[ < ] | [ > ] | [ << ] | [ Up ] | [ >> ] | [Top] | [Contents] | [Index] | [ ? ] |
A time zone item specifies an international time zone, indicated by a small set of letters, e.g., `UTC' or `Z' for Coordinated Universal Time. Any included periods are ignored. By following a non-daylight-saving time zone by the string `DST' in a separate word (that is, separated by some white space), the corresponding daylight saving time zone may be specified.
Time zone items other than `UTC' and `Z' are obsolescent and are not recommended, because they are ambiguous; for example, `EST' has a different meaning in Australia than in the United States. Instead, it's better to use unambiguous numeric time zone corrections like `-0500', as described in the previous section.