field separators in tzdata2016a.tar.gz
Dear reader, While writing a Perl script to parse the original TZ data files, I discovered that most fields are separated by tab characters ( ASCII 09 ), yet some by spaces. Given the frequency, I expect tabs were the intended separator. It makes parsing less ambiguous anyhow. I converted a set of space separators in attached patches. Not all, as I do not know yet what is the intent here. Regards, Joris Software developer Brisbane
Joris Wu wrote:
Given the frequency, I expect tabs were the intended separator.
Actually, the intent is that fields are separated by white space. This is documented in the zic man page. So the data files should be OK as-is. The white space characters are what the regular expression [[:space:]] matches in the C locale: " \f\n\r\t\v" (though of course "\n" cannot appear within a line).
participants (2)
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Joris Wu -
Paul Eggert