standard_date: Obtain a standard date format that works across locales

Description

The standard_date() function can be invoked in the format argument of the fdt() function to help generate a locale-specific formatting string of a certain 'type' of formatted date. The type value is a keyword that represents precision and verbosity; the available keywords are "short" (the default), "medium", "long", and "full".

Usage

standard_date(type = c("short", "medium", "long", "full"))

Value

A vector of class date_time_pattern.

Arguments

type: One of four standardized types for the resulting date that range in precision and verbosity. These are "short" (the default), "medium", "long", and "full".

Examples

With an input datetime of "2018-07-04 22:05(America/Vancouver)", we can format as a date in a standardized way with standard_date() providing the correct formatting string. This function is invoked in the format argument of fdt():

fdt(
  input = "2018-07-04 22:05(America/Vancouver)",
  format = standard_date(type = "full")
)

#> [1] "Wednesday, July 4, 2018"

The locale can be changed and we don't have to worry about the particulars of the formatting string (they are standardized across locales).

fdt(
  input = "2018-07-04 22:05(America/Vancouver)",
  format = standard_date(type = "full"),
  locale = fdt_locales_lst$nl
)

#> [1] "woensdag 4 juli 2018"

We can use different type values to control the output date string. The default is "short".

fdt(
  input = "2018-07-04 22:05(America/Vancouver)",
  format = standard_date()
)

#> [1] "7/4/18"

After that, it's "medium":

fdt(
  input = "2018-07-04 22:05(America/Vancouver)",
  format = standard_date(type = "medium")
)

#> [1] "Jul 4, 2018"

Then, "long":

fdt(
  input = "2018-07-04 22:05(America/Vancouver)",
  format = standard_date(type = "long")
)

#> [1] "July 4, 2018"

And finally up to "full", which was demonstrated in the first example.