Title:

Dublin Core Collection Description : Open Date Range Format (DCCD ODRF)
Creator:
Dublin Core Collection Description Working Group
Date Issued:
2005-08-13
Identifier:
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/dcmi/date-dccd-odrf/2005-08-13/
Replaces:
Not applicable
Is Replaced By:
Not applicable
Latest Version:
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/metadata/dcmi/date-dccd-odrf/
Status of Document:
This is a working document which has no status within DCMI.
Description of Document: This document describes a format for encoding date ranges as text. It is based on ISO8601 (2000) and W3CDTF but is a profile of neither of those standards/specifications.

Introduction

This document describes a text format for representing:

This format is based on the ISO8601 (2000) standard [ISO8601] and the W3CDTF "profile" of ISO8601 [W3CDTF]. However the format described by this document is not a profile of ISO8601 since ISO8601 does not support the representation of time-intervals based on "open" ranges; and it is not a profile of W3CDTF since W3CDTF supports the representation of dates and times, but not time-intervals.

The Format

This format supports the representation of time-intervals expressed as a start date and/or an end-date.

The start date and the end date must be represented using one of the following formats defined by W3CDTF [W3CDTF]:

   Year:
      YYYY (eg 1997)
   Year and month:
      YYYY-MM (eg 1997-07)
   Complete date:
      YYYY-MM-DD (eg 1997-07-16)

where:

     YYYY = four-digit year
     MM   = two-digit month (01=January, etc.)
     DD   = two-digit day of month (01 through 31)

Only this subset of the formats defined by W3CDTF are permitted. The representation of time of day is not supported by this specification.

A solidus ("forward slash") ["/"] is used to separate the representation of the start date from the representation of the end date.

Closed date range

A closed date range is represented by a start date, followed by a "/", followed by an end date:

   Closed date-range:
      YYYY-MM-DD/YYYY-MM-DD (eg 1997-07-16/1998-09-17)

Any of the date formats above (YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM or YYYY) may be used for both start date and end date.

This representation of a closed date range is compatible with the representation of a time-interval defined by ISO8601:2000 (section 5.5.4.1, extended format).

Open date range

An open date range is represented by:

  • a start date, followed by a "/", or
  • a "/" followed by an end date
   Open date-range:
      YYYY-MM-DD/ (eg 1997-07-16/)
      /YYYY-MM-DD (eg /1997-07-16)

Any of the date formats above (YYYY-MM-DD, YYYY-MM or YYYY) may be used for both start date and end date.

This representation of an open date range is not compatible with the representation of a time-interval defined by ISO8601:2000.

Examples

1997-07-16/1997-07-17 corresponds to a time-period starting on July 16, 1997, and ending on July 17, 1997. From the representation provided, it is not possible to say whether this is a period of a few seconds (from late on July 16 until early on July 17) or of 48 hours (from 0.00 on July 16 until 24.00 on July 17).

1997-07/1997-08 corresponds to a time-period starting during the month of July, 1997, and ending during the month of August, 1997. From the representation provided, it is not possible to say whether this is a period of a few seconds (from late on July 31 until early on August 1) or of 62 days (from 0.00 on July 1 until 24.00 on August 31).

1997/1998 corresponds to a time-period starting during the year 1997, and ending during the year 1998. From the representation provided, it is not possible to say whether this is a period of a few seconds (from late on Decemeber 31, 1997, until early on January 1, 1998) or of 730 days (from 0.00 on January 1, 1997, until 24.00 on December 31, 1998).

1997-07-16/ corresponds to a time-period starting on July 16, 1997.

1997-07/ corresponds to a time-period starting during the month of July, 1997.

1997/ corresponds to a time-period starting during the year 1997.

/1997-07-16 corresponds to a time-period ending on July 16, 1997.

/1997-07 corresponds to a time-period ending during the month of July, 1997.

/1997 corresponds to a time-period ending during the year 1997.

References

[ISO8601]  ISO8601:2000(E) Data elements and interchange formats - Information interchange - Representation of dates and times. Second edition

[W3CDTF]  Misha Wolf & Charles Wicksteed, Date and Time Formats. W3C Note. Submitted to W3C 15 September 1997.
http://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-datetime

Changes made in this version