Minor wordsmithing in datetime docs to try to address gripes raised by

cnliou.
This commit is contained in:
Tom Lane 2003-12-01 20:34:53 +00:00
parent c5336a892f
commit af03663878
2 changed files with 31 additions and 20 deletions

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@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
<!--
$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml,v 1.133 2003/11/30 20:55:09 joe Exp $
$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml,v 1.134 2003/12/01 20:34:53 tgl Exp $
-->
<chapter id="datatype">
@ -1301,7 +1301,7 @@ SELECT b, char_length(b) FROM test2;
<entry>8 bytes</entry>
<entry>both date and time</entry>
<entry>4713 BC</entry>
<entry>AD 5874897</entry>
<entry>5874897 AD</entry>
<entry>1 microsecond / 14 digits</entry>
</row>
<row>
@ -1309,7 +1309,7 @@ SELECT b, char_length(b) FROM test2;
<entry>8 bytes</entry>
<entry>both date and time, with time zone</entry>
<entry>4713 BC</entry>
<entry>AD 5874897</entry>
<entry>5874897 AD</entry>
<entry>1 microsecond / 14 digits</entry>
</row>
<row>
@ -1348,6 +1348,14 @@ SELECT b, char_length(b) FROM test2;
</tgroup>
</table>
<note>
<para>
Prior to <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 7.3, writing just
<type>timestamp</type> was equivalent to <type>timestamp with
time zone</type>. This was changed for SQL compliance.
</para>
</note>
<para>
<type>time</type>, <type>timestamp</type>, and
<type>interval</type> accept an optional precision value
@ -1363,23 +1371,16 @@ SELECT b, char_length(b) FROM test2;
When <type>timestamp</> values are stored as double precision floating-point
numbers (currently the default), the effective limit of precision
may be less than 6. <type>timestamp</type> values are stored as seconds
since 2000-01-01, and microsecond precision is achieved for dates within
a few years of 2000-01-01, but the precision degrades for dates further
away. When <type>timestamp</type> values are stored as eight-byte integers (a compile-time
before or after midnight 2000-01-01. Microsecond precision is achieved for
dates within a few years of 2000-01-01, but the precision degrades for
dates further away. When <type>timestamp</type> values are stored as
eight-byte integers (a compile-time
option), microsecond precision is available over the full range of
values. However eight-byte integer timestamps have a reduced range of
dates from 4713 BC up to 294276 AD.
values. However eight-byte integer timestamps have a more limited range of
dates than shown above: from 4713 BC up to 294276 AD.
</para>
</note>
<note>
<para>
Prior to <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> 7.3, writing just
<type>timestamp</type> was equivalent to <type>timestamp with
time zone</type>. This was changed for SQL compliance.
</para>
</note>
<para>
For the <type>time</type> types, the allowed range of
<replaceable>p</replaceable> is from 0 to 6 when eight-byte integer

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@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
<!--
$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/datetime.sgml,v 2.38 2003/11/29 19:51:36 pgsql Exp $
$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/datetime.sgml,v 2.39 2003/12/01 20:34:53 tgl Exp $
-->
<appendix id="datetime-appendix">
@ -370,15 +370,25 @@ $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/datetime.sgml,v 2.38 2003/11/29 19:51:36 pgsql E
<para>
<xref linkend="datetime-timezone-table"> shows the time zone
abbreviations recognized by <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>.
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> contains internal tabular
information for time zone decoding, since there is no standard
abbreviations recognized by <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>
in date/time input values.
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> uses internal tables
for time zone input decoding, since there is no standard
operating system interface to provide access to general,
cross-time zone information. The underlying operating system
<emphasis>is</emphasis> used to provide time zone information for
<emphasis>output</emphasis>, however.
</para>
<para>
Keep in mind also that the time zone names
recognized by <command>SET TIMEZONE</> are operating-system
dependent and may have little to do with <xref
linkend="datetime-timezone-table">. For example, some systems
recognize values like <literal>'Europe/Rome'</> in <command>SET
TIMEZONE</>.
</para>
<para>
The table is organized by time zone offset from <acronym>UTC</>,
rather than alphabetically. This is intended to facilitate