formats - Date, time, latitude, longitude formats

DESCRIPTION

Standard formats exist for specifying date, time, latitude and longitude valued parameters ([] means optional, (*) means usual output format):

a. date =

yyyy/mm/dd (*)
yyyy.ddd (ddd is julian day)
yy/mm/dd
yy.ddd (ddd is julian day)

b. time =

hh:mm:ss[.ss] (*)
mm:ss[.ss]
ss[.ss]

c. latitude =

dd mm ss   N/S (or n/s)
dd mm[.mm] N/S (or n/s) (*)
dd[.dd]    N/S (or n/s)

d. longitude =

ddd mm ss   E/W (or e/w)
ddd mm[.mm] E/W (or e/w) (*)
ddd[.dd]    E/W (or e/w)

For example, 32 44 19.8 n, 32 44.33 N, and 32.739N are all equivalent latitudes.

Note that times and latitude/longitudes use different conventions. A latitude of 2N means two degrees north. A time of 2 means two seconds, not two hours.

SEE ALSO

uif, dates, datestr

Last Update: $Date: 1999/05/10 21:16:30 $