DateTime::SpanSet(3)

NAME
DateTime::SpanSet - set of DateTime spans

SYNOPSIS
    $spanset = DateTime::SpanSet->from_spans( spans => [ $dt_span, $dt_span ] );

    $set = $spanset->union( $set2 );         # like "OR", "insert", "both"
    $set = $spanset->complement( $set2 );    # like "delete", "remove"
    $set = $spanset->intersection( $set2 );  # like "AND", "while"
    $set = $spanset->complement;             # like "NOT", "negate", "invert"

    if ( $spanset->intersects( $set2 ) ) { ...  # like "touches", "interferes"
    if ( $spanset->contains( $set2 ) ) { ...    # like "is-fully-inside"

    # data extraction
    $date = $spanset->min;           # first date of the set
    $date = $spanset->max;           # last date of the set

    $iter = $spanset->iterator;
    while ( $dt = $iter->next ) {
        # $dt is a DateTime::Span
        print $dt->start->ymd;   # first date of span
        print $dt->end->ymd;     # last date of span
    };

DESCRIPTION
"DateTime::SpanSet" is a class that represents sets of datetime spans. An example would be a recurring meeting that occurs from 13:00-15:00 every Friday.

This is different from a "DateTime::Set", which is made of individual datetime points as opposed to ranges.

METHODS

•   from_spans

    Creates a new span set from one or more "DateTime::Span" objects.

       $spanset = DateTime::SpanSet->from_spans( spans => [ $dt_span ] );

•   from_set_and_duration

    Creates a new span set from one or more "DateTime::Set" objects and a duration.

    The duration can be a "DateTime::Duration" object, or the parameters to create a new "DateTime::Duration" object, such as "days", "months", etc.

       $spanset =
           DateTime::SpanSet->from_set_and_duration
               ( set => $dt_set, days => 1 );

•   from_sets

    Creates a new span set from two "DateTime::Set" objects.

    One set defines the starting dates, and the other defines the end dates.

       $spanset =
           DateTime::SpanSet->from_sets
               ( start_set => $dt_set1, end_set => $dt_set2 );

    The spans have the starting date "closed", and the end date "open", like in "[$dt1, $dt2)".

    If an end date comes without a starting date before it, then it defines a span like "(-inf, $dt)".

    If a starting date comes without an end date after it, then it defines a span like "[$dt, inf)".

•   empty_set

    Creates a new empty set.

•   is_empty_set

    Returns true is the set is empty; false otherwise.

        print "nothing" if $set->is_empty_set;

•   clone

    This object method returns a replica of the given object.

•   set_time_zone( $tz )

    This method accepts either a time zone object or a string that can be passed as the "name" parameter to "DateTime::TimeZone->new()". If the new time zone's offset is different from the old time zone, then the local time is adjusted accordingly.

    If the old time zone was a floating time zone, then no adjustments to the local time are made, except to account for leap seconds. If the new time zone is floating, then the UTC time is adjusted in order to leave the local time untouched.

•   start, min

•   end, max

    First or last dates in the set.

    It is possible that the return value from these methods may be a "DateTime::Infinite::Future" or a "DateTime::Infinite::Past" object.

    If the set ends "before" a date $dt, it returns $dt. Note that in this case $dt is not a set element - but it is a set boundary.

    These methods may return "undef" if the set is empty.

    These methods return just a copy of the actual boundary value. If you modify the result, the set will not be modified.

•   duration

    The total size of the set, as a "DateTime::Duration" object.

    The duration may be infinite.

    Also available as "size()".

•   span

    The total span of the set, as a "DateTime::Span" object.

•   next

      my $span = $set->next( $dt );

    This method is used to find the next span in the set, after a given datetime or span.

    The return value is a "DateTime::Span", or "undef" if there is no matching span in the set.

•   previous

      my $span = $set->previous( $dt );

    This method is used to find the previous span in the set, before a given datetime or span.

    The return value is a "DateTime::Span", or "undef" if there is no matching span in the set.

•   current

      my $span = $set->current( $dt );

    This method is used to find the "current" span in the set, that intersects a given datetime or span. If no current span is found, then the "previous" span is returned.

    The return value is a "DateTime::SpanSet", or "undef" if there is no matching span in the set.

    If a span parameter is given, it may happen that "current" returns more than one span.

    See also: "intersected_spans()" method.

•   closest

      my $span = $set->closest( $dt );

    This method is used to find the "closest" span in the set, given a datetime or span.

    The return value is a "DateTime::SpanSet", or "undef" if the set is empty.

    If a span parameter is given, it may happen that "closest" returns more than one span.

•   as_list

    Returns a list of "DateTime::Span" objects.

      my @dt_span = $set->as_list( span => $span );

    Just as with the "iterator()" method, the "as_list()" method can be limited by a span.

    Applying "as_list()" to a large recurring spanset is a very expensive operation, both in CPU time and in the memory used.

    For this reason, when "as_list()" operates on large recurrence sets, it will return at most approximately 200 spans. For larger sets, and for infinite sets, "as_list()" will return "undef".

    Please note that this is explicitly not an empty list, since an empty list is a valid return value for empty sets!

    If you really need to extract spans from a large set, you can:

    - limit the set with a shorter span:

        my @short_list = $large_set->as_list( span => $short_span );

    - use an iterator:

        my @large_list;
        my $iter = $large_set->iterator;
        push @large_list, $dt while $dt = $iter->next;

•   union

•   intersection

•   complement

    Set operations may be performed not only with "DateTime::SpanSet" objects, but also with "DateTime", "DateTime::Set" and "DateTime::Span" objects. These set operations always return a "DateTime::SpanSet" object.

        $set = $spanset->union( $set2 );         # like "OR", "insert", "both"
        $set = $spanset->complement( $set2 );    # like "delete", "remove"
        $set = $spanset->intersection( $set2 );  # like "AND", "while"
        $set = $spanset->complement;             # like "NOT", "negate", "invert"

•   intersected_spans

    This method can accept a "DateTime" list, a "DateTime::Set", a "DateTime::Span", or a "DateTime::SpanSet" object as an argument.

        $set = $set1->intersected_spans( $set2 );

    The method always returns a "DateTime::SpanSet" object, containing all spans that are intersected by the given set.

    Unlike the "intersection" method, the spans are not modified. See diagram below:

                   set1   [....]   [....]   [....]   [....]
                   set2      [................]

           intersection      [.]   [....]   [.]

      intersected_spans   [....]   [....]   [....]

•   intersects

•   contains

    These set functions return a boolean value.

        if ( $spanset->intersects( $set2 ) ) { ...  # like "touches", "interferes"
        if ( $spanset->contains( $dt ) ) { ...    # like "is-fully-inside"

    These methods can accept a "DateTime", "DateTime::Set", "DateTime::Span", or "DateTime::SpanSet" object as an argument.

    intersects() returns 1 for true, and 0 for false. In a few cases the algorithm can't decide if the sets intersect at all, and intersects() will return "undef".

•   iterator / next / previous

    This method can be used to iterate over the spans in a set.

        $iter = $spanset->iterator;
        while ( $dt = $iter->next ) {
            # $dt is a DateTime::Span
            print $dt->min->ymd;   # first date of span
            print $dt->max->ymd;   # last date of span
        }

    The boundaries of the iterator can be limited by passing it a "span" parameter. This should be a "DateTime::Span" object which delimits the iterator's boundaries. Optionally, instead of passing an object, you can pass any parameters that would work for one of the "DateTime::Span" class's constructors, and an object will be created for you.

    Obviously, if the span you specify does is not restricted both at the start and end, then your iterator may iterate forever, depending on the nature of your set. User beware!

    The "next()" or "previous()" methods will return "undef" when there are no more spans in the iterator.

•   start_set

•   end_set

    These methods do the inverse of the "from_sets" method:

    "start_set" retrieves a DateTime::Set with the start datetime of each span.

    "end_set" retrieves a DateTime::Set with the end datetime of each span.

•   map ( sub { ... } )

        # example: enlarge the spans
        $set = $set2->map(
            sub {
                my $start = $_->start;
                my $end = $_->end;
                return DateTime::Span->from_datetimes(
                    start => $start,
                    before => $end,
                );
            }
        );

    This method is the "set" version of Perl "map".

    It evaluates a subroutine for each element of the set (locally setting "$_" to each DateTime::Span) and returns the set composed of the results of each such evaluation.

    Like Perl "map", each element of the set may produce zero, one, or more elements in the returned value.

    Unlike Perl "map", changing "$_" does not change the original set. This means that calling map in void context has no effect.

    The callback subroutine may not be called immediately. Don't count on subroutine side-effects. For example, a "print" inside the subroutine may happen later than you expect.

    The callback return value is expected to be within the span of the "previous" and the "next" element in the original set.

    For example: given the set "[ 2001, 2010, 2015 ]", the callback result for the value 2010 is expected to be within the span "[ 2001 .. 2015 ]".

•   grep ( sub { ... } )

        # example: filter out all spans happening today
        my $today = DateTime->today;
        $set = $set2->grep(
            sub {
                return ( ! $_->contains( $today ) );
            }
        );

    This method is the "set" version of Perl "grep".

    It evaluates a subroutine for each element of the set (locally setting "$_" to each DateTime::Span) and returns the set consisting of those elements for which the expression evaluated to true.

    Unlike Perl "grep", changing "$_" does not change the original set. This means that calling grep in void context has no effect.

    Changing "$_" does change the resulting set.

    The callback subroutine may not be called immediately. Don't count on subroutine side-effects. For example, a "print" inside the subroutine may happen later than you expect.

•   iterate

    Internal method - use "map" or "grep" instead.

    This function apply a callback subroutine to all elements of a set and returns the resulting set.

    The parameter $_[0] to the callback subroutine is a "DateTime::Span" object.

    If the callback returns "undef", the datetime is removed from the set:

        sub remove_sundays {
            $_[0] unless $_[0]->start->day_of_week == 7;
        }

    The callback return value is expected to be within the span of the "previous" and the "next" element in the original set.

    For example: given the set "[ 2001, 2010, 2015 ]", the callback result for the value 2010 is expected to be within the span "[ 2001 .. 2015 ]".

    The callback subroutine may not be called immediately. Don't count on subroutine side-effects. For example, a "print" inside the subroutine may happen later than you expect.

SUPPORT
Support is offered through the "datetime@perl.org" mailing list.

Please report bugs using rt.cpan.org

AUTHOR
Flavio Soibelmann Glock <fglock@gmail.com>

The API was developed together with Dave Rolsky and the DateTime Community.

COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2003 Flavio Soibelmann Glock. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can distribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

The full text of the license can be found in the LICENSE file included with this module.

SEE ALSO
Set::Infinite

For details on the Perl DateTime Suite project please see <http://datetime.perl.org>.