XSD Date and Time

Date and time data types are used to represent date and time in the XML documents.

Date Data Type

The date data type (<xs:date>) is used to specify a date.

The date is specified in the following format "YYYY-MM-DD", where:

• YYYY indicates the year
• MM indicates the month
• DD indicates the day

note

All components are mandatory!

Let's see an example:

<xs:element name="mydate" type="xs:date"/>

and an element in your XML document look like this:

<mydate>1999-06-14</mydate>

Time Zones

To specify a time zone, you can either enter a date in UTC time by adding a "Z" behind the date

<mydate>1999-06-14Z</mydate>

or you can specify an offset from the UTC time by adding a positive or negative time behind the date

<mydate>2002-09-24-06:00</mydate>
<mydate>2002-09-24+06:00</mydate>

Time Data Type

The time data type (<xs:dataType>) is used to specify a time.

The time is specified in the following form "hh:mm:ss" where:

• hh indicates the hour
• mm indicates the minute
• ss indicates the second

note

All components are mandatory!

Let's see an example:

<xs:element name="mytime" type="xs:time"/>

and an element in your XML document look like this:

<mytime>15:00:00</mytime>
<mytime>15:28:10.5</mytime>

Time Zones

To specify a time zone, you can either enter a time in UTC time by adding a "Z" behind the time:

<mytime>15:28:10Z</mytime>

or you can specify an offset from the UTC time by adding a positive or negative time behind the time:

<mytime>15:28:10-06:00</mytime>  
<mytime>15:28:10+06:00</mytime>

DateTime Data Type

The dateTime data type (<xs:dateTime>) is used to specify a date and a time.

The dateTime is specified in the following form "YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss" where:

• YYYY indicates the year
• MM indicates the month
• DD indicates the day
• T indicates the start of the required time section
• hh indicates the hour
• mm indicates the minute
• ss indicates the second

note

All components are mandatory!

Let's see an example:

<xs:element name="mydatetime" type="xs:dateTime"/>

and an element in your XML document look like this:

<mydatetime>1999-06-14T15:50:00</mydatetime>
<mydatetime>1999-06-14T15.50.00</mydatetime>

Time Zones

To specify a time zone, you can either enter a dateTime in UTC time by adding a "Z" behind the time:

<mydatetime>1999-06-14T15:50:00Z</mydatetime>

or you can specify an offset from the UTC time by adding a positive or negative time behind the time:

<mydatetime>1999-06-14T15:50:00-06:00</mydatetime>
<mydatetime>1999-06-14T15:50:00+06:00</mydatetime>

Duration Data Type

The duration data type (<xs:duration>) is used to represent time interval in "PnYnMnDTnHnMnS" format. Each component is optional except P.

• P represents start of date section
• nY represents year
• nM represents month
• nD represents day
• T represents start of time section
• nH represents hours
• nM represents minutes
• nS represents seconds

note

T is required if you are going to specify hours, minutes, or seconds.

The duration declaration is as follow:

<xs:element name="period" type="xs:duration"/>

Example of a period of 5 years:

<period>P5Y</period>

Example of a period of five years, two months, and 10 days:

<period>P5Y2M10D</period>

Example of a period of 15 hours:

<period>P5Y2M10D</period>

Negative Duration

To specify a negative duration, enter a minus sign before the P.

Example of a period a period of minus 15 days:

<period>-P15D</period>

Date and Time Data Types

The following is a list of commonly used date data types.

Name	Description
date	Defines a date value
dateTime	Defines a date and time value
duration	Defines a time interval
gDay	Defines a part of a date - the day (DD)
gMonth	Defines a part of a date - the month (MM)
gMonthDay	Defines a part of a date - the month and day (MM-DD)
gYear	Defines a part of a date - the year (YYYY)
gYearMonth	Defines a part of a date - the year and month (YYYY-MM)
time	Defines a time value

Restrictions on Date Data Types

Restrictions that can be used with Date data types:

• enumeration
• maxExclusive
• maxInclusive
• minExclusive
• minInclusive
• pattern
• whiteSpace

See XSD Restrictions chapter to learn more.