[NTG-context] Re: \time pendant to \currenttime

[Benjamin Buchmuller <benjamin.buchmuller@gmail.com>]

Hi Hans,

Thanks for sharing this so quickly! 

I should probably wikify how to get these files compile: I first placed it in "tex/texmf-local" and ran "context --make" and "mtxrun --generate" didn't seem to do the trick for me. I also tried the same after placing the file in "tex/context/modules/mkxl" (where the "crappyspec" module resides), but although I get the "temp-new" module to load, I still get complaints about "missing number, treated as zero". Maybe the primitive is not correctly overloaded? Or (more likely) I'm not doing it right to get the mkxl file being executed. :-)

Regarding the formatting, maybe this could be constructed similarly to

 \date[d=25,m=4,y=2008][weekday,month,day,{,~},year]

one could specify similarly to other parsers where "m" is reserved for "month" etc (obviously we could overload as they are associated with \date[] and not with \time[]).

H= % hours as decimal number (0–24)
I=  % hours as decimal number (0–12) [not sure if needed]
M= % minute as decimal number (0–59)
S= % Seconds as decimal number (0–61)
p % (optional) AM/PM indicator in the locale; used in conjunction with I and not with H
u % (optional) unit for durations

so 

\time[H=16,M=32][hour,{:},minute]
% 16:32

\time[H=16,M=32][hour,{:},minute,{ },indicator]
% 4:32 pm

and one could "hijack" the command for durations as well (with some overloading similar to "m", "MONTH", "mm", "month" etc.)

\time[M=3,S=30,u=minute][MM,{:},SS,{ },unit]
% 04:32 min

(Unit would take abbreviation from the units module, ideally.)

Then

\setuplangauge[en][time={HH, :, MM, :, p}]

Just a couple of thoughts though. Thank you for all your help!


Benjamin

> On Jun 10, 2025, at 05:45, Hans Hagen <j.hagen@xs4all.nl> wrote:
> 
> On 6/10/2025 2:35 AM, Benjamin Buchmuller wrote:
>> Hi list,
>> I was wondering if there is a "\time" equivalent similar to "\currentdate" -> "\date"?
>> I know from the wiki (and source) that there is "\currenttime", but "\time[h=8, m=30]" will not typeset "8:30", so it doesn't seem to be implemented. I understand that such an implementation might become arbitrarily complicated …
>> In fact, I'm trying to typeset durations like "3:30 min" which is not exactly a "time" either, but neither \unit{3:30 minute} nor a math formula achieve the expected rendering. Of course, one could just type it plainly, but maybe this little gap is worthwhile considering in a future version. :-)
> 
> It's no problem to add something and it's kind of trivial to implement anyway. See attached.
> 
> You need to keep in mind that \time is also a primitive (do users actually use that one?) so we need to remain compatible with its usage as number, think:
> 
> \time1234 % sets the time
> 
> \time[]   % typesets the time
> 
> \the\time % typesets the number
> 
> intercepting h and m also has to involve overflow
> 
> how about seconds? and pm/am ?
> 
> you can test the attached proof of concept and contemplate the above (and do some research in language dependencies) .. when i got enough input we can (after wolfgangs quality assurance check) add something to the core (in order to keep the format small i can then kick out something unused)
> 
> Hans
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>                                          Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
>              Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
>       tel: 038 477 53 69 | www.pragma-ade.nl | www.pragma-pod.nl
> -----------------------------------------------------------------<temp-new.mkxl>

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