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## Class template format_date_parser

boost::date_time::format_date_parser — Class with generic date parsing using a format string.

## Synopsis

    // In header: <boost/date_time/format_date_parser.hpp>

    template<typename date_type, typename charT>
    class format_date_parser {
    public:
      // types
      typedef std::basic_string< charT >                string_type;
      typedef std::basic_istringstream< charT >         stringstream_type;
      typedef std::istreambuf_iterator< charT >         stream_itr_type;
      typedef string_type::const_iterator               const_itr;
      typedef date_type::year_type                      year_type;
      typedef date_type::month_type                     month_type;
      typedef date_type::day_type                       day_type;
      typedef date_type::duration_type                  duration_type;
      typedef date_type::day_of_week_type               day_of_week_type;
      typedef date_type::day_of_year_type               day_of_year_type;
      typedef string_parse_tree< charT >                parse_tree_type;
      typedef parse_tree_type::parse_match_result_type  match_results;
      typedef std::vector< std::basic_string< charT > > input_collection_type;

      // construct/copy/destruct
      format_date_parser(const string_type &, const input_collection_type &,
                         const input_collection_type &,
                         const input_collection_type &,
                         const input_collection_type &);
      format_date_parser(const string_type &, const std::locale &);
      format_date_parser(const format_date_parser< date_type, charT > &);

      // public member functions
      string_type format() const;
      void format(string_type);
      void short_month_names(const input_collection_type &);
      void long_month_names(const input_collection_type &);
      void short_weekday_names(const input_collection_type &);
      void long_weekday_names(const input_collection_type &);
      date_type parse_date(const string_type &, const string_type &,
                           const special_values_parser< date_type, charT > &) const;
      date_type parse_date(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &,
                           std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &,
                           const special_values_parser< date_type, charT > &) const;
      date_type parse_date(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &,
                           std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &, string_type,
                           const special_values_parser< date_type, charT > &) const;
      month_type parse_month(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &,
                             std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &, string_type) const;
      month_type parse_month(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &,
                             std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &, string_type,
                             match_results &) const;
      day_type parse_var_day_of_month(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &,
                                      std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &) const;
      day_type parse_day_of_month(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &,
                                  std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &) const;
      day_of_week_type
      parse_weekday(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &,
                    std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &, string_type) const;
      day_of_week_type
      parse_weekday(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &,
                    std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &, string_type,
                    match_results &) const;
      year_type parse_year(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &,
                           std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &, string_type) const;
      year_type parse_year(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &,
                           std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > &, string_type,
                           match_results &) const;
    };

## Description

The following is the set of recognized format specifiers

- a - Short weekday name

- A - Long weekday name

- b - Abbreviated month name

- B - Full month name

- d - Day of the month as decimal 01 to 31

- j - Day of year as decimal from 001 to 366

- m - Month name as a decimal 01 to 12

- U - Week number 00 to 53 with first Sunday as the first day of week 1?

- w - Weekday as decimal number 0 to 6 where Sunday == 0

- W - Week number 00 to 53 where Monday is first day of week 1

- x - facet default date representation

- y - Year without the century - eg: 04 for 2004

- Y - Year with century

The weekday specifiers (a and A) do not add to the date construction, but they provide a way to skip over the weekday names for formats that provide them.

todo – Another interesting feature that this approach could provide is an option to fill in any missing fields with the current values from the clock. So if you have m-d the parser would detect the missing year value and fill it in using the clock.

todo – What to do with the x. x in the classic facet is just bad...

### `format_date_parser` public construct/copy/destruct

1.     format_date_parser(const string_type & format_str,
                          const input_collection_type & month_short_names,
                          const input_collection_type & month_long_names,
                          const input_collection_type & weekday_short_names,
                          const input_collection_type & weekday_long_names);

2.     format_date_parser(const string_type & format_str, const std::locale & locale);

3.     format_date_parser(const format_date_parser< date_type, charT > & fdp);

### `format_date_parser` public member functions

1.     string_type format() const;

2.     void format(string_type format_str);

3.     void short_month_names(const input_collection_type & month_names);

4.     void long_month_names(const input_collection_type & month_names);

5.     void short_weekday_names(const input_collection_type & weekday_names);

6.     void long_weekday_names(const input_collection_type & weekday_names);

7.     date_type parse_date(const string_type & value,
                            const string_type & format_str,
                            const special_values_parser< date_type, charT > & sv_parser) const;

8.     date_type parse_date(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & sitr,
                            std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & stream_end,
                            const special_values_parser< date_type, charT > & sv_parser) const;

9.     date_type parse_date(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & sitr,
                            std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & stream_end,
                            string_type format_str,
                            const special_values_parser< date_type, charT > & sv_parser) const;

   Of all the objects that the `format_date_parser` can parse, only a date can be a special value. Therefore, only parse_date checks for special_values.

10.     month_type parse_month(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & sitr,
                               std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & stream_end,
                               string_type format_str) const;

    Throws bad_month if unable to parse.

11.     month_type parse_month(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & sitr,
                               std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & stream_end,
                               string_type format_str, match_results & mr) const;

    Throws bad_month if unable to parse.

12.     day_type parse_var_day_of_month(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & sitr,
                                        std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & stream_end) const;

    Expects 1 or 2 digits 1-31. Throws bad_day_of_month if unable to parse.

13.     day_type parse_day_of_month(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & sitr,
                                    std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & stream_end) const;

    Expects 2 digits 01-31. Throws bad_day_of_month if unable to parse.

14.     day_of_week_type
        parse_weekday(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & sitr,
                      std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & stream_end,
                      string_type format_str) const;

15.     day_of_week_type
        parse_weekday(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & sitr,
                      std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & stream_end,
                      string_type format_str, match_results & mr) const;

16.     year_type parse_year(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & sitr,
                             std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & stream_end,
                             string_type format_str) const;

    throws bad_year if unable to parse

17.     year_type parse_year(std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & sitr,
                             std::istreambuf_iterator< charT > & stream_end,
                             string_type format_str, match_results & mr) const;

    throws bad_year if unable to parse