Xref: utzoo comp.mail.mush:546 comp.mail.misc:2929
Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!xanth!talos!kjones
From: kjones@talos.uu.net (Kyle Jones)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.mush,comp.mail.misc
Subject: Re: Time Zones -- help me out
Message-ID: <1990Feb12.181547.27427@talos.uu.net>
Date: 12 Feb 90 18:15:47 GMT
References: <3257@taux01.UUCP> <7129@ogicse.ogc.edu> <7135@ogicse.ogc.edu>
Reply-To: kyle@xanth.cs.odu.edu
Lines: 21

Barton E. Schaefer writes:
 >      *   day_number month_name year_number time timezone ...
 > 
 > 	5 Feb 1990 14:05:57 PST
 > 	5 Feb 1990 14:05:57 -0800
 > 	5 Feb 1990 14:05 PST
 > 	(The first two are RFC822 format, which, interestingly, RFC882
 > 	violates in its own examples section -- there, it uses something
 > 	like the last one, except with no `:' between hours/minutes.  No
 > 	one has ever complained about encountering that format.)

None of these are RFC 822 complaint because the year number is supposed
to only have two digits.

I think you're working too hard with these date formats.  At some point
you've got to blow off all these nonstandard variants and just stick with the
standard.  You're going to be old and gray with all but six marbles gone
before you manage to grok all the wierd date formats out there.

I suggest that you handle two: RFC 822 and the format the UNIX
date(1) command returns.