C++11 – How to Parse a Date String into std::chrono::time_point

c++c++11date-parsingdatetime-parsing

Consider a historic date string of format:

Thu Jan 9 12:35:34 2014

I want to parse such a string into some kind of C++ date representation, then calculate the amount of time that has passed since then.

From the resulting duration I need access to the numbers of seconds, minutes, hours and days.

Can this be done with the new C++11 std::chrono namespace? If not, how should I go about this today?

I'm using g++-4.8.1 though presumably an answer should just target the C++11 spec.

Best Answer

std::tm tm = {};
std::stringstream ss("Jan 9 2014 12:35:34");
ss >> std::get_time(&tm, "%b %d %Y %H:%M:%S");
auto tp = std::chrono::system_clock::from_time_t(std::mktime(&tm));

GCC prior to version 5 doesn't implement std::get_time. You should also be able to write:

std::tm tm = {};
strptime("Thu Jan 9 2014 12:35:34", "%a %b %d %Y %H:%M:%S", &tm);
auto tp = std::chrono::system_clock::from_time_t(std::mktime(&tm));

Related Solutions

C++ Date/Time Parsing – Convert Any Format String to Epoch

I suppose you could attempt to convert your string into ptime using each of these formats and pick the ones that do not result in a not_a_date_time.:

The boost format flags are slightly different from yours, I'll do just the last five for this example:

#include <iostream>
#include <boost/date_time/posix_time/posix_time.hpp>
using boost::posix_time::time_input_facet;
using std::locale;
const locale inputs[] = {
    locale(locale::classic(), new time_input_facet("%m/%d/%Y")),
    locale(locale::classic(), new time_input_facet("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")),
    locale(locale::classic(), new time_input_facet("%Y%m%d%H%M%S")),
    locale(locale::classic(), new time_input_facet("%Y%m%d%H%M")),
    locale(locale::classic(), new time_input_facet("%Y%m%d")) };
const size_t formats = sizeof(inputs)/sizeof(inputs[0]);

time_t ptime_to_time_t(boost::posix_time::ptime t)
{
       static boost::posix_time::ptime epoch(boost::gregorian::date(1970,1,1));
       return (t-epoch).ticks() / boost::posix_time::time_duration::ticks_per_second();
}
int main()
{
       std::string msg = "2010-08-04 08:34:12";

       for(size_t i=0; i<formats; ++i)
       {
           std::istringstream ss(msg);
           ss.imbue(inputs[i]);
           boost::posix_time::ptime this_time;
           ss >> this_time;

           if(this_time != boost::posix_time::not_a_date_time)
               std::cout << this_time << " or " << ptime_to_time_t(this_time) << std::endl;
       }
}

C++ – How to Parse Date/Time from String

Although I don't know how to format a single-digit month input in boost, I can do it after the two-digit edit:

#include <iostream>
#include <boost/date_time.hpp>
namespace bt = boost::posix_time;
const std::locale formats[] = {
std::locale(std::locale::classic(),new bt::time_input_facet("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")),
std::locale(std::locale::classic(),new bt::time_input_facet("%Y/%m/%d %H:%M:%S")),
std::locale(std::locale::classic(),new bt::time_input_facet("%d.%m.%Y %H:%M:%S")),
std::locale(std::locale::classic(),new bt::time_input_facet("%Y-%m-%d"))};
const size_t formats_n = sizeof(formats)/sizeof(formats[0]);

std::time_t pt_to_time_t(const bt::ptime& pt)
{
    bt::ptime timet_start(boost::gregorian::date(1970,1,1));
    bt::time_duration diff = pt - timet_start;
    return diff.ticks()/bt::time_duration::rep_type::ticks_per_second;

}
void seconds_from_epoch(const std::string& s)
{
    bt::ptime pt;
    for(size_t i=0; i<formats_n; ++i)
    {
        std::istringstream is(s);
        is.imbue(formats[i]);
        is >> pt;
        if(pt != bt::ptime()) break;
    }
    std::cout << " ptime is " << pt << '\n';
    std::cout << " seconds from epoch are " << pt_to_time_t(pt) << '\n';
}
int main()
{
    seconds_from_epoch("2004-03-21 12:45:33");
    seconds_from_epoch("2004/03/21 12:45:33");
    seconds_from_epoch("23.09.2004 04:12:21");
    seconds_from_epoch("2003-02-11");
}

note that the seconds-from-epoch output will be assuming the date was in UTC:

~ $ ./test | head -2
ptime is 2004-Mar-21 12:45:33
seconds from epoch are 1079873133
~ $ date -d @1079873133
Sun Mar 21 07:45:33 EST 2004

You could probably use boost::posix_time::c_time::localtime() from #include <boost/date_time/c_time.hpp> to get this conversion done assuming the input is in the current time zone, but it is rather inconsistent: for me, for example, the result will be different between today and next month, when daylight saving ends.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

C++ Date/Time Parsing – Convert Any Format String to Epoch

C++ – How to Parse Date/Time from String

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