058
1059The `calendarPreference` elements above indicate:
1060
1061* The default (for territory "001") is that only the Gregorian calendar is commonly used.
1062* For Japan, the Gregorian and Japanese calendars are both used, with Gregorian preferred (the default).
1063* For Thailand, the Buddhist and Gregorian calendars are both used, and Buddhist is preferred (the default).
1064
1065The calendars in common use for a locale should typically be shown in UIs that provide a choice of calendars. (An 'Other...' button could give access to the other available calendars.)
1066
1067### 4.3 <a name="Week_Data" href="#Week_Data">Week Data</a>
1068
1069```xml
1070<!ELEMENT weekData ( minDays*, firstDay*, weekendStart*, weekendEnd*, weekOfPreference* )>
1071
1072<!ELEMENT minDays EMPTY>
1073<!ATTLIST minDays count (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7) #REQUIRED>
1074<!ATTLIST minDays territories NMTOKENS #REQUIRED>
1075
1076<!ELEMENT firstDay EMPTY >
1077<!ATTLIST firstDay day (sun | mon | tue | wed | thu | fri | sat) #REQUIRED>
1078<!ATTLIST firstDay territories NMTOKENS #REQUIRED>
1079
1080<!ELEMENT weekendStart EMPTY>
1081<!ATTLIST weekendStart day (sun | mon | tue | wed | thu | fri | sat) #REQUIRED>
1082<!ATTLIST weekendStart territories NMTOKENS #REQUIRED>
1083
1084<!ELEMENT weekendEnd EMPTY>
1085<!ATTLIST weekendEnd day (sun | mon | tue | wed | thu | fri | sat) #REQUIRED>
1086<!ATTLIST weekendEnd territories NMTOKENS #REQUIRED>
1087
1088<!ELEMENT weekOfPreference EMPTY>
1089<!ATTLIST weekOfPreference locales NMTOKENS #REQUIRED>
1090<!ATTLIST weekOfPreference ordering NMTOKENS #REQUIRED>
1091```
1092
1093These values provide territory-specific information needed for week-of-year and week-of-month calculations, as well as information on conventions for first day of the week, for weekends, and for week designations. For most elements, the default is provided by the element with `territories="001"`; for `weekOfPreference` elements the default is provided by the element with `locales="und"`.
1094
1095```xml
1096<weekData>
1097    <minDays count="1" territories="001" />
1098    <minDays count="4" territories="AD AN AT AX BE BG CH CZ DE DK EE ES FI FJ FO FR GB …" />
1099    <firstDay day="mon" territories="001" />
1100    <firstDay day="fri" territories="BD MV" />
1101    <firstDay day="sat" territories="AE AF BH DJ DZ EG IQ IR JO …" />
11021103    <weekendStart day="sat" territories="001" />
1104    <weekendStart day="sun" territories="IN" />
1105    <weekendStart day="thu" territories="AF DZ IR OM SA YE" />
1106    <weekendStart day="fri" territories="AE BH EG IL IQ JO KW …" />
11071108    <weekOfPreference ordering="weekOfYear" locales="und" />
1109    <weekOfPreference ordering="weekOfYear weekOfMonth" locales="am az bs cs cy da el et hi ky lt mk sk ta th" />
1110    <weekOfPreference ordering="weekOfYear weekOfMonth weekOfInterval" locales="is mn no sv vi" />
1111    <weekOfPreference ordering="weekOfYear weekOfDate weekOfMonth" locales="fi zh-TW" />
11121113```
1114
1115In order for a week to count as the first week of a new year for week-of-year calculations, it must include at least the number of days in the new year specified by the minDays value; otherwise the week will count as the last week of the previous year (and for week-of-month calculations, `minDays` also specifies the minimum number of days in the new month for a week to count as part of that month).
1116
1117The day indicated by `firstDay` is the one that should be shown as the first day of the week in a calendar view. This is not necessarily the same as the first day after the weekend (or the first work day of the week), which should be determined from the weekend information. Currently, day-of-week numbering is based on `firstDay` (that is, day 1 is the day specified by `firstDay`), but in the future we may add a way to specify this separately.
1118
1119What is meant by the weekend varies from country to country. It is typically when most non-retail businesses are closed. The time should not be specified unless it is a well-recognized part of the day. The `weekendStart` day defaults to "sat", and `weekendEnd` day defaults to "sun". For more information, see _[Dates and Date Ranges](tr35.md#Date_Ranges)_.
1120
1121Each `weekOfPreference` element provides, for its specified locales, an ordered list of the preferred types of week designations for that set of locales. There are four types of week designations, each of which makes use of date patterns available in the locale, as follows:
1122
1123###### Table: <a name="Week_Designation_Types" href="#Week_Designation_Types">Week Designation Types</a>
1124
1125| Type           | Examples                          | Date Pattern                                                | Comments    |
1126|----------------|-----------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
1127| weekOfYear     | week 15 of 2016                   | \<dateFormatItem id='yw' count='one'\>'week' w 'of' Y\<…       | The **week of** construction takes a count attribute, just in case the pattern changes depending on the numeric value of the **w** value. (In the future, we're likely to add an ordinal value, for constructions like “3rd week of March”.) In languages where the month name needs grammatical changes (aside from just the simple addition of a prefix or suffix), localizers will typically use a work-around construction. |
1128| weekOfMonth    | week 2 of April 2nd week of April | \<dateFormatItem id='MMMMW'' count='one'\>'week' W 'of' MMM\<… |   (same comment as above) |
1129| weekOfDate     | the week of April 11, 2016        | \<field type="week"\>\<relativePeriod>the week of {0}\<…        | The date pattern that replaces {0} is determined separately and may use the first day or workday of the week, the range of the full week or work week, etc.   |
1130| weekOfInterval | the week of April 11–15           | \<field type="week"\>\<relativePeriod>the week of {0}\<…    |  (same comment as above) |
1131
1132### 4.4 <a name="Time_Data" href="#Time_Data">Time Data</a>
1133
1134```xml
1135<!ELEMENT timeData ( hours* ) >
1136<!ELEMENT hours EMPTY >
1137<!ATTLIST hours preferred NMTOKEN #REQUIRED >
1138<!ATTLIST hours allowed NMTOKENS #REQUIRED >
1139<!ATTLIST hours regions NMTOKENS #REQUIRED >
1140```
1141
1142This element is for data that indicates, for various regions, the preferred time cycle in the region, as well as all time cycles that are considered acceptable in the region. The defaults are those specified for region 001.
1143
1144There is a single `preferred` value, and multiple `allowed` values. The meanings of the values H, h, K, k, b and B are defined in [Date Field Symbol Table](#Date_Field_Symbol_Table). The `allowed` values are in preference order, and are used with the 'C' hour skeleton pattern symbol.
1145
1146For example, in the following, RU (Russia) is marked as using only 24 hour time, and in particular the 24 hour time that goes from 0..23 (H), rather than from 1..24 (k).
1147
1148Also note that the `regions` allows either region codes (`001`, `JP`) or
1149locale IDs (`gu_IN`).
1150
1151```xml
1152<timeData>
1153    <hours preferred="H" allowed="H h" regions="001 …" />
1154    <hours preferred="H" allowed="H K h" regions="JP" />
1155    <hours preferred="H" allowed="H" regions="IL RU" />
1156    <hours preferred="h" allowed="H h" regions="AE AG AL … US … ZW" />
1157    <hours preferred="h" allowed="hB h hb H" regions="ta_IN"/>
1158    <hours preferred="h" allowed="hB hb h H" regions="TW ET gu_IN mr_IN pa_IN"/>
11591160```
1161
1162The B and b date symbols provide for formats like “3:00 at night”. When the ‘C’ option is used, the values in `allowed` are traversed from first to last, picking the first available format. For example, in the following a system that supports hB should choose that as the most preferred format for the C (not the `preferred` value H).
1163
1164```xml
1165<hours preferred="H" allowed="hB H" regions="CD" />
1166<hours preferred="H" allowed="hB hb h H" regions="KE MM TZ UG" />
1167```
1168
1169Some systems may not want to use B and b, even if preferred for the locale, so for compatibility the `preferred` value is limited to {H, h, K, k}, and is the option selected by the ‘j’ date symbol. Thus the `preferred` value may not be the same as the first `allowed` value.
1170
1171### 4.5 <a name="Day_Period_Rule_Sets" href="#Day_Period_Rule_Sets">Day Period Rule Sets</a>
1172
1173```xml
1174<!ELEMENT dayPeriodRuleSet ( dayPeriodRules* ) >
1175<!ATTLIST dayPeriodRuleSet type NMTOKEN #IMPLIED >
1176
1177<!ELEMENT dayPeriodRules (dayPeriodRule*) >
1178<!ATTLIST dayPeriodRules locales NMTOKENS #REQUIRED >
1179
1180<!ELEMENT dayPeriodRule EMPTY >
1181<!ATTLIST dayPeriodRule type NMTOKEN #REQUIRED >
1182<!ATTLIST dayPeriodRule at NMTOKEN #IMPLIED >
1183<!ATTLIST dayPeriodRule from NMTOKEN #IMPLIED >
1184<!ATTLIST dayPeriodRule before NMTOKEN #IMPLIED >
1185```
1186
1187Each locale can have a set of day period rules, which determine the periods during a day for use in time formats like "10:00 at night", or to select statements like "Your email arrived last night." If locales do not have dayPeriodRules, the computation of dayPeriods falls back to AM/PM.
1188
1189There are two kinds of dayPeriodRuleSets, based on the type:
1190
1191The **_format_** type is used in conjunction with times, such as to express "3:00 in the afternoon", or "12:00 noon". Many languages do not normally use terms that match AM/PM for such times, instead breaking up the day into more periods.
1192
1193The **stand-alone** type is used for selecting a period of the day for a general time associated with an event. For example, it can be used to select a message like:
1194
1195```
1196<msg ... >
1197{day_period, select,
1198MORNING1 {Your email arrived yesterday morning.}
1199AFTERNOON1 {Your email arrived yesterday afternoon.}
1200EVENING1 {Your email arrived yesterday evening.}
1201NIGHT1 {Your email arrived last night.}
1202other {Your email arrived yesterday.}
1203...
1204}
1205</msg>
1206```
1207
1208The translated values for the selection (**stand-alone**) day periods are intended for use in designating a time of day, without an hour value.
1209
1210These are relative times within a single day. If the event can occur on multiple days, then that needs to be handled at a higher level.
1211
1212As with plurals, the exact set of periods used for any language may be different. It is the responsibility of any translation software to pick the relevant day periods for the locale for display to the translator (and end user).
1213
1214#### 4.5.1 <a name="Day_Period_Rules" href="#Day_Period_Rules">Day Period Rules</a>
1215
1216Here are the requirements for a rule set.
1217
1218##### 4.5.1.1 <a name="Fixed_periods" href="#Fixed_periods">Fixed periods</a>
1219
1220There are 4 dayPeriods that are fixed; am/pm are always defined, and always have the same meaning and definition for every locale. Midnight and noon are optional, however if they are defined, they have the same meaning and definition as in all other locales where they are defined.
1221
1222```xml
1223<dayPeriodRule type="midnight" at="00:00" />
1224<dayPeriodRule type="am" from="00:00" before="12:00" />
1225<dayPeriodRule type="noon" at="12:00" />
1226<dayPeriodRule type="pm" from="12:00" before="24:00" />
1227```
1228
1229Note that midnight and am can overlap, as can noon and pm.
1230
1231All locales must support am/pm, but not all support **noon** or **midnight**; they are only supported if they meet the above definitions. For example, German has no unique term that means exactly 12:00 noon; the closest is Mittag, but that can extend before or after 12 noon.
1232
1233**Midnight** is also special, since it can refer to either 00:00 or 24:00 — either at the start or end of the day. That means that Tuesday 24:00 = Wednesday 00:00. “Midnight Tuesday" is thus ambiguous: it means 24:00 in “the party is Tuesday from 10pm to 12 midnight”, while it means 00:00 in “I was awake from 12 midnight to 3 in the morning”.
1234
1235It is strongly recommended that implementations provide for the ability to specify whether **midnight** is supported or not (and for either 00:00 or 24:00 or both), since only the caller knows enough of the context to determine what to use. In the absence of such information, 24:00 may be the best choice.
1236
1237##### 4.5.1.2 <a name="Variable_periods" href="#Variable_periods">Variable periods</a>
1238
12391. If a locale has a set of dayPeriodRules for variable periods, it needs to completely cover the 24 hours in a day (from 0:00 before 24:00), with **no** overlaps between any dayPeriodRules. They may overlap with the **Fixed Periods**.
1240   If it does not have a rule set for variable periods, behavior should fall back to using the fixed periods (am, pm).
12412. "from" is a closed interval (inclusive). _(as is the deprecated "to")_
12423. "before" is an open interval (exclusive). _(as is the deprecated "after")_
12434. "at" means starting time and end time are the same. _("at" is deprecated except when used for the fixed periods)_
12445. There must be exactly one of {at, from, after} and exactly one of {at, to, before} for each dayPeriodRule.
12456. Use of non-zero minutes or seconds is deprecated.
12467. The dayPeriodRules for format must allow that hh:mm [period name] and hh [period name] can be parsed uniquely to HH:mm [period name].
1247   * For example, you can't have `<dayPeriod type = "morning1" from="00:00" to="13:00"/>` because "12:30 {morning}" would be ambiguous.
12488. There must not be two rules with the same type. A day period rule may, however, span 24:00 / 00:00. Example:
1249   * _Valid:_
1250     * `<dayPeriod type = "night1" from="21:00" to="05:00"/>`
1251   * _Invalid:_
1252     * `<dayPeriod type = "night1" from="00:00" to="05:00"/>`
1253     * `<dayPeriod type = "night1" from="21:00" to="24:00"/>`
12549. 24:00 is _only_ allowed in _before_="24:00".
1255
1256##### 4.5.1.3 <a name="Parsing_Day_Periods" href="#Parsing_Day_Periods">Parsing Day Periods</a>
1257
1258When parsing, if the hour is present with a strict parse the dayperiod is checked for consistency with the hour. If there is no hour, the center of the first matching dayPeriodRule can be chosen (starting from 0:00). However, if there is other information available when parsing, a different point within the interval may be chosen.
1259
1260The dayPeriodRule may span two days, such as where **night1** is [21:00, 06:00). In that case, the midpoint is 01:30, so when parsing “Nov 12, at night”, the midpoint result would be Nov 12, 01:30. “Nov 12, am”, “Nov 12, pm”, “Nov 12, noon” can be parsed similarly, resulting in Nov 12, 06:00; Nov 12, 18:00; and Nov 12, 12:00; respectively.
1261
1262“Nov 12, midnight” is special, because midnight may mean either 00:00 or 24:00. Extra information may be needed to disambiguate which is meant, such as whether the time is at the start or end of an interval. In the absence of such information, 24:00 may be the best choice. See the discussion of **midnight** above.
1263
1264If rounding is done—including the rounding done by the time format—then it needs to be done before the dayperiod is computed, so that the correct format is shown.
1265
1266For examples, see [Day Periods Chart](https://unicode-org.github.io/cldr-staging/charts/38/supplemental/day_periods.html).
1267
1268## 5 <a name="Time_Zone_Names" href="#Time_Zone_Names">Time Zone Names</a>
1269
1270```xml
1271<!ELEMENT timeZoneNames (alias | (hourFormat*, gmtFormat*, gmtZeroFormat*, regionFormat*, fallbackFormat*, zone*, metazone*, special*)) >
1272
1273<!ELEMENT hourFormat ( #PCDATA ) >
1274<!ELEMENT gmtFormat ( #PCDATA ) >
1275<!ELEMENT gmtZeroFormat ( #PCDATA ) >
1276
1277<!ELEMENT regionFormat ( #PCDATA ) >
1278<!ATTLIST regionFormat type ( standard | daylight ) #IMPLIED >
1279
1280<!ELEMENT fallbackFormat ( #PCDATA ) >
1281
1282<!ELEMENT zone (alias | ( long*, short*, exemplarCity*, special*)) >
1283<!ATTLIST zone type CDATA #REQUIRED >
1284
1285<!ELEMENT metazone (alias | ( long*, short*, special*)) >
1286<!ATTLIST metazone type CDATA #REQUIRED >
1287
1288<!ELEMENT long (alias | (generic*, standard*, daylight*, special*)) >
1289<!ELEMENT short (alias | (generic*, standard*, daylight*, special*)) >
1290
1291<!ELEMENT generic ( #PCDATA ) >
1292<!ELEMENT standard ( #PCDATA ) >
1293<!ELEMENT daylight ( #PCDATA ) >
1294
1295<!ELEMENT exemplarCity ( #PCDATA ) >
1296```
1297
1298The time zone IDs (TZID) are language-independent, and follow the _TZ time zone database_ [[Olson](tr35.md#Olson)] and naming conventions. However, the display names for those IDs can vary by locale. The generic time is so-called _wall-time_; what clocks use when they are correctly switched from standard to daylight time at the mandated time of the year.
1299
1300Unfortunately, the canonical TZIDs (those in zone.tab) are not stable: they may change in each release of the _TZ_ Time Zone database. In CLDR, however, stability of identifiers is very important. So the canonical IDs in CLDR are kept stable as described in [Canonical Form](tr35.md#Canonical_Form).
1301
1302The _TZ time zone database_ can have multiple IDs that refer to the same entity. It does contain information on equivalence relationships between these IDs, such as "Asia/Calcutta" and "Asia/Kolkata". It does not remove IDs (with a few known exceptions), but it may change the "canonical" ID which is in the file zone.tab.
1303
1304For lookup purposes specifications such as CLDR need a stable canonical ID, one that does not change from release to release. The stable ID is maintained as the first alias item _type_ element in the file bcp47/timezone.xml, such as:
1305
1306    <type name="inccu" alias="Asia/Calcutta Asia/Kolkata"/>
1307
1308That file also contains the short ID used in keywords. In versions of CLDR previous to 1.8, the alias information (but not the short ID) was in Supplemental Data under the zoneItem, such as:
1309
1310    <zoneItem type="Asia/Calcutta" territory="IN" aliases="Asia/Kolkata"/>
1311
1312This element was deprecated after the introduction of bcp47/timezone.xml, because the information became redundant (or was contained in the _TZ time zone database_).
1313
1314The following is an example of time zone data. Although this is an example of possible data, in most cases only the exemplarCity needs translation. And that does not even need to be present, if a country only has a single time one. As always, the _type_ field for each zone is the identification of that zone. It is not to be translated.
1315
1316```xml
1317<zone type="America/Los_Angeles">
1318    <long>
1319        <generic>Pacific Time</generic>
1320        <standard>Pacific Standard Time</standard>
1321        <daylight>Pacific Daylight Time</daylight>
1322    </long>
1323    <short>
1324        <generic>PT</generic>
1325        <standard>PST</standard>
1326        <daylight>PDT</daylight>
1327    </short>
1328    <exemplarCity>San Francisco</exemplarCity>
1329</zone>
1330
1331<zone type="Europe/London">
1332     <long>
1333        <generic>British Time</generic>
1334        <standard>British Standard Time</standard>
1335        <daylight>British Daylight Time</daylight>
1336    </long>
1337    <exemplarCity>York</exemplarCity>
1338</zone>
1339```
1340
1341In a few cases, some time zone IDs do not designate a city, as in:
1342
1343```xml
1344<zone type="America/Puerto_Rico">
1345    ...
1346</zone>
1347
1348<zone type="America/Guyana">
1349    ...
1350</zone>
1351
1352<zone type="America/Cayman">
1353    ...
1354</zone>
1355
1356<zone type="America/St_Vincent">
1357    ...
1358</zone>
1359```
1360
1361They may designate countries or territories; their actual capital city may be a name that is too common, or too uncommon. CLDR time zone IDs follow the [Olson](tr35.md#Olson) naming conventions.
1362
1363> **Note:** CLDR does not allow "GMT", "UT", or "UTC" as translations (short or long) of time zones other than GMT itself.
1364
1365> **Note:** Transmitting "14:30" with no other context is incomplete unless it contains information about the time zone. Ideally one would transmit neutral-format date/time information, commonly in UTC (GMT), and localize as close to the user as possible. (For more about UTC, see [[UTCInfo](tr35.md#UTCInfo)].)
1366
1367The conversion from local time into UTC depends on the particular time zone rules, which will vary by location. The standard data used for converting local time (sometimes called _wall time_) to UTC and back is the _TZ Data_ [[Olson](tr35.md#Olson)], used by Linux, UNIX, Java, ICU, and others. The data includes rules for matching the laws for time changes in different countries. For example, for the US it is:
1368
1369> "During the period commencing at 2 o'clock antemeridian on the second Sunday of March of each year and ending at 2 o'clock antemeridian on the first Sunday of November of each year, the standard time of each zone established by sections 261 to 264 of this title, as modified by section 265 of this title, shall be advanced one hour..." (United States Law - 15 U.S.C. §6(IX)(260-7), as amended by Energy Policy Act of 2005).
1370
1371Each region that has a different time zone or daylight savings time rules, either now or at any time back to 1970, is given a unique internal ID, such as `Europe/Paris` . (Some IDs are also distinguished on the basis of differences before 1970.) As with currency codes, these are internal codes. A localized string associated with these is provided for users (such as in the Windows _Control Panels>Date/Time>Time Zone_).
1372
1373Unfortunately, laws change over time, and will continue to change in the future, both for the boundaries of time zone regions and the rules for daylight savings. Thus the _TZ_ data is continually being augmented. Any two implementations using the same version of the _TZ_ data will get the same results for the same IDs (assuming a correct implementation). However, if implementations use different versions of the data they may get different results. So if precise results are required then both the _TZ_ ID and the _TZ_ data version must be transmitted between the different implementations.
1374
1375For more information, see [[Data Formats](tr35.md#DataFormats)].
1376
1377The following subelements of `<timeZoneNames>` are used to control the fallback process described in [Using Time Zone Names](#Using_Time_Zone_Names).
1378
1379###### Table: <a name="timeZoneNames_Elements_Used_for_Fallback" href="#timeZoneNames_Elements_Used_for_Fallback">timeZoneNames Elements Used for Fallback</a>
1380
1381<table><tbody>
1382<tr><th>Element Name</th><th>Data Examples</th><th>Results/Comment</th></tr>
1383<tr><td rowspan="2">hourFormat</td><td rowspan="2">"+HHmm;-HHmm"</td><td>"+1200"</td></tr>
1384    <tr><td>"-1200"</td></tr>
1385<tr><td rowspan="2">gmtFormat</td><td>"GMT{0}"</td><td>"GMT-0800"</td></tr>
1386    <tr><td>"{0}ВпГ"</td><td>"-0800ВпГ"</td></tr>
1387<tr><td>gmtZeroFormat</td><td>"GMT"</td><td>Specifies how GMT/UTC with no explicit offset (implied 0 offset) should be represented.</td></tr>
1388<tr><td rowspan="2">regionFormat</td><td>"{0} Time"</td><td>"Japan Time"</td></tr>
1389    <tr><td>"Hora de {0}"</td><td>"Hora de Japón"</td></tr>
1390<tr><td rowspan="2">regionFormat type="daylight"<br>(or "standard")</td><td>"{0} Daylight Time"</td><td>"France Daylight Time"</td></tr><tr><td>"horario de verano de {0}"</td><td>"horario de verano de Francia"</td></tr>
1391    <tr><td>fallbackFormat</td><td>"{1} ({0})"</td><td>"Pacific Time (Canada)"</td></tr>
1392</tbody></table>
1393
1394When referring to the abbreviated (short) form of the time zone name, there are often situations where the location-based (city or country) time zone designation for a particular language may not be in common usage in a particular territory.
1395
1396> **Note:** User interfaces for time zone selection can use the "generic location format" for time zone names to obtain the most useful ordering of names in a menu or list; see _[Using Time Zone Names](#Using_Time_Zone_Names)_ and the zone section of the _[Date Field Symbol Table](#Date_Field_Symbol_Table)._
1397
1398### 5.1 <a name="Metazone_Names" href="#Metazone_Names">Metazone Names</a>
1399
1400A metazone is a grouping of one or more internal TZIDs that share a common display name in current customary usage, or that have shared a common display name during some particular time period. For example, the zones _Europe/Paris, Europe/Andorra, Europe/Tirane, Europe/Vienna, Europe/Sarajevo, Europe/Brussels, Europe/Zurich, Europe/Prague, Europe/Berlin_, and so on are often simply designated _Central European Time_ (or translated equivalent).
1401
1402A metazone's display fields become a secondary fallback if an appropriate data field cannot be found in the explicit time zone data. The _usesMetazone_ field indicates that the target metazone is active for a particular time. This also provides a mechanism to effectively deal with situations where the time zone in use has changed for some reason. For example, consider the TZID "America/Indiana/Knox", which observed Central time (GMT-6:00) prior to October 27, 1991, and has currently observed Central time since April 2, 2006, but has observed Eastern time (GMT-5:00) between these two dates. This is denoted as follows
1403
1404```xml
1405<timezone type="America/Indiana/Knox">
1406  <usesMetazone to="1991-10-27 07:00" mzone="America_Central" />
1407  <usesMetazone to="2006-04-02 07:00" from="1991-10-27 07:00" mzone="America_Eastern" />
1408  <usesMetazone from="2006-04-02 07:00" mzone="America_Central" />
1409</timezone>
1410```
1411
1412Note that the dates and times are specified in UTC, not local time.
1413
1414The metazones can then have translations in different locale files, such as the following.
1415
1416```xml
1417<metazone type="America_Central">
1418    <long>
1419        <generic>Central Time</generic>
1420        <standard>Central Standard Time</standard>
1421        <daylight>Central Daylight Time</daylight>
1422    </long>
1423    <short>
1424        <generic>CT</generic>
1425        <standard>CST</standard>
1426        <daylight>CDT</daylight>
1427    </short>
1428    </metazone>
1429    <metazone type="America_Eastern">
1430        <long>
1431        <generic>Eastern Time</generic>
1432        <standard>Eastern Standard Time</standard>
1433        <daylight>Eastern Daylight Time</daylight>
1434    </long>
1435    <short>
1436        <generic>ET</generic>
1437        <standard>EST</standard>
1438        <daylight>EDT</daylight>
1439    </short>
1440</metazone>
1441
1442<metazone type="America_Eastern">
1443    <long>
1444        <generic>Heure de l’Est</generic>
1445        <standard>Heure normale de l’Est</standard>
1446        <daylight>Heure avancée de l’Est</daylight>
1447    </long>
1448    <short>
1449        <generic>HE</generic>
1450        <standard>HNE</standard>
1451        <daylight>HAE</daylight>
1452    </short>
1453</metazone>
1454```
1455
1456When formatting a date and time value using this data, an application can properly be able to display "Eastern Time" for dates between 1991-10-27 and 2006-04-02, but display "Central Time" for current dates. (See also _[Dates and Date Ranges](tr35.md#Date_Ranges)_.)
1457
1458Metazones are used with the 'z', 'zzzz', 'v', and 'vvvv' date time pattern characters, and not with the 'Z', 'ZZZZ', 'VVVV' and other pattern characters for time zone formatting. For more information, see [Date Format Patterns](#Date_Format_Patterns).
1459
1460Note that several of the CLDR metazone IDs are the same as TZID aliases provided by the _TZ time zone database_ and also included in ICU data. For example:
1461* “Japan” is a CLDR metazone ID (which has short ID “japa”), but also an alias to the TZID “Asia/Tokyo” (which has BCP 47 ID “jptyo”).
1462* “GMT” is a CLDR metazone ID (which has short ID “mgmt”), but also an alias to the TZID “Etc/GMT” (which has BCP 47 ID “gmt”).
1463In practice this is not an issue, since metazone IDs and TZIDs are never used in the same way in any data structure, or in the same APIs in a library such as ICU.
1464
1465The `commonlyUsed` element is now deprecated. The CLDR committee has found it nearly impossible to obtain accurate and reliable data regarding which time zone abbreviations may be understood in a given territory, and therefore has changed to a simpler approach. Thus, if the short metazone form is available in a given locale, it is to be used for formatting regardless of the value of commonlyUsed. If a given short metazone form is known NOT to be understood in a given locale and the parent locale has this value such that it would normally be inherited, the inheritance of this value can be explicitly disabled by use of the 'no inheritance marker' as the value, which is 3 simultaneous empty set characters (U+2205).
1466
1467## 6 <a name="Supplemental_Time_Zone_Data" href="#Supplemental_Time_Zone_Data">Supplemental Time Zone Data</a>
1468
1469### 6.1 <a name="Metazones" href="#Metazones">Metazones</a>
1470
1471```xml
1472<!ELEMENT metaZones (metazoneInfo?, mapTimezones?) >
1473
1474<!ELEMENT metazoneInfo (timezone*) >
1475
1476<!ELEMENT timezone (usesMetazone*) >
1477<!ATTLIST timezone type CDATA #REQUIRED >
1478
1479<!ELEMENT usesMetazone EMPTY >
1480<!ATTLIST usesMetazone mzone NMTOKEN #REQUIRED >
1481<!ATTLIST usesMetazone from CDATA #IMPLIED >
1482<!ATTLIST usesMetazone to CDATA #IMPLIED >
1483
1484<!ELEMENT mapTimezones ( mapZone* ) >
1485<!ATTLIST mapTimezones type NMTOKEN #IMPLIED >
1486<!ATTLIST mapTimezones typeVersion CDATA #IMPLIED >
1487<!ATTLIST mapTimezones otherVersion CDATA #IMPLIED >
1488<!ATTLIST mapTimezones references CDATA #IMPLIED >
1489
1490<!ELEMENT mapZone EMPTY >
1491<!ATTLIST mapZone type CDATA #REQUIRED >
1492<!ATTLIST mapZone other CDATA #REQUIRED >
1493<!ATTLIST mapZone territory CDATA #IMPLIED >
1494<!ATTLIST mapZone references CDATA #IMPLIED >
1495```
1496
1497The following subelement of `<metaZones>` provides a mapping from a single Unicode time zone id to metazones. For more information about metazones, see _[Time Zone Names](tr35-dates.md#Time_Zone_Names)_.
1498
1499```xml
1500<metazoneInfo>
1501    <timezone type="Europe/Andorra">
1502        <usesMetazone mzone="Europe_Central" />
1503    </timezone>
1504    ....
1505    <timezone type="Asia/Yerevan">
1506        <usesMetazone to="1991-09-22 20:00" mzone="Yerevan" />
1507        <usesMetazone from="1991-09-22 20:00" mzone="Armenia" />
1508    </timezone>
1509    ....
1510```
1511
1512The following subelement of `<metaZones>` specifies a mapping from a metazone to golden zones for each territory. For more information about golden zones, see _[Using Time Zone Names](tr35-dates.md#Using_Time_Zone_Names)_.
1513
1514```xml
1515<mapTimezones type="metazones">
1516    <mapZone other="Acre" territory="001" type="America/Rio_Branco" />
1517    <mapZone other="Afghanistan" territory="001" type="Asia/Kabul" />
1518    <mapZone other="Africa_Central" territory="001" type="Africa/Maputo" />
1519    <mapZone other="Africa_Central" territory="BI" type="Africa/Bujumbura" />
1520    <mapZone other="Africa_Central" territory="BW" type="Africa/Gaborone" />
1521    ....
1522```
1523
1524### 6.2 <a name="Windows_Zones" href="#Windows_Zones">Windows Zones</a>
1525
1526```xml
1527<!ELEMENT windowsZones (mapTimezones?) >
1528```
1529
1530The `<mapTimezones>` element can be also used to provide mappings between Unicode time zone IDs and other time zone IDs. This example specifies a mapping from Windows TZIDs to Unicode time zone IDs.
1531
1532```xml
1533<mapTimezones otherVersion="07dc0000" typeVersion="2011n">
1534    ....
1535    <!-- (UTC-08:00) Baja California -->
1536    <mapZone other="Pacific Standard Time (Mexico)" territory="001" type="America/Santa_Isabel"/>
1537    <mapZone other="Pacific Standard Time (Mexico)" territory="MX" type="America/Santa_Isabel"/>
1538
1539    <!-- (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) -->
1540    <mapZone other="Pacific Standard Time" territory="001" type="America/Los_Angeles"/>
1541    <mapZone other="Pacific Standard Time" territory="CA" type="America/Vancouver America/Dawson America/Whitehorse"/>
1542    <mapZone other="Pacific Standard Time" territory="MX" type="America/Tijuana"/>
1543    <mapZone other="Pacific Standard Time" territory="US" type="America/Los_Angeles"/>
1544    <mapZone other="Pacific Standard Time" territory="ZZ" type="PST8PDT"/>
1545    ....
1546```
1547
1548The attributes otherVersion and typeVersion in `<mapTimezones>` specify the versions of two systems. In the example above, otherVersion="07dc0000" specifies the version of Windows time zone and typeVersion="2011n" specifies the version of Unicode time zone IDs. The attribute `territory="001"` in `<mapZone>` element indicates the long canonical Unicode time zone ID specified by the `type` attribute is used as the default mapping for the Windows TZID. For each unique Windows TZID, there must be exactly one `<mapZone>` element with `territory="001"`. `<mapZone>` elements other than `territory="001"` specify territory specific mappings. When multiple Unicode time zone IDs are available for a single territory, the value of the `type` attribute will be a list of Unicode time zone IDs delimited by space. In this case, the first entry represents the default mapping for the territory. The territory "ZZ" is used when a Unicode time zone ID is not associated with a specific territory.
1549
1550**Note:** The long canonical Unicode time zone ID might be deprecated in the tz database [[Olson](tr35.md#Olson)]. For example, CLDR uses "Asia/Culcutta" as the long canonical time zone ID for Kolkata, India. The same ID was moved to 'backward' file and replaced with a new ID "Asia/Kolkata" in the tz database. Therefore, if you want to get an equivalent Windows TZID for a zone ID in the tz database, you have to resolve the long canonical Unicode time zone ID (e.g. "Asia/Culcutta") for the zone ID (e.g. "Asia/Kolkata"). For more details, see [Time Zone Identifiers](tr35.md#Time_Zone_Identifiers).
1551
1552**Note:** Not all Unicode time zones have equivalent Windows TZID mappings. Also, not all Windows TZIDs have equivalent Unicode time zones. For example, there is no equivalent Windows zone for Unicode time zone "Australia/Lord_Howe", and there is no equivalent Unicode time zone for Windows zone "E. Europe Standard Time" (as of CLDR 25 release).
1553
1554### 6.3 <a name="Primary_Zones" href="#Primary_Zones">Primary Zones</a>
1555
1556```xml
1557<!ELEMENT primaryZones ( primaryZone* ) >
1558<!ELEMENT primaryZone ( #PCDATA ) >
1559<!ATTLIST primaryZone iso3166 NMTOKEN #REQUIRED >
1560```
1561
1562This element is for data that is used to format a time zone’s generic location name. Each `<primaryZone>` element specifies the dominant zone for a region; this zone should use the region name for its generic location name even though there are other canonical zones available in the same region. For example, Asia/Shanghai is displayed as "China Time", instead of "Shanghai Time". Sample data:
1563
1564```xml
1565<primaryZones>
1566    <primaryZone iso3166="CL">America/Santiago</primaryZone>
1567    <primaryZone iso3166="CN">Asia/Shanghai</primaryZone>
1568    <primaryZone iso3166="DE">Europe/Berlin</primaryZone>
15691570```
1571
1572This information was previously specified by the LDML `<singleCountries>` element under each locale’s `<timeZoneNames>` element. However, that approach had inheritance issues, and the data is not really locale-specific anyway.
1573
1574## 7 <a name="Using_Time_Zone_Names" href="#Using_Time_Zone_Names">Using Time Zone Names</a>
1575
1576There are three main types of formats for zone identifiers: GMT, generic (wall time), and standard/daylight. Standard and daylight are equivalent to a particular offset from GMT, and can be represented by a GMT offset as a fallback. In general, this is not true for the generic format, which is used for picking timezones or for conveying a timezone for specifying a recurring time (such as a meeting in a calendar). For either purpose, a GMT offset would lose information.
1577
1578### 7.1 <a name="Time_Zone_Format_Terminology" href="#Time_Zone_Format_Terminology">Time Zone Format Terminology</a>
1579
1580The following terminology defines more precisely the formats that are used.
1581
1582**Generic non-location format:** Reflects "wall time" (what is on a clock on the wall): used for recurring events, meetings, or anywhere people do not want to be overly specific. For example, "10 am Pacific Time" will be GMT-8 in the winter, and GMT-7 in the summer.
1583
1584* "Pacific Time" (long)
1585* "PT" (short)
1586
1587**Generic partial location format:** Reflects "wall time": used as a fallback format when the generic non-location format is not specific enough.
1588
1589* "Pacific Time (Canada)" (long)
1590* "PT (Whitehorse)" (short)
1591
1592**Generic location format:** Reflects "wall time": a primary function of this format type is to represent a time zone in a list or menu for user selection of time zone. It is also a fallback format when there is no translation for the generic non-location format. Times can also be organized hierarchically by country for easier lookup.
1593
1594+ France Time
1595+ Italy Time
1596+ Japan Time
1597+ United States
1598  + Chicago Time
1599  + Denver Time
1600  + Los Angeles Time
1601  + New York Time
1602+ United Kingdom Time
1603
1604Note: A generic location format is constructed by a part of time zone ID representing an exemplar city name or its country as the final fallback. However, there are Unicode time zones which are not associated with any locations, such as "Etc/GMT+5" and "PST8PDT". Although the date format pattern "VVVV" specifies the generic location format, but it displays localized GMT format for these. Some of these time zones observe daylight saving time, so the result (localized GMT format) may change depending on input date. For generating a list for user selection of time zone with format "VVVV", these non-location zones should be excluded.
1605
1606**Specific non-location format:** Reflects a specific standard or daylight time, which may or may not be the wall time. For example, "10 am Pacific Standard Time" will be GMT-8 in the winter and in the summer.
1607
1608* "Pacific Standard Time" (long)
1609* "PST" (short)
1610* "Pacific Daylight Time" (long)
1611* "PDT" (short)
1612
1613**Localized GMT format:** A constant, specific offset from GMT (or UTC), which may be in a translated form. There are two styles for this. The first is used when there is an explicit non-zero offset from GMT; this style is specified by the `<gmtFormat>` element and `<hourFormat>` element. The long format always uses 2-digit hours field and minutes field, with optional 2-digit seconds field. The short format is intended for the shortest representation and uses hour fields without leading zero, with optional 2-digit minutes and seconds fields. The digits used for hours, minutes and seconds fields in this format are the locale's default decimal digits:
1614
1615* "GMT+03:30" (long)
1616* "GMT+3:30" (short)
1617* "UTC-03.00" (long)
1618* "UTC-3" (short)
1619* "Гринуич+03:30" (long)
1620
1621Otherwise (when the offset from GMT is zero, referring to GMT itself) the style specified by the `<gmtZeroFormat>` element is used:
1622
1623* "GMT"
1624* "UTC"
1625* "Гринуич"
1626
1627**ISO 8601 time zone formats:** The formats based on the [[ISO 8601](tr35.md#ISO8601)]  local time difference from UTC ("+" sign is used when local time offset is 0), or the UTC indicator ("Z" - only when the local time offset is 0 and the specifier X\* is used). The ISO 8601 basic format does not use a separator character between hours and minutes field, while the extended format uses colon (':') as the separator. The ISO 8601 basic format with hours and minutes fields is equivalent to RFC 822 zone format.
1628
1629* "-0800" (basic)
1630* "-08" (basic - short)
1631* "-08:00" (extended)
1632* "Z" (UTC)
1633
1634> Note: This specification extends the original ISO 8601 formats and some format specifiers append seconds field when necessary.
1635
1636**Raw Offset** - an offset from GMT that does not include any daylight savings behavior. For example, the raw offset for Pacific Time is -8, even though the _observed offset_ may be -8 or -7.
1637
1638**Metazone** - a collection of time zones that share the same behavior and same name during some period. They may differ in daylight behavior (whether they have it and when).
1639
1640For example, the TZID America/Cambridge_Bay is in the following metazones during various periods:
1641
1642```xml
1643<timezone type="America/Cambridge_Bay">
1644    <usesMetazone to="1999-10-31 08:00" mzone="America_Mountain" />
1645    <usesMetazone to="2000-10-29 07:00" from="1999-10-31 08:00" mzone="America_Central" />
1646    <usesMetazone to="2000-11-05 05:00" from="2000-10-29 07:00" mzone="America_Eastern" />
1647    <usesMetazone to="2001-04-01 09:00" from="2000-11-05 05:00" mzone="America_Central" />
1648    <usesMetazone from="2001-04-01 09:00" mzone="America_Mountain" />
1649</timezone>
1650```
1651
1652Zones may join or leave a metazone over time. The data relating between zones and metazones is in the supplemental information; the locale data is restricted to translations of metazones and zones.
1653
1654> **Invariants:**
1655>
1656> * At any given point in time, each zone belongs to no more than one metazone.
1657> * At a given point in time, a zone may not belong to any metazones.
1658> * _Except for daylight savings_, at any given time, all zones in a metazone have the same offset at that time.
1659
1660**Golden Zone** - the TZDB zone that exemplifies a metazone. For example, America/New_York is the golden zone for the metazone America_Eastern:
1661
1662```xml
1663<mapZone other="America_Eastern" territory="001" type="America/New_York"/>
1664```
1665
1666> **Invariants:**
1667>
1668> * The golden zones are those in mapZone supplemental data under the territory "001".
1669> * Every metazone has exactly one golden zone.
1670> * Each zone has at most one metazone for which it is golden.
1671> * The golden zone is in that metazone during the entire life of the metazone. (The raw offset of the golden zone may change over time.)
1672> * Each other zone must have the same raw offset as the golden zone, for the entire period that it is in the metazone. (It might not have the same offset when daylight savings is in effect.)
1673> * A golden zone in mapTimezones must have reverse mapping in metazoneInfo.
1674> * A single time zone can be a golden zone of multiple different metazones if any two of them are never active at a same time.
1675
1676**Preferred Zone** - for a given TZID, the "best" zone out of a metazone for a given country or language.
1677
1678> **Invariants:**
1679>
1680> * The preferred zone for a given country XX are those in mapZone supplemental data under the territory XX.
1681> * Every metazone has at most one preferred zone for a given territory XX.
1682> * Each zone has at most one metazone for which it is preferred for a territory XX.
1683> * The preferred zone for a given metazone and territory XX is in a metazone M during any time when any other zone in XX is also in M
1684> * A preferred zone in mapTimezones must have reverse mapping in metazoneInfo
1685
1686For example, for America_Pacific the preferred zone for Canada is America/Vancouver, and the preferred zone for Mexico is America/Tijuana. The golden zone is America/Los_Angeles, which is also the preferred zone for any other country.
1687
1688```xml
1689<mapZone other="America_Pacific" territory="001" type="America/Los_Angeles" />
1690<mapZone other="America_Pacific" territory="CA" type="America/Vancouver" />
1691<mapZone other="America_Pacific" territory="MX" type="America/Tijuana" />
1692```
1693
1694**<a name="fallbackFormat" href="#fallbackFormat">fallbackFormat:</a>** a formatting string such as "{1} ({0})", where {1} is the metazone, and {0} is the country or city.
1695
1696**regionFormat:** a formatting string such as "{0} Time", where {0} is the country or city.
1697
1698### 7.2 <a name="Time_Zone_Goals" href="#Time_Zone_Goals">Goals</a>
1699
1700The timezones are designed so that:
1701
1702> For any given locale, every _time_ round trips with all patterns (but not necessarily every timezone). That is, given a time and a format pattern with a zone string, you can format, then parse, and get back the same time.
1703>
1704> Note that the round-tripping is not just important for parsing; it provides for formatting dates and times in an unambiguous way for users. It is also important for testing.
1705>
1706> There are exceptions to the above for transition times.
1707>
1708> * With generic format, time zone ID or exemplar city name, during the transition when the local time maps to two possible GMT times.
1709>   * For example, Java works as follows, favoring standard time:
1710>   * Source: Sun Nov 04 01:30:00 PDT 2007
1711>   * => Formatted: "Sunday, November 4, 2007 1:30:00 AM"
1712>   * => Parsed: Sun Nov 04 01:30:00 PST 2007
1713> * When the timezone changes offset, say from GMT+4 to GMT+5, there can also be a gap.
1714>
1715> The V/VV/VVV/VVVV format will roundtrip not only the time, but the canonical timezone.
1716
1717When the data for a given format is not available, a fallback format is used. The fallback order is given in the following by a list.
1718
17191. **Specifics**
1720   * z - [short form] specific non-location
1721     * falling back to short localized GMT
1722   * zzzz - [long form] specific non-location
1723     * falling back to long localized GMT
1724   * Z/ZZZZZ/X+/x+ - ISO 8601 formats (no fallback necessary)
1725   * ZZZZ/O+ - Localized GMT formats (no fallback necessary)
1726
17272. **Generics**
1728   * v - [short form] generic non-location
1729     _(however, the rules are more complicated, see #5 below)_
1730     * falling back to generic location
1731     * falling back to short localized GMT
1732   * vvvv - [long form] generic non-location
1733     _(however, the rules are more complicated, see #5 below)_
1734     * falling back to generic location
1735     * falling back to long localized GMT
1736   * V - short time zone ID
1737     * falling back to the special ID "unk" (Unknown)
1738   * VV - long time zone ID (no fallback necessary, because this is the input)
1739   * VVV - exemplar city
1740     * falling back to the localized exemplar city for the unknown zone (Etc/Unknown), for example "Unknown City" for English
1741   * VVVV - generic location
1742     * falling back to long localized GMT
1743
1744The following process is used for the particular formats, with the fallback rules as above.
1745
1746Some of the examples are drawn from real data, while others are for illustration. For illustration the region format is "Hora de {0}". The fallback format in the examples is "{1} ({0})", which is what is in root.
1747
17481. In **all** cases, first canonicalize the _TZ_ ID according to the Unicode Locale Extension _type_ mapping data (see [Time Zone Identifiers](tr35.md#Time_Zone_Identifiers) for more details). Use that canonical TZID in each of the following steps.
1749   * America/AtkaAmerica/Adak
1750   * Australia/ACTAustralia/Sydney
1751
17522. For the localized GMT format, use the gmtFormat (such as "GMT{0}" or "HMG{0}") with the hourFormat (such as "+HH:mm;-HH:mm" or "+HH.mm;-HH.mm").
1753   * America/Los_Angeles → "GMT-08:00" // standard time
1754   * America/Los_Angeles → "HMG-07:00" // daylight time
1755   * Etc/GMT+3 → "GMT-03.00" // note that _TZ_ TZIDs have inverse polarity!
1756
1757    **Note:** The digits should be whatever are appropriate for the locale used to format the time zone, not necessarily from the western digits, 0..9. For example, they might be from ०..९.
1758
17593.  For ISO 8601 time zone format return the results according to the ISO 8601 specification.
1760    * America/Los_Angeles1761      * "-08" ("X","x")
1762      * "-0800" ("Z","XX","XXXX","xx","xxxx")
1763      * "-08:00" ("ZZZZZ","XXX","XXXXX","xxx","xxxxx")
1764    * Etc/GMT1765      * "Z" ("ZZZZZ", "X", "XX", "XXX", "XXXX", "XXXXX")
1766      * "+00" ("x")
1767      * "+0000" ("Z", "xx", "xxxx")
1768      * "+00:00" ("xxx", "xxxxx")
1769
1770    **Note:** The digits in this case are always from the western digits, 0..9.
1771
17724. For the non-location formats (generic or specific):
1773   1. if there is an explicit translation for the TZID in `<timeZoneNames>` according to type (generic, standard, or daylight) in the resolved locale, return it.
1774      1. If the requested type is not available, but another type is, and there is a **Type Fallback** then return that other type.
1775         * Examples:
1776           * America/Los_Angeles → // generic
1777           * America/Los_Angeles → "アメリカ太平洋標準時" // standard
1778           * America/Los_Angeles → "Yhdysvaltain Tyynenmeren kesäaika" // daylight
1779           * Europe/Dublin  → "Am Samhraidh na hÉireann" // daylight
1780           * Note: This translation may not at all be literal: it would be what is most recognizable for people using the target language.
1781   2. Otherwise, get the requested metazone format according to type (generic, standard, daylight).
1782      1. If the requested type is not available, but another type is, get the format according to **Type Fallback**.
1783      2. If there is no format for the type, fall back.
1784   3. Otherwise do the following:
1785      1. Get the country for the current locale. If there is none, use the most likely country based on the likelySubtags data. If there is none, use “001”.
1786      2. Get the preferred zone for the metazone for the country; if there is none for the country, use the preferred zone for the metazone for “001”.
1787      3. If that preferred zone is the same as the requested zone, use the metazone format. For example, "Pacific Time" for Vancouver if the locale is en_CA, or for Los Angeles if locale is en_US.
1788      4. Otherwise, if the zone is the preferred zone for its country but not for the country of the locale, use the metazone format + country in the _fallbackFormat_.
1789      5. Otherwise, use the metazone format + city in the _fallbackFormat_.
1790         * Examples:
1791           * "Pacific Time (Canada)" // for the zone Vancouver in the locale en_MX.
1792           * "Mountain Time (Phoenix)"
1793           * "Pacific Time (Whitehorse)"
17945. For the generic location format:
1795   1. From the TZDB get the country code for the zone, and determine whether there is only one timezone in the country. If there is only one timezone or if the zone id is in the `<primaryZones>` list, format the country name with the _regionFormat_, and return it.
1796      * Examples:
1797        * Europe/Rome → IT → "Italy Time" // for English
1798        * Asia/Shanghai → CN → "China Time" // Asia/Shanghai is the _primaryZone_ for China
1799        * Africa/Monrovia → LR → "Hora de Liberja"
1800        * America/Havana → CU → "Hora de CU" // if CU is not localized
1801   2. Otherwise format the exemplar city with the _regionFormat_, and return it.
1802      1. America/Buenos_Aires → "Buenos Aires Time"
1803
1804> **Note:** If a language does require grammatical changes when composing strings, then the _regionFormat_ should either use a neutral format such as "Heure: {0}", or put all exceptional cases in explicitly translated strings.
1805
1806**Type Fallback**
1807
1808When a specified type (generic, standard, daylight) does not exist:
1809
18101. If the daylight type does not exist, then the metazone doesn’t require daylight support. For all three types:
1811   1. If the generic type exists, use it.
1812   2. Otherwise if the standard type exists, use it.
18132. Otherwise if the generic type is needed, but not available, and the offset and daylight offset do not change within 184 day +/- interval around the exact formatted time, use the standard type.
1814   1. Example: "Mountain Standard Time" for Phoenix
1815   2. Note: 184 is the smallest number that is at least 6 months AND the smallest number that is more than 1/2 year (Gregorian).
1816
1817**Composition**
1818
1819In composing the metazone + city or country:
1820
18211. Use the _fallbackFormat_ "{1} ({0})", where:
1822   * {1} will be the metazone
1823   * {0} will be a qualifier (city or country)
1824   * Example:
1825     * metazone = Pacific Time
1826     * city = Phoenix
1827     * → "Pacific Time (Phoenix)"
18282. If the localized country name is not available, use the code:
1829   * CU (country code) → "CU" _// no localized country name for Cuba_
18303. If the localized exemplar city is not available, use as the exemplar city the last field of the raw TZID, stripping off the prefix and turning _ into space.
1831   * America/Los_Angeles → "Los Angeles" _// no localized exemplar city_
1832
1833**Note:** As with the _regionFormat_, exceptional cases need to be explicitly translated.
1834
1835### 7.3 <a name="Time_Zone_Parsing" href="#Time_Zone_Parsing">Parsing</a>
1836
1837In parsing, an implementation will be able to either determine the zone id, or a simple offset from GMT for anything formatting according to the above process.
1838
1839The following is a sample process for how this might be done. It is only a sample; implementations may use different methods for parsing.
1840
1841The sample describes the parsing of a zone as if it were an isolated string. In implementations, the zone may be mixed in with other data (like the time), so the parsing actually has to look for the longest match, and then allow the remaining text to be parsed for other content. That requires certain adaptions to the following process.
1842
18431. Start with a string S.
18442. If S matches ISO 8601 time zone format, return it.
1845   * For example, "-0800" (RFC 822), "-08:00" (ISO 8601) => Etc/GMT+8
18463. If S matches the English or localized GMT format, return the corresponding TZID
1847   * Matching should be lenient. Thus allow for the number formats like: 03, 3, 330, 3:30, 33045 or 3:30:45. Allow +, -, or nothing. Allow spaces after GMT, +/-, and before number. Allow non-Latin numbers. Allow UTC or UT (per RFC 788) as synonyms for GMT ("GMT", "UT", "UTC" are global formats, always allowed in parsing regardless of locale).
1848   * For example, "GMT+3" or "UT+3" or "HPG+3" => Etc/GMT-3
1849   * When parsing, the absence of a numeric offset should be interpreted as offset 0, whether in localized or global formats. For example, "GMT" or "UT" or "UTC+0" or "HPG" => Etc/GMT
18504. If S matches the fallback format, extract P = {0} [ie, the part in parens in the root format] and N = {1}.
1851   If S does not match, set P = "" and N = S.
1852   If N matches the region format, then M = {0} from that format, otherwise M = N.
1853   * For example, "United States (Los Angeles) Time" => N = "United States Time", M = "United States", P = "Los Angeles".
1854   * For example, "United States Time" => N = "United States Time", M = "United States", P = "".
1855   * For example, "United States" => N = M = "United States", P = "".
18565. If P, N, or M is a localized country, set C to that value. If C has only one zone, return it.
1857   * For example, "Italy Time (xxx)" or "xxx (Italy)" => Europe/Rome
1858   * For example, "xxx (Canada)" or "Canada Time (xxx)" => Sets C = CA and continues
18596. If P is a localized exemplar city name (and not metazone), return it.
1860   * For example, "xxxx (Phoenix)" or "Phoenix (xxx)" => America/Phoenix
18617. If N, or M is a localized time zone name (and not metazone), return it.
1862   * For example, "Pacific Standard Time (xxx)" => "America/Los_Angeles" // this is only if "Pacific Standard Time" is not a metazone localization.
18638. If N or M is a localized metazone
1864   * If it corresponds to only one TZID, return it.
1865   * If C is set, look up the Metazone + Country => TZID mapping, and return that value if it exists
1866   * Get the locale's language, and get the default country from that. Look up the Metazone + DefaultCountry => TZID mapping, and return that value if it exists.
1867   * Otherwise, look up Metazone + 001 => TZID and return it (that will always exist)
18689. If you get this far, return an error.
1869
1870> **Note:** This CLDR date parsing recommendation does not fully handle all RFC 788 date/time formats, nor is it intended to.
1871
1872Parsing can be more lenient than the above, allowing for different spacing, punctuation, or other variation. A stricter parse would check for consistency between the xxx portions above and the rest, so "Pacific Standard Time (India)" would give an error.
1873
1874Using this process, a correct parse will roundtrip the location format (VVVV) back to the canonical zoneid.
1875
1876  * Australia/ACTAustralia/Sydney → “Sydney (Australia)” → Australia/Sydney
1877
1878The GMT formats (Z and ZZZZ) will return back an offset, and thus lose the original canonical zone id.
1879
1880  * Australia/ACTAustralia/Sydney → "GMT+11:00" → GMT+11
1881
1882The daylight and standard time formats, and the non-location formats (z, zzzz, v, and vvvv) may either roundtrip back to the original canonical zone id, to a zone in the same metazone that time, or to just an offset, depending on the available translation data. Thus:
1883
1884  * Australia/ACTAustralia/Sydney → "GMT+11:00" → GMT+11
1885  * PST8PDT → America/Los_Angeles → “PST” → America/Los_Angeles
1886  * America/Vancouver → “Pacific Time (Canada)” → America/Vancouver
1887
1888## 8 <a name="Date_Format_Patterns" href="#Date_Format_Patterns">Date Format Patterns</a>
1889
1890A date pattern is a character string consisting of two types of elements:
1891
1892* _Pattern fields_, which repeat a specific _pattern character_ one or more times. These fields are replaced with date and time data from a calendar when formatting, or used to generate data for a calendar when parsing. Currently, A..Z and a..z are reserved for use as pattern characters (unless they are quoted, see next item). The pattern characters currently defined, and the meaning of different fields lengths for then, are listed in the Date Field Symbol Table below.
1893* Literal text, which is output as-is when formatting, and must closely match when parsing. Literal text can include:
1894  * Any characters other than A..Z and a..z, including spaces and punctuation.
1895  * Any text between single vertical quotes ('xxxx'), which may include A..Z and a..z as literal text.
1896  * Two adjacent single vertical quotes (''), which represent a literal single quote, either inside or outside quoted text.
1897
1898The following are examples:
1899
1900###### Table: <a name="Date_Format_Pattern_Examples" href="#Date_Format_Pattern_Examples">Date Format Pattern Examples</a>
1901
1902| Pattern | Result (in a particular locale) |
1903| ------- | ------------------------------- |
1904| yyyy.MM.dd G 'at' HH:mm:ss zzz | 1996.07.10 AD at 15:08:56 PDT |
1905| EEE, MMM d, ''yy | Wed, July 10, '96 |
1906| h:mm a | 12:08 PM |
1907| hh 'o''clock' a, zzzz | 12 o'clock PM, Pacific Daylight Time |
1908| K:mm a, z | 0:00 PM, PST |
1909| yyyyy.MMMM.dd GGG hh:mm aaa | 01996.July.10 AD 12:08 PM |
1910
1911_When parsing using a pattern, a lenient parse should be used; see [Parsing Dates and Times](#Parsing_Dates_Times)._
1912
1913```xml
1914<!ATTLIST pattern numbers CDATA #IMPLIED >
1915```
1916
1917The `numbers` attribute is used to indicate that numeric quantities in the pattern are to be rendered using a numbering system other than the default numbering system defined for the given locale. The attribute can be in one of two forms. If the alternate numbering system is intended to apply to ALL numeric quantities in the pattern, then simply use the numbering system ID as found in [Numbering Systems](tr35-numbers.md#Numbering_Systems). To apply the alternate numbering system only to a single field, the syntax `<letter>=<numberingSystem>` can be used one or more times, separated by semicolons.
1918
1919Examples:
1920
1921```xml
1922<pattern numbers="hebr">dd/mm/yyyy</pattern>
1923<!-- Use Hebrew numerals to represent numbers in the Hebrew calendar, where "latn" numbering system is the default -->
1924
1925<pattern numbers="y=hebr">dd/mm/yyyy</pattern>
1926<!-- Same as above, except that ONLY the year value would be rendered in Hebrew -->
1927
1928<pattern numbers="d=thai;m=hans;y=deva">dd/mm/yyyy</pattern>
1929<!-- Illustrates use of multiple numbering systems for a single pattern. -->
1930```
1931
1932**Pattern fields and the Date Field Symbol Table**
1933
1934The Date Field Symbol Table below shows the pattern characters (Sym.) and associated fields used in date patterns. The length of the pattern field is related to the length and style used to format the data item. For numeric-only fields, the field length typically indicates the minimum number of digits that should be used to display the value (zero-padding as necessary). As an example using pattern character ‘H’ for hour (24-hour cycle) and values 5 and 11, a field “H” should produce formatted results “5” and “11” while a field “HH” should produce formatted results “05” and “11”. For alphanumeric fields (such as months) and alphabetic-only fields (such as era names), the relationship between field length and formatted result may be more complex. Typically this is as follows:
1935
1936<!-- HTML: spanned rows, spanned columns -->
1937 <table>
1938    <tr><th>Pattern field length</th><th>Typical style, alphanumeric item</th><th>Typical style, alpha-only item</th></tr>
1939    <tr><td>1</td><td>Numeric, 1-2 digits (e.g. M)</td><td rowspan="3">Abbreviated (e.g. E, EE, EEE)</td></tr>
1940    <tr><td>2</td><td>Numeric, 2 digits (e.g. MM)</td></tr>
1941    <tr><td>3</td><td>Abbreviated (e.g. MMM)</td></tr>
1942    <tr><td>4</td><td colspan="2">Wide / Long / Full (e.g. MMMM, EEEE)</td></tr>
1943    <tr><td>5</td><td colspan="2">Narrow (e.g. MMMMM, EEEEE)<br/>(The counter-intuitive use of 5 letters for this is forced by backwards compatibility)</td></tr>
1944</table>
1945
1946Notes for the table below:
1947
1948* Any sequence of pattern characters other than those listed below is invalid. Invalid pattern fields should be handled for formatting and parsing as described in [Handling Invalid Patterns](tr35.md#Invalid_Patterns).
1949* The examples in the table below are merely illustrative and may not reflect current actual data.
1950
1951###### Table: <a name="Date_Field_Symbol_Table" href="#Date_Field_Symbol_Table">Date Field Symbol Table</a>
1952
1953<!-- HTML: spanned rows, spanned columns, vertical header cells -->
1954<table><tbody>
1955<tr><th>Field<br/>Type</th><th>Sym.</th><th>Field<br/>Patterns</th><th>Examples</th><th colspan="2">Description</th></tr>
1956
1957<!-- == == == ERA == == == -->
1958<tr><th rowspan="3"><a name="dfst-era" href="#dfst-era">era</a></th><td rowspan="3">G</td><td>G..GGG</td><td>AD<br/>[variant: CE]</td><td>Abbreviated</td><td rowspan="3">Era name. Era string for the current date.</td></tr>
1959    <tr><td>GGGG</td><td>Anno Domini<br/>[variant: Common Era]</td><td>Wide</td></tr>
1960    <tr><td>GGGGG</td><td>A</td><td>Narrow</td></tr>
1961
1962<!-- == == == YEAR == == == -->
1963<tr><th rowspan="15"><a name="dfst-year" href="#dfst-year">year</a><a name="Year_Length_Examples"></a></th><td rowspan="5">y</td><td>y</td><td>2, 20, 201, 2017, 20173</td>
1964        <td rowspan="5" colspan="2">Calendar year (numeric). In most cases the length of the y field specifies the minimum number of digits to display, zero-padded as necessary; more digits will be displayed if needed to show the full year.
1965                                    However, “yy” requests just the two low-order digits of the year, zero-padded as necessary. For most use cases, “y” or “yy” should be adequate.</td></tr>
1966    <tr><td>yy</td><td>02, 20, 01, 17, 73</td></tr>
1967    <tr><td>yyy</td><td>002, 020, 201, 2017, 20173</td></tr>
1968    <tr><td>yyyy</td><td>0002, 0020, 0201, 2017, 20173</td></tr>
1969    <tr><td>yyyyy+</td><td>...</td></tr>
1970    <!--  Y  -->
1971    <tr><td rowspan="5">Y</td><td>Y</td><td>2, 20, 201, 2017, 20173</td>
1972        <td rowspan="5" colspan="2">Year in “Week of Year” based calendars in which the year transition occurs on a week boundary; may differ from calendar year ‘y’ near a year transition.
1973                                    This numeric year designation is used in conjunction with pattern character ‘w’ in the ISO year-week calendar as defined by ISO 8601, but can be used in non-Gregorian based calendar systems where week date processing is desired.
1974                                    The field length is interpreted in the same was as for ‘y’; that is, “yy” specifies use of the two low-order year digits, while any other field length specifies a minimum number of digits to display.</td></tr>
1975    <tr><td>YY</td><td>02, 20, 01, 17, 73</td></tr>
1976    <tr><td>YYY</td><td>002, 020, 201, 2017, 20173</td></tr>
1977    <tr><td>YYYY</td><td>0002, 0020, 0201, 2017, 20173</td></tr>
1978    <tr><td>YYYYY+</td><td>...</td></tr>
1979    <!--  u  -->
1980    <tr><td>u</td><td>u+</td><td>4601</td>
1981        <td colspan="2">Extended year (numeric). This is a single number designating the year of this calendar system, encompassing all supra-year fields.
1982                        For example, for the Julian calendar system, year numbers are positive, with an era of BCE or CE. An extended year value for the Julian calendar system assigns positive values to CE years and negative values to BCE years, with 1 BCE being year 0.
1983                        For ‘u’, all field lengths specify a minimum number of digits; there is no special interpretation for “uu”.</td></tr>
1984    <!--  U  -->
1985    <tr><td rowspan="3">U</td><td>U..UUU</td><td>甲子</td><td>Abbreviated</td>
1986        <td rowspan="3">Cyclic year name. Calendars such as the Chinese lunar calendar (and related calendars) and the Hindu calendars use 60-year cycles of year names.
1987                        If the calendar does not provide cyclic year name data, or if the year value to be formatted is out of the range of years for which cyclic name data is provided, then numeric formatting is used (behaves like 'y').<br/>
1988                        Currently the data only provides abbreviated names, which will be used for all requested name widths.</td></tr>
1989    <tr><td>UUUU</td><td>甲子 [for now]</td><td>Wide</td></tr>
1990    <tr><td>UUUUU</td><td>甲子 [for now]</td><td>Narrow</td></tr>
1991    <!--  r  -->
1992    <tr><td>r</td><td>r+</td><td>2017</td>
1993        <td colspan="2">Related Gregorian year (numeric).
1994                        For non-Gregorian calendars, this corresponds to the extended Gregorian year in which the calendar’s year begins.
1995                        Related Gregorian years are often displayed, for example, when formatting dates in the Japanese calendar — e.g. “2012(平成24)年1月15日” — or in the Chinese calendar — e.g. “2012壬辰年腊月初四”.
1996                        The related Gregorian year is usually displayed using the "latn" numbering system, regardless of what numbering systems may be used for other parts of the formatted date.
1997                        If the calendar’s year is linked to the solar year (perhaps using leap months), then for that calendar the ‘r’ year will always be at a fixed offset from the ‘u’ year.
1998                        For the Gregorian calendar, the ‘r’ year is the same as the ‘u’ year. For ‘r’, all field lengths specify a minimum number of digits; there is no special interpretation for “rr”.</td></tr>
1999
2000<!-- == == == QUARTER == == == -->
2001<tr><th rowspan="10"><a name="dfst-quarter" id="dfst-quarter" href="#dfst-quarter">quarter</a></th><td rowspan="5">Q</td><td>Q</td><td>2</td><td>Numeric: 1 digit</td><td rowspan="5">Quarter number/name.</td></tr>
2002    <tr><td>QQ</td><td>02</td><td>Numeric: 2 digits + zero pad</td></tr>
2003    <tr><td>QQQ</td><td>Q2</td><td>Abbreviated</td></tr>
2004    <tr><td>QQQQ</td><td>2nd quarter</td><td>Wide</td></tr>
2005    <tr><td>QQQQQ</td><td>2</td><td>Narrow</td></tr>
2006    <!--  q  -->
2007    <tr><td rowspan="5">q</td><td>q</td><td>2</td><td>Numeric: 1 digit</td><td rowspan="5"><b>Stand-Alone</b> Quarter number/name.</td></tr>
2008    <tr><td>qq</td><td>02</td><td>Numeric: 2 digits + zero pad</td></tr>
2009    <tr><td>qqq</td><td>Q2</td><td>Abbreviated</td></tr>
2010    <tr><td>qqqq</td><td>2nd quarter</td><td>Wide</td></tr>
2011    <tr><td>qqqqq</td><td>2</td><td>Narrow</td></tr>
2012
2013<!-- == == == MONTH == == == -->
2014<tr><th rowspan="11"><a name="dfst-month" id="dfst-month" href="#dfst-month">month</a></th><td rowspan="5">M</td><td>M</td><td>9, 12</td><td>Numeric: minimum digits</td><td rowspan="5"><b>Format</b> style month number/name: The format style name is an additional form of the month name (besides the stand-alone style) that can be used in contexts where it is different than the stand-alone form. For example, depending on the language, patterns that combine month with day-of month (e.g. "d MMMM") may require the month to be in genitive form. See discussion of <a href="#months_days_quarters_eras">month element</a>. If a separate form is not needed, the format and stand-alone forms can be the same.</td></tr>
2015    <tr><td>MM</td><td>09, 12</td><td>Numeric: 2 digits, zero pad if needed</td></tr>
2016    <tr><td>MMM</td><td>Sep</td><td>Abbreviated</td></tr>
2017    <tr><td>MMMM</td><td>September</td><td>Wide</td></tr>
2018    <tr><td>MMMMM</td><td>S</td><td>Narrow</td></tr>
2019    <!--  L  -->
2020    <tr><td rowspan="5">L</td><td>L</td><td>9, 12</td><td>Numeric: minimum digits</td><td rowspan="5"><b>Stand-Alone</b> month number/name: For use when the month is displayed by itself, and in any other date pattern (e.g. just month and year, e.g. "LLLL y") that shares the same form of the month name. For month names, this is typically the nominative form. See discussion of <a href="#months_days_quarters_eras">month element</a>.</td></tr>
2021    <tr><td>LL</td><td>09, 12</td><td>Numeric: 2 digits, zero pad if needed</td></tr>
2022    <tr><td>LLL</td><td>Sep</td><td>Abbreviated</td></tr>
2023    <tr><td>LLLL</td><td>September</td><td>Wide</td></tr>
2024    <tr><td>LLLLL</td><td>S</td><td>Narrow</td></tr>
2025    <!--  l  -->
2026    <tr><td>l</td><td>l</td><td>[nothing]</td>
2027        <td colspan="2">This pattern character is deprecated, and should be ignored in patterns.
2028                        It was originally intended to be used in combination with M to indicate placement of the symbol for leap month in the Chinese calendar.
2029                        Placement of that marker is now specified using locale-specific &lt;monthPatterns&gt; data, and formatting and parsing of that marker should be handled as part of supporting the regular M and L pattern characters.</td></tr>
2030
2031<!-- == == == WEEK == == == -->
2032<tr><th rowspan="3"><a name="dfst-week" id="dfst-week" href="#dfst-week">week</a></th><td rowspan="2">w</td><td>w</td><td>8, 27</td><td>Numeric: minimum digits</td><td rowspan="2">Week of Year (numeric). When used in a pattern with year, use ‘Y’ for the year field instead of ‘y’.</td></tr>
2033    <tr><td>ww</td><td>08, 27</td><td>Numeric: 2 digits, zero pad if needed</td></tr>
2034    <!--  W  -->
2035    <tr><td>W</td><td>W</td><td>3</td><td>Numeric: 1 digit</td><td>Week of Month (numeric)</td></tr>
2036
2037<!-- == == == DAY == == == -->
2038<tr><th rowspan="5"><a name="dfst-day" id="dfst-day" href="#dfst-day">day</a></th><td rowspan="2">d</td><td>d</td><td>1</td><td>Numeric: minimum digits</td><td rowspan="2">Day of month (numeric).</td></tr>
2039    <tr><td>dd</td><td>01</td><td>Numeric: 2 digits, zero pad if needed</td></tr>
2040    <tr><td>D</td><td>D...DDD</td><td>345</td><td colspan="2">Day of year (numeric). The field length specifies the minimum number of digits, with zero-padding as necessary.</td></tr>
2041    <tr><td>F</td><td>F</td><td>2</td><td colspan="2">Day of Week in Month (numeric). The example is for the 2nd Wed in July</td></tr>
2042    <tr><td>g</td><td>g+</td><td>2451334</td>
2043        <td colspan="2">Modified Julian day (numeric).
2044                        This is different from the conventional Julian day number in two regards.
2045                        First, it demarcates days at local zone midnight, rather than noon GMT.
2046                        Second, it is a local number; that is, it depends on the local time zone.
2047                        It can be thought of as a single number that encompasses all the date-related fields.
2048                        The field length specifies the minimum number of digits, with zero-padding as necessary.</td></tr>
2049
2050<!-- == == == WEEKDAY == == == -->
2051<tr><th rowspan="15"><a name="dfst-weekday" id="dfst-weekday" href="#dfst-weekday">week<br/>day</a></th><td rowspan="4">E</td><td>E..EEE</td><td>Tue</td><td>Abbreviated</td><td rowspan="4">Day of week name, format style.</td></tr>
2052    <tr><td>EEEE</td><td>Tuesday</td><td>Wide</td></tr>
2053    <tr><td>EEEEE</td><td>T</td><td>Narrow</td></tr>
2054    <tr><td>EEEEEE</td><td>Tu</td><td>Short</td></tr>
2055    <!--  e  -->
2056    <tr><td rowspan="6">e</td><td>e</td><td>2</td><td>Numeric: 1 digit</td>
2057        <td rowspan="6">Local day of week number/name, format style.
2058                        Same as E except adds a numeric value that will depend on the local starting day of the week.
2059                        For this example, Monday is the first day of the week.</td></tr>
2060    <tr><td>ee</td><td>02</td><td>Numeric: 2 digits + zero pad</td></tr>
2061    <tr><td>eee</td><td>Tue</td><td>Abbreviated</td></tr>
2062    <tr><td>eeee</td><td>Tuesday</td><td>Wide</td></tr>
2063    <tr><td>eeeee</td><td>T</td><td>Narrow</td></tr>
2064    <tr><td>eeeeee</td><td>Tu</td><td>Short</td></tr>
2065    <!--  c  -->
2066    <tr><td rowspan="5">c</td><td>c..cc</td><td>2</td><td>Numeric: 1 digit</td><td rowspan="5"><b>Stand-Alone</b> local day of week number/name.</td></tr>
2067    <tr><td>ccc</td><td>Tue</td><td>Abbreviated</td></tr>
2068    <tr><td>cccc</td><td>Tuesday</td><td>Wide</td></tr>
2069    <tr><td>ccccc</td><td>T</td><td>Narrow</td></tr>
2070    <tr><td>cccccc</td><td>Tu</td><td>Short</td></tr>
2071
2072<!-- == == == PERIOD == == == -->
2073<tr><th rowspan="9"><a name="dfst-period" id="dfst-period" href="#dfst-period">period</a></th><td rowspan="3">a</td><td>a..aaa</td><td>am. [e.g. 12 am.]</td><td>Abbreviated</td>
2074        <td rowspan="3"><strong>AM, PM<br/></strong>May be upper or lowercase depending on the locale and other options.
2075                                                    The wide form may be the same as the short form if the “real” long form (eg <em>ante meridiem</em>) is not customarily used.
2076                                                    The narrow form must be unique, unlike some other fields.
2077                                                    See also Section 9 <a href="#Parsing_Dates_Times">Parsing Dates and Times</a>.</td></tr>
2078    <tr><td>aaaa</td><td>am. [e.g. 12 am.]</td><td>Wide</td></tr>
2079    <tr><td>aaaaa</td><td>a [e.g. 12a]</td><td>Narrow</td></tr>
2080    <!--  b  -->
2081    <tr><td rowspan="3">b</td><td>b..bbb</td><td>mid. [e.g. 12 mid.]</td><td>Abbreviated</td>
2082        <td rowspan="3"><strong>am, pm, noon, midnight</strong><br/>May be upper or lowercase depending on the locale and other options.
2083                        If the locale doesn't have the notion of a unique "noon" = 12:00, then the PM form may be substituted.
2084                        Similarly for "midnight" = 00:00 and the AM form.
2085                        The narrow form must be unique, unlike some other fields.</td></tr>
2086    <tr><td>bbbb</td><td>midnight<br/>[e.g. 12 midnight]</td><td>Wide</td></tr>
2087    <tr><td>bbbbb</td><td>md [e.g. 12 md]</td><td>Narrow</td></tr>
2088    <!--  B  -->
2089    <tr><td rowspan="3">B</td><td>B..BBB</td><td>at night<br/>[e.g. 3:00 at night]</td><td>Abbreviated</td>
2090        <td rowspan="3"><strong>flexible day periods</strong><br/>
2091                        May be upper or lowercase depending on the locale and other options.
2092                        Often there is only one width that is customarily used.</td></tr>
2093    <tr><td>BBBB</td><td>at night<br/>[e.g. 3:00 at night]</td><td>Wide</td></tr>
2094    <tr><td>BBBBB</td><td>at night<br/>[e.g. 3:00 at night]</td><td>Narrow</td></tr>
2095
2096<!-- == == == HOUR == == == -->
2097<tr><th rowspan="22"><a name="dfst-hour" id="dfst-hour" href="#dfst-hour">hour</a></th><td rowspan="2">h</td><td>h</td><td>1, 12</td><td>Numeric: minimum digits</td>
2098        <td rowspan="2">Hour [1-12]. When used in skeleton data or in a skeleton passed in an API for flexible date pattern generation, it should match the 12-hour-cycle format preferred by the locale (h or K); it should not match a 24-hour-cycle format (H or k).</td></tr>
2099<tr><td>hh</td><td>01, 12</td><td>Numeric: 2 digits, zero pad if needed</td></tr>
2100    <!--  H  -->
2101    <tr><td rowspan="2">H</td><td>H</td><td>0, 23</td><td>Numeric: minimum digits</td>
2102        <td rowspan="2">Hour [0-23]. When used in skeleton data or in a skeleton passed in an API for flexible date pattern generation, it should match the 24-hour-cycle format preferred by the locale (H or k); it should not match a 12-hour-cycle format (h or K).</td></tr>
2103    <tr><td>HH</td><td>00, 23</td><td>Numeric: 2 digits, zero pad if needed</td></tr>
2104    <!--  K  -->
2105    <tr><td rowspan="2">K</td><td>K</td><td>0, 11</td><td>Numeric: minimum digits</td>
2106        <td rowspan="2">Hour [0-11]. When used in a skeleton, only matches K or h, see above.</td></tr>
2107    <tr><td>KK</td><td>00, 11</td><td>Numeric: 2 digits, zero pad if needed</td></tr>
2108    <!--  k  -->
2109    <tr><td rowspan="2">k</td><td>k</td><td>1, 24</td><td>Numeric: minimum digits</td>
2110        <td rowspan="2">Hour [1-24]. When used in a skeleton, only matches k or H, see above.</td></tr>
2111    <tr><td>kk</td><td>01, 24</td><td>Numeric: 2 digits, zero pad if needed</td></tr>
2112    <!--  j  -->
2113    <tr><td rowspan="6">j</td><td>j</td><td>8<br/>8 AM<br/>13<br/>1 PM</td><td>Numeric hour (minimum digits), abbreviated dayPeriod if used</td>
2114        <td rowspan="6"><em><strong>Input skeleton symbol</strong></em><br/>
2115                        It must not occur in pattern or skeleton data.
2116                        Instead, it is reserved for use in skeletons passed to APIs doing flexible date pattern generation.
2117                        In such a context, it requests the preferred hour format for the locale (h, H, K, or k), as determined by the <strong>preferred</strong> attribute of the <strong>hours</strong> element in supplemental data.
2118                        In the implementation of such an API, 'j' must be replaced by h, H, K, or k before beginning a match against availableFormats data.<br/>
2119                        Note that use of 'j' in a skeleton passed to an API is the only way to have a skeleton request a locale's preferred time cycle type (12-hour or 24-hour).</td></tr>
2120    <tr><td>jj</td><td>08<br/>08 AM<br/>13<br/>01 PM</td><td>Numeric hour (2 digits, zero pad if needed), abbreviated dayPeriod if used</td></tr>
2121    <tr><td>jjj</td><td>8<br/>8 A.M.<br/>13<br/>1 P.M.</td><td>Numeric hour (minimum digits), wide dayPeriod if used</td></tr>
2122    <tr><td>jjjj</td><td>08<br/>08 A.M.<br/>13<br/>01 P.M.</td><td>Numeric hour (2 digits, zero pad if needed), wide dayPeriod if used</td></tr>
2123    <tr><td>jjjjj</td><td>8<br/>8a<br/>13<br/>1p</td><td>Numeric hour (minimum digits), narrow dayPeriod if used</td></tr>
2124    <tr><td>jjjjjj</td><td>08<br/>08a<br/>13<br/>01p</td><td>Numeric hour (2 digits, zero pad if needed), narrow dayPeriod if used</td></tr>
2125    <!--  J  -->
2126    <tr><td rowspan="2">J</td><td>J</td><td>8<br/>8</td><td>Numeric hour (minimum digits)</td>
2127        <td rowspan="2"><em><strong>Input skeleton symbol</strong></em><br/>It must not occur in pattern or skeleton data.
2128                        Instead, it is reserved for use in skeletons passed to APIs doing flexible date pattern generation.
2129                        In such a context, like 'j', it requests the preferred hour format for the locale (h, H, K, or k), as determined by the <strong>preferred</strong> attribute of the <strong>hours</strong> element in supplemental data.
2130                        However, unlike 'j', it requests no dayPeriod marker such as “am/pm” (it is typically used where there is enough context that that is not necessary).
2131                        For example, with "jmm", 18:00 could appear as “6:00 PM”, while with "Jmm", it would appear as “6:00” (no PM).</td></tr>
2132    <tr><td>JJ</td><td>08<br/>08</td><td>Numeric hour (2 digits, zero pad if needed)</td></tr>
2133    <!--  C  -->
2134    <tr><td rowspan="6">C</td><td>C</td><td>8<br/>8 (morning)</td><td>Numeric hour (minimum digits), abbreviated dayPeriod if used</td>
2135        <td rowspan="6"><em><strong>Input skeleton symbol</strong></em><br/>It must not occur in pattern or skeleton data.
2136                        Instead, it is reserved for use in skeletons passed to APIs doing flexible date pattern generation.
2137                        In such a context, like 'j', it requests the preferred hour format for the locale.
2138                        However, unlike 'j', it can also select formats such as hb or hB, since it is based not on the <strong>preferred</strong> attribute of the <strong>hours</strong> element in supplemental data, but instead on the first element of the <strong>allowed</strong> attribute (which is an ordered preferrence list).
2139                        For example, with "Cmm", 18:00 could appear as “6:00 in the afternoon”.</td></tr>
2140    <tr><td>CC</td><td>08<br/>08 (morning)</td><td>Numeric hour (2 digits, zero pad if needed), abbreviated dayPeriod if used</td></tr>
2141    <tr><td>CCC</td><td>8<br/>8 in the morning</td><td>Numeric hour (minimum digits), wide dayPeriod if used</td></tr>
2142    <tr><td>CCCC</td><td>08<br/>08 in the morning</td><td>Numeric hour (2 digits, zero pad if needed), wide dayPeriod if used</td></tr>
2143    <tr><td>CCCCC</td><td>8<br/>8 (morn.)</td><td>Numeric hour (minimum digits), narrow dayPeriod if used</td></tr>
2144    <tr><td>CCCCCC</td><td>08<br/>08 (morn.)</td><td>Numeric hour (2 digits, zero pad if needed), narrow dayPeriod if used</td></tr>
2145
2146<!-- == == == MINUTE == == == -->
2147<tr><th rowspan="2"><a name="dfst-minute" id="dfst-minute" href="#dfst-minute">minute</a></th><td rowspan="2">m</td><td>m</td><td>8, 59</td><td>Numeric: minimum digits</td>
2148        <td rowspan="2">Minute (numeric). Truncated, not rounded.<br/></td></tr>
2149    <tr><td>mm</td><td>08, 59</td><td>Numeric: 2 digits, zero pad if needed</td></tr>
2150
2151<!-- == == == SECOND == == == -->
2152<tr><th rowspan="4"><a name="dfst-second" id="dfst-second" href="#dfst-second">second</a></th><td rowspan="2">s</td><td>s</td><td>8, 12</td><td>Numeric: minimum digits</td>
2153        <td rowspan="2">Second (numeric). Truncated, not rounded.<br/></td></tr>
2154    <tr><td>ss</td><td>08, 12</td><td>Numeric: 2 digits, zero pad if needed</td></tr>
2155    <tr><td>S</td><td>S+</td><td>3456</td>
2156        <td colspan="2">Fractional Second (numeric).
2157                        Truncates, like other numeric time fields, but in this case to the number of digits specified by the field length.
2158                        (Example shows display using pattern SSSS for seconds value 12.34567)</td></tr>
2159    <tr><td>A</td><td>A+</td><td>69540000</td>
2160        <td colspan="2">Milliseconds in day (numeric).
2161                        This field behaves <i>exactly</i> like a composite of all time-related fields, not including the zone fields.
2162                        As such, it also reflects discontinuities of those fields on DST transition days. On a day of DST onset, it will jump forward.
2163                        On a day of DST cessation, it will jump backward.
2164                        This reflects the fact that it must be combined with the offset field to obtain a unique local time value.
2165                        The field length specifies the minimum number of digits, with zero-padding as necessary.</td></tr>
2166
2167<!-- == == == SEPARATOR == == == -->
2168<tr><th><a name="dfst-sep" id="dfst-sep" href="#dfst-sep">sep.</a></th><td>(none def., see note)</td><td></td><td></td>
2169        <td colspan="2">Time separator.<br/><br/><span class="note"><b>Note:</b>
2170                        In CLDR 26 the time separator pattern character was specified to be COLON.
2171                        This was withdrawn in CLDR 28 due to backward compatibility issues, and no time separator pattern character is currently defined.</span><br/><br/>
2172                        Like the use of "," in number formats, this character in a date pattern is replaced with the corresponding number symbol which may depend on the numbering system.
2173                        For more information, see <em><strong>Part 3: <a href="tr35-numbers.md#Contents">Numbers</a></strong>, Section 2.3 <a href="tr35-numbers.md#Number_Symbols">Number Symbols</a></em>.</td></tr>
2174
2175<!-- == == == ZONE == == == -->
2176<tr><th rowspan="23"><a name="dfst-zone" id="dfst-zone" href="#dfst-zone">zone</a></th><td rowspan="2">z</td><td>z..zzz</td><td>PDT</td>
2177        <td colspan="2">The <i>short specific non-location format</i>. Where that is unavailable, falls back to the <i>short localized GMT format</i> ("O").</td></tr>
2178    <tr><td>zzzz</td><td>Pacific Daylight Time</td>
2179        <td colspan="2">The <i>long specific non-location format</i>.
2180                        Where that is unavailable, falls back to the <i>long localized GMT format</i> ("OOOO").</td></tr>
2181    <!--  Z  -->
2182    <tr><td rowspan="3">Z</td><td>Z..ZZZ</td><td>-0800</td>
2183        <td colspan="2">The <i>ISO8601 basic format</i> with hours, minutes and optional seconds fields.
2184                        The format is equivalent to RFC 822 zone format (when optional seconds field is absent).
2185                        This is equivalent to the "xxxx" specifier.</td></tr>
2186    <tr><td>ZZZZ</td><td>GMT-8:00</td>
2187        <td colspan="2">The <i>long localized GMT format</i>.
2188                        This is equivalent to the "OOOO" specifier.</td></tr>
2189    <tr><td>ZZZZZ</td><td>-08:00<br/>-07:52:58</td>
2190        <td colspan="2">The <i>ISO8601 extended format</i> with hours, minutes and optional seconds fields.
2191                        The ISO8601 UTC indicator "Z" is used when local time offset is 0.
2192                        This is equivalent to the "XXXXX" specifier.</td></tr>
2193    <!--  O  -->
2194    <tr><td rowspan="2">O</td><td>O</td><td>GMT-8</td><td colspan="2">The <i>short localized GMT format</i>.</td></tr>
2195    <tr><td>OOOO</td><td>GMT-08:00</td><td colspan="2">The <i>long localized GMT format</i>.</td></tr>
2196    <!--  v  -->
2197    <tr><td rowspan="2">v</td><td>v</td><td>PT</td>
2198        <td colspan="2">The <i>short generic non-location format</i>
2199                        Where that is unavailable, falls back to the <i>generic location format</i> ("VVVV"), then the <i>short localized GMT format</i> as the final fallback.</td></tr>
2200    <tr><td>vvvv</td><td>Pacific Time</td>
2201        <td colspan="2">The <i>long generic non-location format</i>.
2202                        Where that is unavailable, falls back to <i>generic location format</i> ("VVVV").</td></tr>
2203    <!--  V  -->
2204    <tr><td rowspan="4">V</td><td>V</td><td>uslax</td>
2205        <td colspan="2">The short time zone ID. Where that is unavailable, the special short time zone ID <i>unk</i> (Unknown Zone) is used.<br/>
2206                        <i><b>Note</b>: This specifier was originally used for a variant of the short specific non-location format, but it was deprecated in the later version of this specification.
2207                        In CLDR 23, the definition of the specifier was changed to designate a short time zone ID.</i></td></tr>
2208    <tr><td>VV</td><td>America/Los_Angeles</td><td colspan="2">The long time zone ID.</td></tr>
2209    <tr><td>VVV</td><td>Los Angeles</td>
2210        <td colspan="2">The exemplar city (location) for the time zone.
2211                        Where that is unavailable, the localized exemplar city name for the special zone <i>Etc/Unknown</i> is used as the fallback (for example, "Unknown City").</td></tr>
2212    <tr><td>VVVV</td><td>Los Angeles Time</td>
2213        <td colspan="2">The <i>generic location format</i>.
2214                        Where that is unavailable, falls back to the <i>long localized GMT format</i> ("OOOO"; Note: Fallback is only necessary with a GMT-style Time Zone ID, like Etc/GMT-830.)<br/>
2215                        This is especially useful when presenting possible timezone choices for user selection, since the naming is more uniform than the "v" format.</td></tr>
2216    <!--  X  -->
2217    <tr><td rowspan="5">X</td><td>X</td><td>-08<br/>+0530<br/>Z</td>
2218        <td colspan="2">The <i>ISO8601 basic format</i> with hours field and optional minutes field.
2219                        The ISO8601 UTC indicator "Z" is used when local time offset is 0. (The same as x, plus "Z".)</td></tr>
2220    <tr><td>XX</td><td>-0800<br/>Z</td>
2221        <td colspan="2">The <i>ISO8601 basic format</i> with hours and minutes fields.
2222                        The ISO8601 UTC indicator "Z" is used when local time offset is 0. (The same as xx, plus "Z".)</td></tr>
2223    <tr><td>XXX</td><td>-08:00<br/>Z</td>
2224        <td colspan="2">The <i>ISO8601 extended format</i> with hours and minutes fields.
2225                        The ISO8601 UTC indicator "Z" is used when local time offset is 0. (The same as xxx, plus "Z".)</td></tr>
2226    <tr><td>XXXX</td><td>-0800<br/>-075258<br/>Z</td>
2227        <td colspan="2">The <i>ISO8601 basic format</i> with hours, minutes and optional seconds fields.
2228                        The ISO8601 UTC indicator "Z" is used when local time offset is 0. (The same as xxxx, plus "Z".)<br/>
2229                        <i><b>Note</b>: The seconds field is not supported by the ISO8601 specification.</i></td></tr>
2230    <tr><td>XXXXX</td><td>-08:00<br/>-07:52:58<br/>Z</td>
2231        <td colspan="2">The <i>ISO8601 extended format</i> with hours, minutes and optional seconds fields.
2232                        The ISO8601 UTC indicator "Z" is used when local time offset is 0. (The same as xxxxx, plus "Z".)<br/>
2233                        <i><b>Note</b>: The seconds field is not supported by the ISO8601 specification.</i></td></tr>
2234    <!--  x  -->
2235    <tr><td rowspan="5">x</td><td>x</td><td>-08<br/>+0530<br/>+00</td>
2236        <td colspan="2">The <i>ISO8601 basic format</i> with hours field and optional minutes field. (The same as X, minus "Z".)</td></tr>
2237    <tr><td>xx</td><td>-0800<br/>+0000</td>
2238        <td colspan="2">The <i>ISO8601 basic format</i> with hours and minutes fields. (The same as XX, minus "Z".)</td></tr>
2239    <tr><td>xxx</td><td>-08:00<br/>+00:00</td>
2240        <td colspan="2">The <i>ISO8601 extended format</i> with hours and minutes fields. (The same as XXX, minus "Z".)</td></tr>
2241    <tr><td>xxxx</td><td>-0800<br/>-075258<br/>+0000</td>
2242        <td colspan="2">The <i>ISO8601 basic format</i> with hours, minutes and optional seconds fields. (The same as XXXX, minus "Z".)<br/>
2243                        <i><b>Note</b>: The seconds field is not supported by the ISO8601 specification.</i></td></tr>
2244    <tr><td>xxxxx</td><td>-08:00<br/>-07:52:58<br/>+00:00</td>
2245        <td colspan="2">The <i>ISO8601 extended format</i> with hours, minutes and optional seconds fields. (The same as XXXXX, minus "Z".)<br/>
2246                        <i><b>Note</b>: The seconds field is not supported by the ISO8601 specification.</i></td></tr>
2247</tbody></table>
2248
2249### 8.1 <a name="Localized_Pattern_Characters" href="#Localized_Pattern_Characters">Localized Pattern Characters (deprecated)</a>
2250
2251These are characters that can be used when displaying a date pattern to an end user. This can occur, for example, when a spreadsheet allows users to specify date patterns. Whatever is in the string is substituted one-for-one with the characters "GyMdkHmsSEDFwWahKzYeugAZvcLQqVUOXxr", with the above meanings. Thus, for example, if 'J' is to be used instead of 'Y' to mean Year (for Week of Year), then the string would be: "GyMdkHmsSEDFwWahKzJeugAZvcLQqVUOXxr".
2252
2253This element is deprecated. It is recommended instead that a more sophisticated UI be used for localization, such as using icons to represent the different formats (and lengths) in the [Date Field Symbol Table](#Date_Field_Symbol_Table).
2254
2255### 8.2 <a name="Date_Patterns_AM_PM" href="#Date_Patterns_AM_PM">AM / PM</a>
2256
2257Even for countries where the customary date format only has a 24 hour format, both the am and pm localized strings must be present and must be distinct from one another. Note that as long as the 24 hour format is used, these strings will normally never be used, but for testing and unusual circumstances they must be present.
2258
2259### 8.3 <a name="Date_Patterns_Eras" href="#Date_Patterns_Eras">Eras</a>
2260
2261There are only two values for era in the Gregorian calendar, with two common naming conventions (here in abbreviated form for English): "BC" and "AD", or "BCE" and "CE". These values can be translated into other languages, like "a.C." and "d.C." for Spanish, but there are no other eras in the Gregorian calendar. Other calendars have different numbers of eras. Care should be taken when translating the era names for a specific calendar.
2262
2263### 8.4 <a name="Date_Patterns_Week_Of_Year" href="#Date_Patterns_Week_Of_Year">Week of Year</a>
2264
2265Values calculated for the Week of Year field range from 1 to 53 for the Gregorian calendar (they may have different ranges for other calendars). Week 1 for a year is the first week that contains at least the specified minimum number of days from that year. Weeks between week 1 of one year and week 1 of the following year are numbered sequentially from 2 to 52 or 53 (if needed). For example, January 1, 1998 was a Thursday. If the first day of the week is MONDAY and the minimum days in a week is 4 (these are the values reflecting ISO 8601 and many national standards), then week 1 of 1998 starts on December 29, 1997, and ends on January 4, 1998. However, if the first day of the week is SUNDAY, then week 1 of 1998 starts on January 4, 1998, and ends on January 10, 1998. The first three days of 1998 are then part of week 53 of 1997.
2266
2267Values are similarly calculated for the Week of Month.
2268
2269### 8.5 <a name="Date_Patterns_Week_Elements" href="#Date_Patterns_Week_Elements">Week Elements</a>
2270
2271**firstDay**
2272
2273A number indicating which day of the week is considered the 'first' day, for calendar purposes. Because the ordering of days may vary between calendar, keywords are used for this value, such as sun, mon, …. These values will be replaced by the localized name when they are actually used.
2274
2275**minDays (Minimal Days in First Week)**
2276
2277Minimal days required in the first week of a month or year. For example, if the first week is defined as one that contains at least one day, this value will be 1. If it must contain a full seven days before it counts as the first week, then the value would be 7.
2278
2279**weekendStart, weekendEnd**
2280
2281Indicates the day and time that the weekend starts or ends. As with firstDay, keywords are used instead of numbers.
2282
2283## 9 <a name="Parsing_Dates_Times" href="#Parsing_Dates_Times">Parsing Dates and Times</a>
2284
2285For general information on lenient parsing, see [Lenient Parsing](tr35.md#Lenient_Parsing) in the core specification. This section provides additional information specific to parsing of dates and times.
2286
2287Lenient parsing of date and time strings is especially complicated, due to the large number of possible fields and formats. The fields fall into two categories: numeric fields (hour, day of month, year, numeric month, and so on) and symbolic fields (era, quarter, month, weekday, AM/PM, time zone). In addition, the user may type in a date or time in a form that is significantly different from the normal format for the locale, and the application must use the locale information to figure out what the user meant. Input may well consist of nothing but a string of numbers with separators, for example, "09/05/02 09:57:33".
2288
2289The input can be separated into tokens: numbers, symbols, and literal strings. Some care must be taken due to ambiguity, for example, in the Japanese locale the symbol for March is "3 月", which looks like a number followed by a literal. To avoid these problems, symbols should be checked first, and spaces should be ignored (except to delimit the tokens of the input string).
2290
2291The meaning of symbol fields should be easy to determine; the problem is determining the meaning of the numeric fields. Disambiguation will likely be most successful if it is based on heuristics. Here are some rules that can help:
2292
2293* Always try the format string expected for the input text first. This is the only way to disambiguate 03/07 (March 2007, a credit card expiration date) from 03/07 (March 7, a birthday).
2294* Attempt to match fields and literals against those in the format string, using loose matching of the tokens. In particular, Unicode normalization and case variants should be accepted. Alternate symbols can also be accepted where unambiguous: for example, “11.30 am”.
2295* When matching symbols, try the narrow, abbreviated, and full-width forms, including standalone forms if they are unique. You may want to allow prefix matches too, or diacritic-insensitive, again, as long as they are unique. For example, for a month, accept 9, 09, S, Se, Sep, Sept, Sept., and so on. For abbreviated symbols (e.g. names of eras, months, weekdays), allow matches both with and without an abbreviation marker such as period (or whatever else may be customary in the locale); abbreviated forms in the CLDR data may or may not have such a marker.
2296  * Note: While parsing of narrow date values (e.g. month or day names) may be required in order to obtain minimum information from a formatted date (for instance, the only month information may be in a narrow form), the results are not guaranteed; parsing of an ambiguous formatted date string may produce a result that differs from the date originally used to create the formatted string.
2297  * For day periods, ASCII variants for AM/PM such as “am”, “a.m.”, “am.” (and their case variants) should be accepted, since they are widely used as alternates to native formats.
2298* When a field or literal is encountered that is not compatible with the pattern:
2299  * Synchronization is not necessary for symbolic fields, since they are self-identifying. Wait until a numeric field or literal is encountered before attempting to resynchronize.
2300  * Ignore whether the input token is symbolic or numeric, if it is compatible with the current field in the pattern.
2301  * Look forward or backward in the current format string for a literal that matches the one most recently encountered. See if you can resynchronize from that point. Use the value of the numeric field to resynchronize as well, if possible (for example, a number larger than the largest month cannot be a month).
2302  * If that fails, use other format strings from the locale (including those in `<availableFormats>`) to try to match the previous or next symbol or literal (again, using a loose match).
2303
2304* * *
2305
2306Copyright © 2001–2022 Unicode, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Unicode Consortium makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind, and assumes no liability for errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental and consequential damages in connection with or arising out of the use of the information or programs contained or accompanying this technical report. The Unicode [Terms of Use](https://www.unicode.org/copyright.html) apply.
2307
2308Unicode and the Unicode logo are trademarks of Unicode, Inc., and are registered in some jurisdictions.
2309