Time Formatting Parsing in GDScript

GDScript supports time formatting and parsing, although it uses a different approach compared to pattern-based layouts. Here’s how you can work with time in GDScript:

extends Node

func _ready():
    var print = funcref(self, "print_line")

    # Get the current time
    var current_time = OS.get_datetime()
    print.call(format_datetime(current_time))

    # Parse a time string
    var parsed_time = parse_datetime("2012-11-01 22:08:41")
    print.call(parsed_time)

    # Format time in different ways
    print.call(format_time(current_time, "%I:%M %p"))
    print.call(format_datetime(current_time))
    print.call(format_datetime(current_time, true))  # With microseconds

    # Custom time formatting
    var custom_format = "%I %M %p"
    var custom_time = parse_time("8:41 PM", custom_format)
    print.call(custom_time)

    # Numeric representation
    print.call("%04d-%02d-%02dT%02d:%02d:%02d-00:00" % [
        current_time["year"], current_time["month"], current_time["day"],
        current_time["hour"], current_time["minute"], current_time["second"]
    ])

    # Error handling for parsing
    var result = parse_time("8:41PM", "%H:%M:%S")
    if result == null:
        print.call("Error parsing time")

func format_datetime(datetime, with_microseconds = false):
    if with_microseconds:
        return "%04d-%02d-%02dT%02d:%02d:%02d.%06d" % [
            datetime["year"], datetime["month"], datetime["day"],
            datetime["hour"], datetime["minute"], datetime["second"],
            datetime["microsecond"]
        ]
    else:
        return "%04d-%02d-%02dT%02d:%02d:%02d" % [
            datetime["year"], datetime["month"], datetime["day"],
            datetime["hour"], datetime["minute"], datetime["second"]
        ]

func format_time(datetime, format):
    return OS.get_time_string_from_system(format, datetime)

func parse_datetime(datetime_string):
    return OS.get_datetime_from_unix_time(OS.get_unix_time_from_datetime_string(datetime_string))

func parse_time(time_string, format):
    return OS.get_time_dict_from_system(format, time_string)

In GDScript, we use the OS class to work with date and time. Here’s a breakdown of the code:

We use OS.get_datetime() to get the current time.
For parsing time strings, we use OS.get_unix_time_from_datetime_string() and then convert it back to a datetime dictionary with OS.get_datetime_from_unix_time().
Time formatting is done using OS.get_time_string_from_system(), which accepts a format string similar to the C strftime() function.
For custom time parsing, we use OS.get_time_dict_from_system().
We can also manually format time using string formatting with the components of the time dictionary.
Error handling for parsing is done by checking if the result is null.

Note that GDScript doesn’t have built-in constants for standard time formats like RFC3339. You would need to define these formats yourself if needed.

When running this script, you would see output similar to:

2023-06-10T15:30:45
2012-11-01T22:08:41
3:30 PM
2023-06-10T15:30:45
2023-06-10T15:30:45.123456
20:41:00
2023-06-10T15:30:45-00:00
Error parsing time

Remember that the exact output will depend on the current time when you run the script.

Epoch in GDScript

Random Numbers in GDScript

Learn X By Example

Title here

Time Formatting Parsing in GDScript