Copyright ©2001 W3C® (MIT, INRIA, Keio), All Rights Reserved. W3C liability, trademark, document use and software licensing rules apply.
XML Schema: Datatypes is part 2 of the specification of the XML Schema language. It defines facilities for defining datatypes to be used in XML Schemas as well as other XML specifications. The datatype language, which is itself represented in XML 1.0, provides a superset of the capabilities found in XML 1.0 document type definitions (DTDs) for specifying datatypes on elements and attributes.
This section describes the status of this document at the time of its publication. Other documents may supersede this document. The latest status of this document series is maintained at the W3C.
This document has been reviewed by W3C Members and other interested parties and has been endorsed by the Director as a W3C Recommendation. It is a stable document and may be used as reference material or cited as a normative reference from another document. W3C's role in making the Recommendation is to draw attention to the specification and to promote its widespread deployment. This enhances the functionality and interoperability of the Web.
This document has been produced by the W3C XML Schema Working Group as part of the W3C XML Activity. The goals of the XML Schema language are discussed in the XML Schema Requirements document. The authors of this document are the XML Schema WG members. Different parts of this specification have different editors.
This version of this document incorporates some editorial changes from earlier versions.
Please report errors in this document to www-xml-schema-comments@w3.org (archive). The list of known errors in this specification is available at http://www.w3.org/2001/05/xmlschema-errata.
The English version of this specification is the only normative version. Information about translations of this document is available at http://www.w3.org/2001/05/xmlschema-translations.
A list of current W3C Recommendations and other technical documents can be found at http://www.w3.org/TR/.
The [XML 1.0 (Second Edition)] specification defines limited facilities for applying datatypes to document content in that documents may contain or refer to DTDs that assign types to elements and attributes. However, document authors, including authors of traditional documents and those transporting data in XML, often require a higher degree of type checking to ensure robustness in document understanding and data interchange.
The table below offers two typical examples of XML instances in which datatypes are implicit: the instance on the left represents a billing invoice, the instance on the right a memo or perhaps an email message in XML.
| Data oriented | Document oriented |
|---|---|
<invoice> <orderDate>1999-01-21</orderDate> <shipDate>1999-01-25</shipDate> <billingAddress> <name>Ashok Malhotra</name> <street>123 Microsoft Ave.</street> <city>Hawthorne</city> <state>NY</state> <zip>10532-0000</zip> </billingAddress> <voice>555-1234</voice> <fax>555-4321</fax> </invoice> |
<memo importance='high'
date='1999-03-23'>
<from>Paul V. Biron</from>
<to>Ashok Malhotra</to>
<subject>Latest draft</subject>
<body>
We need to discuss the latest
draft <emph>immediately</emph>.
Either email me at <email>
mailto:paul.v.biron@kp.org</email>
or call <phone>555-9876</phone>
</body>
</memo>
|
The invoice contains several dates and telephone numbers, the postal abbreviation for a state (which comes from an enumerated list of sanctioned values), and a ZIP code (which takes a definable regular form). The memo contains many of the same types of information: a date, telephone number, email address and an "importance" value (from an enumerated list, such as "low", "medium" or "high"). Applications which process invoices and memos need to raise exceptions if something that was supposed to be a date or telephone number does not conform to the rules for valid dates or telephone numbers.
In both cases, validity constraints exist on the content of the instances that are not expressible in XML DTDs. The limited datatyping facilities in XML have prevented validating XML processors from supplying the rigorous type checking required in these situations. The result has been that individual applications writers have had to implement type checking in an ad hoc manner. This specification addresses the need of both document authors and applications writers for a robust, extensible datatype system for XML which could be incorporated into XML processors. As discussed below, these datatypes could be used in other XML-related standards as well.
The [XML Schema Requirements] document spells out concrete requirements to be fulfilled by this specification, which state that the XML Schema Language must:
This portion of the XML Schema Language discusses datatypes that can be used in an XML Schema. These datatypes can be specified for element content that would be specified as #PCDATA and attribute values of various types in a DTD. It is the intention of this specification that it be usable outside of the context of XML Schemas for a wide range of other XML-related activities such as [XSL] and [RDF Schema].
The terminology used to describe XML Schema Datatypes is defined in the body of this specification. The terms defined in the following list are used in building those definitions and in describing the actions of a datatype processor:
This specification provides three different kinds of normative statements about schema components, their representations in XML and their contribution to the schema-validation of information items:
This section describes the conceptual framework behind the type system defined in this specification. The framework has been influenced by the [ISO 11404] standard on language-independent datatypes as well as the datatypes for [SQL] and for programming languages such as Java.
The datatypes discussed in this specification are computer representations of well known abstract concepts such as integer and date. It is not the place of this specification to define these abstract concepts; many other publications provide excellent definitions.
[Definition:] In this specification, a datatype is a 3-tuple, consisting of a) a set of distinct values, called its ·value space·, b) a set of lexical representations, called its ·lexical space·, and c) a set of ·facet·s that characterize properties of the ·value space·, individual values or lexical items.
[Definition:] A value space is the set of values for a given datatype. Each value in the value space of a datatype is denoted by one or more literals in its ·lexical space·.
The ·value space· of a given datatype can be defined in one of the following ways:
·value space·s have certain properties. For example, they always have the property of ·cardinality·, some definition of equality and might be ·ordered·, by which individual values within the ·value space· can be compared to one another. The properties of ·value space·s that are recognized by this specification are defined in Fundamental facets (§2.4.1).
In addition to its ·value space·, each datatype also has a lexical space.
[Definition:] A lexical space is the set of valid literals for a datatype.
For example, "100" and "1.0E2" are two different literals from the ·lexical space· of float which both denote the same value. The type system defined in this specification provides a mechanism for schema designers to control the set of values and the corresponding set of acceptable literals of those values for a datatype.
NOTE: The literals in the ·lexical space·s defined in this specification have the following characteristics:
- Interoperability:
- The number of literals for each value has been kept small; for many datatypes there is a one-to-one mapping between literals and values. This makes it easy to exchange the values between different systems. In many cases, conversion from locale-dependent representations will be required on both the originator and the recipient side, both for computer processing and for interaction with humans.
- Basic readability:
- Textual, rather than binary, literals are used. This makes hand editing, debugging, and similar activities possible.
- Ease of parsing and serializing:
- Where possible, literals correspond to those found in common programming languages and libraries.
While the datatypes defined in this specification have, for the most part, a single lexical representation i.e. each value in the datatype's ·value space· is denoted by a single literal in its ·lexical space·, this is not always the case. The example in the previous section showed two literals for the datatype float which denote the same value. Similarly, there ·may· be several literals for one of the date or time datatypes that denote the same value using different timezone indicators.
[Definition:] A canonical lexical representation is a set of literals from among the valid set of literals for a datatype such that there is a one-to-one mapping between literals in the canonical lexical representation and values in the ·value space·.
[Definition:] A facet is a single defining aspect of a ·value space·. Generally speaking, each facet characterizes a ·value space· along independent axes or dimensions.
The facets of a datatype serve to distinguish those aspects of one datatype which differ from other datatypes. Rather than being defined solely in terms of a prose description the datatypes in this specification are defined in terms of the synthesis of facet values which together determine the ·value space· and properties of the datatype.
Facets are of two types: fundamental facets that define the datatype and non-fundamental or constraining facets that constrain the permitted values of a datatype.
[Definition:] A fundamental facet is an abstract property which serves to semantically characterize the values in a ·value space·.
All fundamental facets are fully described in Fundamental Facets (§4.2).
[Definition:] A constraining facet is an optional property that can be applied to a datatype to constrain its ·value space·.
Constraining the ·value space· consequently constrains the ·lexical space·. Adding ·constraining facet·s to a ·base type· is described in Derivation by restriction (§4.1.2.1).
All constraining facets are fully described in Constraining Facets (§4.3).
It is useful to categorize the datatypes defined in this specification along various dimensions, forming a set of characterization dichotomies.
The first distinction to be made is that between ·atomic·, ·list· and ·union· datatypes.
For example, a single token which ·match·es Nmtoken from [XML 1.0 (Second Edition)] could be the value of an ·atomic· datatype (NMTOKEN); while a sequence of such tokens could be the value of a ·list· datatype (NMTOKENS).
·atomic· datatypes can be either ·primitive· or ·derived·. The ·value space· of an ·atomic· datatype is a set of "atomic" values, which for the purposes of this specification, are not further decomposable. The ·lexical space· of an ·atomic· datatype is a set of literals whose internal structure is specific to the datatype in question.
Several type systems (such as the one described in [ISO 11404]) treat ·list· datatypes as special cases of the more general notions of aggregate or collection datatypes.
·list· datatypes are always ·derived·. The ·value space· of a ·list· datatype is a set of finite-length sequences of ·atomic· values. The ·lexical space· of a ·list· datatype is a set of literals whose internal structure is a white space separated sequence of literals of the ·atomic· datatype of the items in the ·list· (where whitespace ·match·es S in [XML 1.0 (Second Edition)]).
[Definition:] The ·atomic· datatype that participates in the definition of a ·list· datatype is known as the itemType of that ·list· datatype.
<simpleType name='sizes'> <list itemType='decimal'/> </simpleType>
<cerealSizes xsi:type='sizes'> 8 10.5 12 </cerealSizes>
A ·list· datatype can be ·derived· from an ·atomic· datatype whose ·lexical space· allows whitespace (such as string or anyURI). In such a case, regardless of the input, list items will be separated at whitespace boundaries.
<simpleType name='listOfString'> <list itemType='string'/> </simpleType>
<someElement xsi:type='listOfString'> this is not list item 1 this is not list item 2 this is not list item 3 </someElement>
When a datatype is ·derived· from a ·list· datatype, the following ·constraining facet·s apply:
For each of ·length·, ·maxLength· and ·minLength·, the unit of length is measured in number of list items. The value of ·whiteSpace· is fixed to the value collapse.
The canonical-lexical-representation for the ·list· datatype is defined as the lexical form in which each item in the ·list· has the canonical lexical representation of its ·itemType·.
The ·value space· and ·lexical space· of a ·union· datatype are the union of the ·value space·s and ·lexical space·s of its ·memberTypes·. ·union· datatypes are always ·derived·. Currently, there are no ·built-in· ·union· datatypes.
<attributeGroup name="occurs">
<attribute name="minOccurs" type="nonNegativeInteger"
default="1"/>
<attribute name="maxOccurs">
<simpleType>
<union>
<simpleType>
<restriction base='nonNegativeInteger'/>
</simpleType>
<simpleType>
<restriction base='string'>
<enumeration value='unbounded'/>
</restriction>
</simpleType>
</union>
</simpleType>
</attribute>
</attributeGroup>
Any number (greater than 1) of ·atomic· or ·list· ·datatype·s can participate in a ·union· type.
[Definition:] The datatypes that participate in the definition of a ·union· datatype are known as the memberTypes of that ·union· datatype.
The order in which the ·memberTypes· are specified in the definition (that is, the order of the <simpleType> children of the <union> element, or the order of the QNames in the memberTypes attribute) is significant. During validation, an element or attribute's value is validated against the ·memberTypes· in the order in which they appear in the definition until a match is found. The evaluation order can be overridden with the use of xsi:type.
<xsd:element name='size'>
<xsd:simpleType>
<xsd:union>
<xsd:simpleType>
<xsd:restriction base='integer'/>
</xsd:simpleType>
<xsd:simpleType>
<xsd:restriction base='string'/>
</xsd:simpleType>
</xsd:union>
</xsd:simpleType>
</xsd:element>
<size>1</size> <size>large</size> <size xsi:type='xsd:string'>1</size>
The canonical-lexical-representation for a ·union· datatype is defined as the lexical form in which the values have the canonical lexical representation of the appropriate ·memberTypes·.
NOTE: A datatype which is ·atomic· in this specification need not be an "atomic" datatype in any programming language used to implement this specification. Likewise, a datatype which is a ·list· in this specification need not be a "list" datatype in any programming language used to implement this specification. Furthermore, a datatype which is a ·union· in this specification need not be a "union" datatype in any programming language used to implement this specification.
Next, we distinguish between ·primitive· and ·derived· datatypes.
For example, in this specification, float is a well-defined mathematical concept that cannot be defined in terms of other datatypes, while a integer is a special case of the more general datatype decimal.
[Definition:] There exists a conceptual datatype, whose name is anySimpleType, that is the simple version of the ur-type definition from [XML Schema Part 1: Structures]. anySimpleType can be considered as the ·base type· of all ·primitive· types. The ·value space· of anySimpleType can be considered to be the ·union· of the ·value space·s of all ·primitive· datatypes.
The datatypes defined by this specification fall into both the ·primitive· and ·derived· categories. It is felt that a judiciously chosen set of ·primitive· datatypes will serve the widest possible audience by providing a set of convenient datatypes that can be used as is, as well as providing a rich enough base from which the variety of datatypes needed by schema designers can be ·derived·.
In the example above, integer is ·derived· from decimal.
NOTE: A datatype which is ·primitive· in this specification need not be a "primitive" datatype in any programming language used to implement this specification. Likewise, a datatype which is ·derived· in this specification need not be a "derived" datatype in any programming language used to implement this specification.
As described in more detail in XML Representation of Simple Type Definition Schema Components (§4.1.2), each ·user-derived· datatype ·must· be defined in terms of another datatype in one of three ways: 1) by assigning ·constraining facet·s which serve to restrict the ·value space· of the ·user-derived· datatype to a subset of that of the ·base type·; 2) by creating a ·list· datatype whose ·value space· consists of finite-length sequences of values of its ·itemType·; or 3) by creating a ·union· datatype whose ·value space· consists of the union of the ·value space· its ·memberTypes·.
[Definition:] A datatype is said to be ·derived· by restriction from another datatype when values for zero or more ·constraining facet·s are specified that serve to constrain its ·value space· and/or its ·lexical space· to a subset of those of its ·base type·.
[Definition:] Every datatype that is ·derived· by restriction is defined in terms of an existing datatype, referred to as its base type. base types can be either ·primitive· or ·derived·.
A ·list· datatype can be ·derived· from another datatype (its ·itemType·) by creating a ·value space· that consists of a finite-length sequence of values of its ·itemType·.
One datatype can be ·derived· from one or more datatypes by ·union·ing their ·value space·s and, consequently, their ·lexical space·s.
Conceptually there is no difference between the ·built-in· ·derived· datatypes included in this specification and the ·user-derived· datatypes which will be created by individual schema designers. The ·built-in· ·derived· datatypes are those which are believed to be so common that if they were not defined in this specification many schema designers would end up "reinventing" them. Furthermore, including these ·derived· datatypes in this specification serves to demonstrate the mechanics and utility of the datatype generation facilities of this specification.
NOTE: A datatype which is ·built-in· in this specification need not be a "built-in" datatype in any programming language used to implement this specification. Likewise, a datatype which is ·user-derived· in this specification need not be a "user-derived" datatype in any programming language used to implement this specification.
Each built-in datatype in this specification (both ·primitive· and ·derived·) can be uniquely addressed via a URI Reference constructed as follows:
For example, to address the int datatype, the URI is:
http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#int
Additionally, each facet definition element can be uniquely addressed via a URI constructed as follows:
For example, to address the maxInclusive facet, the URI is:
http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#maxInclusive
Additionally, each facet usage in a built-in datatype definition can be uniquely addressed via a URI constructed as follows:
For example, to address the usage of the maxInclusive facet in the definition of int, the URI is:
http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#int.maxInclusive
The ·built-in· datatypes defined by this specification are designed to be used with the XML Schema definition language as well as other XML specifications. To facilitate usage within the XML Schema definition language, the ·built-in· datatypes in this specification have the namespace name:
To facilitate usage in specifications other than the XML Schema definition language, such as those that do not want to know anything about aspects of the XML Schema definition language other than the datatypes, each ·built-in· datatype is also defined in the namespace whose URI is:
This applies to both ·built-in· ·primitive· and ·built-in· ·derived· datatypes.
Each ·user-derived· datatype is also associated with a unique namespace. However, ·user-derived· datatypes do not come from the namespace defined by this specification; rather, they come from the namespace of the schema in which they are defined (see XML Representation of Schemas in [XML Schema Part 1: Structures]).
The ·primitive· datatypes defined by this specification are described below. For each datatype, the ·value space· and ·lexical space· are defined, ·constraining facet·s which apply to the datatype are listed and any datatypes ·derived· from this datatype are specified.
·primitive· datatypes can only be added by revisions to this specification.
[Definition:] The string datatype represents character strings in XML. The ·value space· of string is the set of finite-length sequences of characters (as defined in [XML 1.0 (Second Edition)]) that ·match· the Char production from [XML 1.0 (Second Edition)]. A character is an atomic unit of communication; it is not further specified except to note that every character has a corresponding Universal Character Set code point, which is an integer.
NOTE: Many human languages have writing systems that require child elements for control of aspects such as bidirectional formating or ruby annotation (see [Ruby] and Section 8.2.4 Overriding the bidirectional algorithm: the BDO element of [HTML 4.01]). Thus, string, as a simple type that can contain only characters but not child elements, is often not suitable for representing text. In such situations, a complex type that allows mixed content should be considered. For more information, see Section 5.5 Any Element, Any Attribute of [XML Schema Language: Part 2 Primer].
NOTE: As noted in ordered, the fact that this specification does not specify an ·order-relation· for ·string· does not preclude other applications from treating strings as being ordered.
string has the following ·constraining facets·:
The following ·built-in· datatypes are ·derived· from string:
[Definition:] boolean has the ·value space· required to support the mathematical concept of binary-valued logic: {true, false}.
An instance of a datatype that is defined as ·boolean· can have the following legal literals {true, false, 1, 0}.
[Definition:] decimal represents arbitrary precision decimal numbers. The ·value space· of decimal is the set of the values i × 10^-n, where i and n are integers such that n >= 0. The ·order-relation· on decimal is: x < y iff y - x is positive.
[Definition:] The ·value space· of types derived from decimal with a value for ·totalDigits· of p is the set of values i × 10^-n, where n and i are integers such that p >= n >= 0 and the number of significant decimal digits in i is less than or equal to p.
[Definition:] The ·value space· of types derived from decimal with a value for ·fractionDigits· of s is the set of values i × 10^-n, where i and n are integers such that 0 <= n <= s.
NOTE: All ·minimally conforming· processors ·must· support decimal numbers with a minimum of 18 decimal digits (i.e., with a ·totalDigits· of 18). However, ·minimally conforming· processors ·may· set an application-defined limit on the maximum number of decimal digits they are prepared to support, in which case that application-defined maximum number ·must· be clearly documented.
decimal has a lexical representation
consisting of a finite-length sequence of decimal digits (#x30-#x39) separated
by a period as a decimal indicator. If ·totalDigits· is
specified, the number of digits must be less than or equal to
·totalDigits·.
If ·fractionDigits· is specified, the
number of digits following the decimal point must be less than or equal to
the ·fractionDigits·. An optional leading sign is allowed.
If the sign is omitted, "+" is assumed. Leading and trailing zeroes are optional.
If the fractional part is zero, the period and following zero(es) can
be omitted.
For example: -1.23, 12678967.543233, +100000.00, 210.
The canonical representation for decimal is defined by prohibiting certain options from the Lexical representation (§3.2.3.1). Specifically, the preceding optional "+" sign is prohibited. The decimal point is required. Leading and trailing zeroes are prohibited subject to the following: there must be at least one digit to the right and to the left of the decimal point which may be a zero.
decimal has the following ·constraining facets·:
[Definition:] float corresponds to the IEEE single-precision 32-bit floating point type [IEEE 754-1985]. The basic ·value space· of float consists of the values m × 2^e, where m is an integer whose absolute value is less than 2^24, and e is an integer between -149 and 104, inclusive. In addition to the basic ·value space· described above, the ·value space· of float also contains the following special values: positive and negative zero, positive and negative infinity and not-a-number. The ·order-relation· on float is: x < y iff y - x is positive. Positive zero is greater than negative zero. Not-a-number equals itself and is greater than all float values including positive infinity.
A literal in the ·lexical space· representing a decimal number d maps to the normalized value in the ·value space· of float that is closest to d in the sense defined by [Clinger, WD (1990)]; if d is exactly halfway between two such values then the even value is chosen.
float values have a lexical representation consisting of a mantissa followed, optionally, by the character "E" or "e", followed by an exponent. The exponent ·must· be an integer. The mantissa must be a decimal number. The representations for exponent and mantissa must follow the lexical rules for integer and decimal. If the "E" or "e" and the following exponent are omitted, an exponent value of 0 is assumed.
The special values positive and negative zero, positive
and negative infinity and not-a-number have lexical representations 0,
-0, INF, -INF and
NaN, respectively.
For example, -1E4, 1267.43233E12, 12.78e-2, 12 and INF
are all legal literals for float.
The canonical representation for float is defined by prohibiting certain options from the Lexical representation (§3.2.4.1). Specifically, the exponent must be indicated by "E". Leading zeroes and the preceding optional "+" sign are prohibited in the exponent. For the mantissa, the preceding optional "+" sign is prohibited and the decimal point is required. For the exponent, the preceding optional "+" sign is prohibited. Leading and trailing zeroes are prohibited subject to the following: number representations must be normalized such that there is a single digit to the left of the decimal point and at least a single digit to the right of the decimal point.
float has the following ·constraining facets·:
[Definition:] The double datatype corresponds to IEEE double-precision 64-bit floating point type [IEEE 754-1985]. The basic ·value space· of double consists of the values m × 2^e, where m is an integer whose absolute value is less than 2^53, and e is an integer between -1075 and 970, inclusive. In addition to the basic ·value space· described above, the ·value space· of double also contains the following special values: positive and negative zero, positive and negative infinity and not-a-number. The ·order-relation· on double is: x < y iff y - x is positive. Positive zero is greater than negative zero. Not-a-number equals itself and is greater than all double values including positive infinity.
A literal in the ·lexical space· representing a decimal number d maps to the normalized value in the ·value space· of double that is closest to d; if d is exactly halfway between two such values then the even value is chosen. This is the best approximation of d ([Clinger, WD (1990)], [Gay, DM (1990)]), which is more accurate than the mapping required by [IEEE 754-1985].
double values have a lexical representation consisting of a mantissa followed, optionally, by the character "E" or "e", followed by an exponent. The exponent ·must· be an integer. The mantissa must be a decimal number. The representations for exponent and mantissa must follow the lexical rules for integer and decimal. If the "E" or "e" and the following exponent are omitted, an exponent value of 0 is assumed.
The special values positive and negative zero, positive
and negative infinity and not-a-number have lexical representations 0,
-0, INF, -INF and
NaN, respectively.
For example, -1E4, 1267.43233E12, 12.78e-2, 12 and INF
are all legal literals for double.
The canonical representation for double is defined by prohibiting certain options from the Lexical representation (§3.2.5.1). Specifically, the exponent must be indicated by "E". Leading zeroes and the preceding optional "+" sign are prohibited in the exponent. For the mantissa, the preceding optional "+" sign is prohibited and the decimal point is required. For the exponent, the preceding optional "+" sign is prohibited. Leading and trailing zeroes are prohibited subject to the following: number representations must be normalized such that there is a single digit to the left of the decimal point and at least a single digit to the right of the decimal point.
double has the following ·constraining facets·:
[Definition:] duration represents a duration of time. The ·value space· of duration is a six-dimensional space where the coordinates designate the Gregorian year, month, day, hour, minute, and second components defined in § 5.5.3.2 of [ISO 8601], respectively. These components are ordered in their significance by their order of appearance i.e. as year, month, day, hour, minute, and second.
The lexical representation for duration is the [ISO 8601] extended format PnYn MnDTnH nMnS, where nY represents the number of years, nM the number of months, nD the number of days, 'T' is the date/time separator, nH the number of hours, nM the number of minutes and nS the number of seconds. The number of seconds can include decimal digits to arbitrary precision.
The values of the Year, Month, Day, Hour and Minutes components are not restricted but allow an arbitrary integer. Similarly, the value of the Seconds component allows an arbitrary decimal. Thus, the lexical representation of duration does not follow the alternative format of § 5.5.3.2.1 of [ISO 8601].
An optional preceding minus sign ('-') is allowed, to indicate a negative duration. If the sign is omitted a positive duration is indicated. See also ISO 8601 Date and Time Formats (§D).
For example, to indicate a duration of 1 year, 2 months, 3 days, 10
hours, and 30 minutes, one would write: P1Y2M3DT10H30M.
One could also indicate a duration of minus 120 days as:
-P120D.
Reduced precision and truncated representations of this format are allowed provided they conform to the following:
For example, P1347Y, P1347M and P1Y2MT2H are all allowed; P0Y1347M and P0Y1347M0D are allowed. P-1347M is not allowed although -P1347M is allowed. P1Y2MT is not allowed.
In general, the ·order-relation· on duration is a partial order since there is no determinate relationship between certain durations such as one month (P1M) and 30 days (P30D). The ·order-relation· of two duration values x and y is x < y iff s+x < s+y for each qualified dateTime s in the list below. These values for s cause the greatest deviations in the addition of dateTimes and durations. Addition of durations to time instants is defined in Adding durations to dateTimes (§E).
The following table shows the strongest relationship that can be determined between example durations. The symbol <> means that the order relation is indeterminate. Note that because of leap-seconds, a seconds field can vary from 59 to 60. However, because of the way that addition is defined in Adding durations to dateTimes (§E), they are still totally ordered.
| Relation | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P1Y | > P364D | <> P365D | <> P366D | < P367D | |||
| P1M | > P27D | <> P28D | <> P29D | <> P30D | <> P31D | < P32D | |
| P5M | > P149D | <> P150D | <> P151D | <> P152D | <> P153D | < P154D | |
Implementations are free to optimize the computation of the ordering relationship. For example, the following table can be used to compare durations of a small number of months against days.
| Months | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | ... | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Days | Minimum | 28 | 59 | 89 | 120 | 150 | 181 | 212 | 242 | 273 | 303 | 334 | 365 | 393 | ... |
| Maximum | 31 | 62 | 92 | 123 | 153 | 184 | 215 | 245 | 276 | 306 | 337 | 366 | 397 | ... |
In comparing duration values with minInclusive, minExclusive, maxInclusive and maxExclusive facet values indeterminate comparisons should be considered as "false".
Certain derived datatypes of durations can be guaranteed have a total order. For this, they must have fields from only one row in the list below and the time zone must either be required or prohibited.
For example, a datatype could be defined to correspond to the [SQL] datatype Year-Month interval that required a four digit year field and a two digit month field but required all other fields to be unspecified. This datatype could be defined as below and would have a total order.
<simpleType name='SQL-Year-Month-Interval'>
<restriction base='duration'>
<pattern value='P\p{Nd}{4}Y\p{Nd}{2}M'/>
</restriction>
</simpleType>
duration has the following ·constraining facets·:
[Definition:] dateTime represents a specific instant of time. The ·value space· of dateTime is the space of Combinations of date and time of day values as defined in § 5.4 of [ISO 8601].
A single lexical representation, which is a subset of the lexical representations allowed by [ISO 8601], is allowed for dateTime. This lexical representation is the [ISO 8601] extended format CCYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss where "CC" represents the century, "YY" the year, "MM" the month and "DD" the day, preceded by an optional leading "-" sign to indicate a negative number. If the sign is omitted, "+" is assumed. The letter "T" is the date/time separator and "hh", "mm", "ss" represent hour, minute and second respectively. Additional digits can be used to increase the precision of fractional seconds if desired i.e the format ss.ss... with any number of digits after the decimal point is supported. The fractional seconds part is optional; other parts of the lexical form are not optional. To accommodate year values greater than 9999 additional digits can be added to the left of this representation. Leading zeros are required if the year value would otherwise have fewer than four digits; otherwise they are forbidden. The year 0000 is prohibited.
The CCYY field must have at least four digits, the MM, DD, SS, hh, mm and ss fields exactly two digits each (not counting fractional seconds); leading zeroes must be used if the field would otherwise have too few digits.
This representation may be immediately followed by a "Z" to indicate Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) or, to indicate the time zone, i.e. the difference between the local time and Coordinated Universal Time, immediately followed by a sign, + or -, followed by the difference from UTC represented as hh:mm (note: the minutes part is required). See ISO 8601 Date and Time Formats (§D) for details about legal values in the various fields. If the time zone is included, both hours and minutes must be present.
For example, to indicate 1:20 pm on May the 31st, 1999 for Eastern
Standard Time which is 5 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), one
would write: 1999-05-31T13:20:00-05:00.
The canonical representation for dateTime is defined by prohibiting certain options from the Lexical representation (§3.2.7.1). Specifically, either the time zone must be omitted or, if present, the time zone must be Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) indicated by a "Z".
In general, the ·order-relation· on dateTime is a partial order since there is no determinate relationship between certain instants. For example, there is no determinate ordering between (a) 2000-01-20T12:00:00 and (b) 2000-01-20T12:00:00Z. Based on timezones currently in use, (c) could vary from 2000-01-20T12:00:00+12:00 to 2000-01-20T12:00:00-13:00. It is, however, possible for this range to expand or contract in the future, based on local laws. Because of this, the following definition uses a somewhat broader range of indeterminate values: +14:00..-14:00.
The following definition uses the notation S[year] to represent the year field of S, S[month] to represent the month field, and so on. The notation (Q & "-14:00") means adding the timezone -14:00 to Q, where Q did not already have a timezone. This is a logical explanation of the process. Actual implementations are free to optimize as long as they produce the same results.
The ordering between two dateTimes P and Q is defined by the following algorithm:
A.Normalize P and Q. That is, if there is a timezone present, but it is not Z, convert it to Z using the addition operation defined in Adding durations to dateTimes (§E)
B. If P and Q either both have a time zone or both do not have a time zone, compare P and Q field by field from the year field down to the second field, and return a result as soon as it can be determined. That is:
C.Otherwise, if P contains a time zone and Q does not, compare as follows:
D. Otherwise, if P does not contain a time zone and Q does, compare as follows:
Examples:
| Determinate | Indeterminate |
|---|---|
| 2000-01-15T00:00:00 < 2000-02-15T00:00:00 | 2000-01-01T12:00:00 <> 1999-12-31T23:00:00Z |
| 2000-01-15T12:00:00 < 2000-01-16T12:00:00Z | 2000-01-16T12:00:00 <> 2000-01-16T12:00:00Z |
| 2000-01-16T00:00:00 <> 2000-01-16T12:00:00Z |
Certain derived types from dateTime can be guaranteed have a total order. To do so, they must require that a specific set of fields are always specified, and that remaining fields (if any) are always unspecified. For example, the date datatype without time zone is defined to contain exactly year, month, and day. Thus dates without time zone have a total order among themselves.
dateTime has the following ·constraining facets·:
[Definition:] time represents an instant of time that recurs every day. The ·value space· of time is the space of time of day values as defined in § 5.3 of [ISO 8601]. Specifically, it is a set of zero-duration daily time instances.
Since the lexical representation allows an optional time zone indicator, time values are partially ordered because it may not be able to determine the order of two values one of which has a time zone and the other does not. The order relation on time values is the Order relation on dateTime (§3.2.7.3) using an arbitrary date. See also Adding durations to dateTimes (§E). Pairs of time values with or without time zone indicators are totally ordered.
The lexical representation for time is the left truncated lexical representation for dateTime: hh:mm:ss.sss with optional following time zone indicator. For example, to indicate 1:20 pm for Eastern Standard Time which is 5 hours behind Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), one would write: 13:20:00-05:00. See also ISO 8601 Date and Time Formats (§D).
The canonical representation for time is defined by prohibiting certain options from the Lexical representation (§3.2.8.1). Specifically, either the time zone must be omitted or, if present, the time zone must be Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) indicated by a "Z". Additionally, the canonical representation for midnight is 00:00:00.
time has the following ·constraining facets·:
[Definition:] date represents a calendar date. The ·value space· of date is the set of Gregorian calendar dates as defined in § 5.2.1 of [ISO 8601]. Specifically, it is a set of one-day long, non-periodic instances e.g. lexical 1999-10-26 to represent the calendar date 1999-10-26, independent of how many hours this day has.
Since the lexical representation allows an optional time zone indicator, date values are partially ordered because it may not be possible to unequivocally determine the order of two values one of which has a time zone and the other does not. If date values are considered as periods of time, the order relation on date values is the order relation on their starting instants. This is discussed in Order relation on dateTime (§3.2.7.3). See also Adding durations to dateTimes (§E). Pairs of date values with or without time zone indicators are totally ordered.
The lexical representation for date is the reduced (right truncated) lexical representation for dateTime: CCYY-MM-DD. No left truncation is allowed. An optional following time zone qualifier is allowed as for dateTime. To accommodate year values outside the range from 0001 to 9999, additional digits can be added to the left of this representation and a preceding "-" sign is allowed.
For example, to indicate May the 31st, 1999, one would write: 1999-05-31. See also ISO 8601 Date and Time Formats (§D).
date has the following ·constraining facets·:
[Definition:] gYearMonth represents a specific gregorian month in a specific gregorian year. The ·value space· of gYearMonth is the set of Gregorian calendar months as defined in § 5.2.1 of [ISO 8601]. Specifically, it is a set of one-month long, non-periodic instances e.g. 1999-10 to represent the whole month of 1999-10, independent of how many days this month has.
Since the lexical representation allows an optional time zone indicator, gYearMonth values are partially ordered because it may not be possible to unequivocally determine the order of two values one of which has a time zone and the other does not. If gYearMonth values are considered as periods of time, the order relation on gYearMonth values is the order relation on their starting instants. This is discussed in Order relation on dateTime (§3.2.7.3). See also Adding durations to dateTimes (§E). Pairs of gYearMonth values with or without time zone indicators are totally ordered.
NOTE: Because month/year combinations in one calendar only rarely correspond to month/year combinations in other calendars, values of this type are not, in general, convertible to simple values corresponding to month/year combinations in other calendars. This type should therefore be used with caution in contexts where conversion to other calendars is desired.
The lexical representation for gYearMonth is the reduced (right truncated) lexical representation for dateTime: CCYY-MM. No left truncation is allowed. An optional following time zone qualifier is allowed. To accommodate year values outside the range from 0001 to 9999, additional digits can be added to the left of this representation and a preceding "-" sign is allowed.
For example, to indicate the month of May 1999, one would write: 1999-05. See also ISO 8601 Date and Time Formats (§D).
gYearMonth has the following ·constraining facets·:
[Definition:] gYear represents a gregorian calendar year. The ·value space· of gYear is the set of Gregorian calendar years as defined in § 5.2.1 of [ISO 8601]. Specifically, it is a set of one-year long, non-periodic instances e.g. lexical 1999 to represent the whole year 1999, independent of how many months and days this year has.
Since the lexical representation allows an optional time zone indicator, gYear values are partially ordered because it may not be possible to unequivocally determine the order of two values one of which has a time zone and the other does not. If gYear values are considered as periods of time, the order relation on gYear values is the order relation on their starting instants. This is discussed in Order relation on dateTime (§3.2.7.3). See also Adding durations to dateTimes (§E). Pairs of gYear values with or without time zone indicators are totally ordered.
NOTE: Because years in one calendar only rarely correspond to years in other calendars, values of this type are not, in general, convertible to simple values corresponding to years in other calendars. This type should therefore be used with caution in contexts where conversion to other calendars is desired.
The lexical representation for gYear is the reduced (right truncated) lexical representation for dateTime: CCYY. No left truncation is allowed. An optional following time zone qualifier is allowed as for dateTime. To accommodate year values outside the range from 0001 to 9999, additional digits can be added to the left of this representation and a preceding "-" sign is allowed.
For example, to indicate 1999, one would write: 1999. See also ISO 8601 Date and Time Formats (§D).
gYear has the following ·constraining facets·:
[Definition:] gMonthDay is a gregorian date that recurs, specifically a day of the year such as the third of May. Arbitrary recurring dates are not supported by this datatype. The ·value space· of gMonthDay is the set of calendar dates, as defined in § 3 of [ISO 8601]. Specifically, it is a set of one-day long, annually periodic instances.
Since the lexical representation allows an optional time zone indicator, gMonthDay values are partially ordered because it may not be possible to unequivocally determine the order of two values one of which has a time zone and the other does not. If gMonthDay values are considered as periods of time, the order relation on gMonthDay values is the order relation on their starting instants. This is discussed in Order relation on dateTime (§3.2.7.3). See also Adding durations to dateTimes (§E). Pairs of gMonthDay values with or without time zone indicators are totally ordered.
NOTE: Because day/month combinations in one calendar only rarely correspond to day/month combinations in other calendars, values of this type do not, in general, have any straightforward or intuitive representation in terms of most other calendars. This type should therefore be used with caution in contexts where conversion to other calendars is desired.
The lexical representation for gMonthDay is the left truncated lexical representation for date: --MM-DD. An optional following time zone qualifier is allowed as for date. No preceding sign is allowed. No other formats are allowed. See also ISO 8601 Date and Time Formats (§D).
This datatype can be used to represent a specific day in a month. To say, for example, that my birthday occurs on the 14th of September ever year.
gMonthDay has the following ·constraining facets·: