== Timezone Specifiers Certain +Time+ methods accept arguments that specify timezones: - Time.at: keyword argument +in:+. - Time.new: positional argument +zone+ or keyword argument +in:+. - Time.now: keyword argument +in:+. - Time#getlocal: positional argument +zone+. - Time#localtime: positional argument +zone+. The value given with any of these must be one of the following (each detailed below): - {Hours/minutes offset}[rdoc-ref:Time@Hours-2FMinutes+Offsets]. - {Single-letter offset}[rdoc-ref:Time@Single-Letter+Offsets]. - {Integer offset}[rdoc-ref:Time@Integer+Offsets]. - {Timezone object}[rdoc-ref:Time@Timezone+Objects]. - {Timezone name}[rdoc-ref:Time@Timezone+Names]. === Hours/Minutes Offsets The zone value may be a string offset from UTC in the form '+HH:MM' or '-HH:MM', where: - +HH+ is the 2-digit hour in the range 0..23. - +MM+ is the 2-digit minute in the range 0..59. Examples: t = Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 20, 15, 1) # => 2000-01-01 20:15:01 UTC Time.at(t, in: '-23:59') # => 1999-12-31 20:16:01 -2359 Time.at(t, in: '+23:59') # => 2000-01-02 20:14:01 +2359 === Single-Letter Offsets The zone value may be a letter in the range 'A'..'I' or 'K'..'Z'; see {List of military time zones}[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_time_zones]: t = Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 20, 15, 1) # => 2000-01-01 20:15:01 UTC Time.at(t, in: 'A') # => 2000-01-01 21:15:01 +0100 Time.at(t, in: 'I') # => 2000-01-02 05:15:01 +0900 Time.at(t, in: 'K') # => 2000-01-02 06:15:01 +1000 Time.at(t, in: 'Y') # => 2000-01-01 08:15:01 -1200 Time.at(t, in: 'Z') # => 2000-01-01 20:15:01 UTC === \Integer Offsets The zone value may be an integer number of seconds in the range -86399..86399: t = Time.utc(2000, 1, 1, 20, 15, 1) # => 2000-01-01 20:15:01 UTC Time.at(t, in: -86399) # => 1999-12-31 20:15:02 -235959 Time.at(t, in: 86399) # => 2000-01-02 20:15:00 +235959 === Timezone Objects The zone value may be an object responding to certain timezone methods, an instance of {Timezone}[https://github.com/panthomakos/timezone] and {TZInfo}[https://tzinfo.github.io] for example. The timezone methods are: - +local_to_utc+: - Called when Time.new is invoked with +tz+ as the value of positional argument +zone+ or keyword argument +in:+. - Argument: a {Time-like object}[rdoc-ref:Time@Time-Like+Objects]. - Returns: a {Time-like object}[rdoc-ref:Time@Time-Like+Objects] in the UTC timezone. - +utc_to_local+: - Called when Time.at or Time.now is invoked with +tz+ as the value for keyword argument +in:+, and when Time#getlocal or Time#localtime is called with +tz+ as the value for positional argument +zone+. - Argument: a {Time-like object}[rdoc-ref:Time@Time-Like+Objects]. - Returns: a {Time-like object}[rdoc-ref:Time@Time-Like+Objects] in the local timezone. A custom timezone class may have these instance methods, which will be called if defined: - +abbr+: - Called when Time#strftime is invoked with a format involving %Z. - Argument: a {Time-like object}[rdoc-ref:Time@Time-Like+Objects]. - Returns: a string abbreviation for the timezone name. - +dst?+: - Called when Time.at or Time.now is invoked with +tz+ as the value for keyword argument +in:+, and when Time#getlocal or Time#localtime is called with +tz+ as the value for positional argument +zone+. - Argument: a {Time-like object}[rdoc-ref:Time@Time-Like+Objects]. - Returns: whether the time is daylight saving time. - +name+: - Called when Marshal.dump(t) is invoked - Argument: none. - Returns: the string name of the timezone. ==== +Time+-Like Objects A +Time+-like object is a container object capable of interfacing with timezone libraries for timezone conversion. The argument to the timezone conversion methods above will have attributes similar to Time, except that timezone related attributes are meaningless. The objects returned by +local_to_utc+ and +utc_to_local+ methods of the timezone object may be of the same class as their arguments, of arbitrary object classes, or of class Integer. For a returned class other than +Integer+, the class must have the following methods: - +year+ - +mon+ - +mday+ - +hour+ - +min+ - +sec+ - +isdst+ - +to_i+ For a returned +Integer+, its components, decomposed in UTC, are interpreted as times in the specified timezone. === Timezone Names If the class (the receiver of class methods, or the class of the receiver of instance methods) has +find_timezone+ singleton method, this method is called to achieve the corresponding timezone object from a timezone name. For example, using {Timezone}[https://github.com/panthomakos/timezone]: class TimeWithTimezone < Time require 'timezone' def self.find_timezone(z) = Timezone[z] end TimeWithTimezone.now(in: "America/New_York") #=> 2023-12-25 00:00:00 -0500 TimeWithTimezone.new("2023-12-25 America/New_York") #=> 2023-12-25 00:00:00 -0500 Or, using {TZInfo}[https://tzinfo.github.io]: class TimeWithTZInfo < Time require 'tzinfo' def self.find_timezone(z) = TZInfo::Timezone.get(z) end TimeWithTZInfo.now(in: "America/New_York") #=> 2023-12-25 00:00:00 -0500 TimeWithTZInfo.new("2023-12-25 America/New_York") #=> 2023-12-25 00:00:00 -0500 You can define this method per subclasses, or on the toplevel Time class.