timezone-soft

parse abbreviated, sloppy, and informal timezone names

npm install timezone-soft

_{by
Spencer Kelly}

^{(formerly called 'spacetime-informal')}

``js
import soft from 'timezone-soft'

// get an IANA tz from user input
let timezones = soft('milwaukee')[0]
/*[{
iana: 'America/Chicago',
standard: { name: 'Central Standard Time', abbrev: 'CST' },
daylight: { name: 'Central Daylight Time', abbrev: 'CDT' }
}
]*/
`

IANA timezone codes are the official reference for timezone information, and is what you should use, whenever possible.

Humans though, _are goofballs_, and use a whole different informal scheme:

---

- In (North) America: PST, MST, EST...
- in Europe (lately): WEST, CEST, EEST...
- in Africa: EAT, CAT, WAST...
- in Australia: AWST, AEDT, ACST...

---

#### these line-up with the IANA codes sometimes.

#### ...other times they don't.

These names also collide -

'_IST_' is used to mean:

- '_Indian Stardard Time_'
- '_Irish Stardard Time_'
- '_Israeli Stardard Time_'

These names also produce all-sorts of ambiguities, regarding DST-changes-

Both Winnipeg and Mexico City are CST, but have a much different DST schedule:
!image

_(thanks timeanddate.com!)_

-of course, there's a bunch of political/historical/disputed stuff going on, too. Apologies if this library steps into that unknowingly.

...so that's what we're trying to fix - to _'soften'_ this exchange, between human and IANA timezone nomenclature, using some _opinionated-but-common-sense_ rules and decision-making.

It was originally built for use in the _spacetime timezone library_.

$3

`js
const soft = require('timezone-soft')

soft('EST')
// 'America/New_York'

soft('central')
// 'America/Chicago'

soft('venezuela')
// 'America/Caracas'

soft('south east asia')
// 'Asia/Bangkok'
`

Typescript/Deno/Webpack:

`js
import soft from 'timezone-soft'
`

it was built to be as forgiving as possible, and return the most common-sense IANA timezone id from user-input.





---

$3

Often, the proper timezone name will depend on which date you are referencing.
You can reckon this pretty-easily with spacetime, like this:

`js
const spacetime = require('spacetime')
const soft = require('timezone-soft')

let display = soft('montreal')[0]
let show = display.standard.abbrev

// are we in standard time, or daylight time?
let s = spacetime.now(display.iana)
if (display.daylight && s.isDST()) {
show = display.daylight.abbrev
}
console.log(s.time() + ' ' + show)
// '4:20pm EDT'
``

work-in-progress!

$3

- TimeZoneNames .NET Standard Library by Matt Johnson-Pint

MIT