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Datetime.conf

The output, or display, of dates and times inside dateRange metadata elements can be configured in datetime.conf. For valid formats for dates and times, please visit Date and Time Formats.

Date/time output configuration

In Datetime.conf, you may define common text expressions you wish to have the date/time parser convert to dates. The text expression on the left side of the equal sign must be all lowercase; the date/time expression on the right side must be valid and parsable:

expressions = {
us civil war = 1861 to 1865,
world war 2 = 1939 to 1945,
nickel empire = 1920s,
}

Output options for date/times

SettingDescriptionOptions
dateFormatFormat to use for dates. “Original” is the date as entered by the user; other values will normalize all date/time input to the selected standard format.Valid values are text, delimited, iso8601, and original. The default is text.
timeOmitYou may output or omit the time portion of date time expressions.1 (yes) or 0 (no)
showCommaAfterDayForTextDatesIf set to a non-zero value commas are included after the day in a US-style (month first) text dateDefault = 0
timeFormatFormat to use for times. “12” displays as, for example, 3:15 PM, where “24” would display at 15:15PM.Valid values are 12 and 24. Default = 24.
useQuarterCenturySyntaxForDisplayIf true dates ranging over uniform quarter centuries, such as 1900-1925 or 1975-2000 will be output in the format “20 Q1” eg. 1st quarter of 20th century, or 1900-1925.1 (yes) or 0 (no)
useRomanNumeralsForCenturiesIf true century only dates (eg “18th century”) will be output in roman numerals like “XVIIIth century”.1 (yes) or 0 (no)
timeDelimiterIf true century only dates (eg “18th century”) will be output in roman numerals like “XVIIIth century”.:
timeRangeConjunctionDelimiter in time display; must be valid for the current language or default will be used; Default is first delimiter in language config file.-
rangePreConjunctionText to put between times in a range; must be valid for the current language or default will be used; default is first in language config.from
rangeConjunctionText to place before date/times in a range; must be valid for the current language or default will be used. Default is none.to
dateTimeConjunctionText to place between date/times in a range; must be valid for the current language or default will be used.to
showADEraIf set to a non-zero value the “AD” era will be show for all dates; default is to only show it in ranges that span era1 or 0
uncertaintyIndicatorText to use to indicate date is uncertain; must be valid for the current language or default will be used.circa
dateDelimiterText to place before date/times in a range; must be valid for the current language or default will be used. Default is none.
circaIndicatorText to place before date/times to indicate it is a “circa”, or uncertain, date. Must be valid for the current language or default will be used.circa
beforeQualifierText to place before a date/time to indicate that it is no later than the specified date; must be valid for the current language or default will be used.before/prior to
afterQualifierText to place before a date/time to indicate that it is no earlier than the specified date; must be valid for the current language or default will be used.after
presentDateText that represents the current date; must be valid for the current language or default will be used.today