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- <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /><title>B.4. Date/Time Configuration Files</title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" /><link rev="made" href="pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org" /><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.79.1" /><link rel="prev" href="datetime-keywords.html" title="B.3. Date/Time Key Words" /><link rel="next" href="datetime-posix-timezone-specs.html" title="B.5. POSIX Time Zone Specifications" /></head><body><div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/transitional" class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="5" align="center">B.4. Date/Time Configuration Files</th></tr><tr><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="datetime-keywords.html" title="B.3. Date/Time Key Words">Prev</a> </td><td width="10%" align="left"><a accesskey="u" href="datetime-appendix.html" title="Appendix B. Date/Time Support">Up</a></td><th width="60%" align="center">Appendix B. Date/Time Support</th><td width="10%" align="right"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html" title="PostgreSQL 12.4 Documentation">Home</a></td><td width="10%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="datetime-posix-timezone-specs.html" title="B.5. POSIX Time Zone Specifications">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr></hr></div><div class="sect1" id="DATETIME-CONFIG-FILES"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both">B.4. Date/Time Configuration Files</h2></div></div></div><a id="id-1.11.3.7.2" class="indexterm"></a><p>
- Since timezone abbreviations are not well standardized,
- <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span> provides a means to customize
- the set of abbreviations accepted by the server. The
- <a class="xref" href="runtime-config-client.html#GUC-TIMEZONE-ABBREVIATIONS">timezone_abbreviations</a> run-time parameter
- determines the active set of abbreviations. While this parameter
- can be altered by any database user, the possible values for it
- are under the control of the database administrator — they
- are in fact names of configuration files stored in
- <code class="filename">.../share/timezonesets/</code> of the installation directory.
- By adding or altering files in that directory, the administrator
- can set local policy for timezone abbreviations.
- </p><p>
- <code class="varname">timezone_abbreviations</code> can be set to any file name
- found in <code class="filename">.../share/timezonesets/</code>, if the file's name
- is entirely alphabetic. (The prohibition against non-alphabetic
- characters in <code class="varname">timezone_abbreviations</code> prevents reading
- files outside the intended directory, as well as reading editor
- backup files and other extraneous files.)
- </p><p>
- A timezone abbreviation file can contain blank lines and comments
- beginning with <code class="literal">#</code>. Non-comment lines must have one of
- these formats:
-
- </p><pre class="synopsis">
- <em class="replaceable"><code>zone_abbreviation</code></em> <em class="replaceable"><code>offset</code></em>
- <em class="replaceable"><code>zone_abbreviation</code></em> <em class="replaceable"><code>offset</code></em> D
- <em class="replaceable"><code>zone_abbreviation</code></em> <em class="replaceable"><code>time_zone_name</code></em>
- @INCLUDE <em class="replaceable"><code>file_name</code></em>
- @OVERRIDE
- </pre><p>
- </p><p>
- A <em class="replaceable"><code>zone_abbreviation</code></em> is just the abbreviation
- being defined. An <em class="replaceable"><code>offset</code></em> is an integer giving
- the equivalent offset in seconds from UTC, positive being east from
- Greenwich and negative being west. For example, -18000 would be five
- hours west of Greenwich, or North American east coast standard time.
- <code class="literal">D</code> indicates that the zone name represents local
- daylight-savings time rather than standard time.
- </p><p>
- Alternatively, a <em class="replaceable"><code>time_zone_name</code></em> can be given, referencing
- a zone name defined in the IANA timezone database. The zone's definition
- is consulted to see whether the abbreviation is or has been in use in
- that zone, and if so, the appropriate meaning is used — that is,
- the meaning that was currently in use at the timestamp whose value is
- being determined, or the meaning in use immediately before that if it
- wasn't current at that time, or the oldest meaning if it was used only
- after that time. This behavior is essential for dealing with
- abbreviations whose meaning has historically varied. It is also allowed
- to define an abbreviation in terms of a zone name in which that
- abbreviation does not appear; then using the abbreviation is just
- equivalent to writing out the zone name.
- </p><div class="tip"><h3 class="title">Tip</h3><p>
- Using a simple integer <em class="replaceable"><code>offset</code></em> is preferred
- when defining an abbreviation whose offset from UTC has never changed,
- as such abbreviations are much cheaper to process than those that
- require consulting a time zone definition.
- </p></div><p>
- The <code class="literal">@INCLUDE</code> syntax allows inclusion of another file in the
- <code class="filename">.../share/timezonesets/</code> directory. Inclusion can be nested,
- to a limited depth.
- </p><p>
- The <code class="literal">@OVERRIDE</code> syntax indicates that subsequent entries in the
- file can override previous entries (typically, entries obtained from
- included files). Without this, conflicting definitions of the same
- timezone abbreviation are considered an error.
- </p><p>
- In an unmodified installation, the file <code class="filename">Default</code> contains
- all the non-conflicting time zone abbreviations for most of the world.
- Additional files <code class="filename">Australia</code> and <code class="filename">India</code> are
- provided for those regions: these files first include the
- <code class="literal">Default</code> file and then add or modify abbreviations as needed.
- </p><p>
- For reference purposes, a standard installation also contains files
- <code class="filename">Africa.txt</code>, <code class="filename">America.txt</code>, etc, containing
- information about every time zone abbreviation known to be in use
- according to the IANA timezone database. The zone name
- definitions found in these files can be copied and pasted into a custom
- configuration file as needed. Note that these files cannot be directly
- referenced as <code class="varname">timezone_abbreviations</code> settings, because of
- the dot embedded in their names.
- </p><div class="note"><h3 class="title">Note</h3><p>
- If an error occurs while reading the time zone abbreviation set, no new
- value is applied and the old set is kept. If the error occurs while
- starting the database, startup fails.
- </p></div><div class="caution"><h3 class="title">Caution</h3><p>
- Time zone abbreviations defined in the configuration file override
- non-timezone meanings built into <span class="productname">PostgreSQL</span>.
- For example, the <code class="filename">Australia</code> configuration file defines
- <code class="literal">SAT</code> (for South Australian Standard Time). When this
- file is active, <code class="literal">SAT</code> will not be recognized as an abbreviation
- for Saturday.
- </p></div><div class="caution"><h3 class="title">Caution</h3><p>
- If you modify files in <code class="filename">.../share/timezonesets/</code>,
- it is up to you to make backups — a normal database dump
- will not include this directory.
- </p></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr /><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="datetime-keywords.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="datetime-appendix.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="datetime-posix-timezone-specs.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">B.3. Date/Time Key Words </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> B.5. <acronym class="acronym">POSIX</acronym> Time Zone Specifications</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
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