On Tue, Jul 9, 2019 at 09:14:27AM +0100, David Harper wrote:
> > Uh, I believe midnight is always the start of the day.
>
> The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) deprecates the
> term “midnight” as ambiguous and recommmends the use of 24-hour clock
> notation:
>
> ===== BEGIN QUOTE =====
> When someone refers to "midnight tonight" or "midnight last night" the
> reference of time is obvious. However, if a date/time is referred to as "at
> midnight on Friday, October 20th" the intention could be either midnight the
> beginning of the day or midnight at the end of the day.
>
> To avoid ambiguity, specification of an event as occurring on a particular
> day at 11:59 p.m. or 12:01 a.m. is a good idea, especially legal documents
> such as contracts and insurance policies. Another option would be to use
> 24-hour clock, using the designation of 0000 to refer to midnight at the
> beginning of a given day (or date) and 2400 to designate the end of a given
> day (or date).
> ===== END QUOTE =====
>
> Source:
>
> https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/times-day-faqs
>
> > I think 00:00:00 looks awkward.
>
> Perhaps, but in technical documentation, accuracy should have priority over
> aesthetics, surely?
>
Yes, I see what you mean now. How is this patch, which uses "zero
hour"?
--
Bruce Momjian <[email protected]> http://momjian.us
EnterpriseDB http://enterprisedb.com
+ As you are, so once was I. As I am, so you will be. +
+ Ancient Roman grave inscription +
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml
index 35ecd48ed5..3b5b8a65d0 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml
@@ -2174,17 +2174,17 @@ January 8 04:05:06 1999 PST
<row>
<entry><literal>today</literal></entry>
<entry><type>date</type>, <type>timestamp</type></entry>
- <entry>midnight today</entry>
+ <entry>midnight (zero hour) today</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>tomorrow</literal></entry>
<entry><type>date</type>, <type>timestamp</type></entry>
- <entry>midnight tomorrow</entry>
+ <entry>midnight (zero hour) tomorrow</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>yesterday</literal></entry>
<entry><type>date</type>, <type>timestamp</type></entry>
- <entry>midnight yesterday</entry>
+ <entry>midnight (zero hour) yesterday</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>allballs</literal></entry>
