Date::Range(3)

NAME
Date::Range - work with a range of dates

SYNOPSIS
  use Date::Range;

  my $range = Date::Range->new($date1, $date2);

  my $earliest = $range->start;
  my $latest   = $range->end;
  my $days     = $range->length;

  if ($range->includes($date3)) { ... }
  if ($range->includes($range2)) { ... }

  if ($range->overlaps($range2)) {
    my $range3 = $range->overlap($range2);
  }

  foreach my $date ($range->dates) { ... }

DESCRIPTION
Quite often, when dealing with dates, we don't just want to know information about one particular date, but about a range of dates. For example, we may wish to know whether a given date is in a particular range, or what the overlap is between one range and another. This module lets you ask such questions.

METHODS

  new()
  my $range = Date::Range->new($date1, $date2);

A range object is instantiated with two dates, which do not need to be in chronological order (we'll sort all that out internally).

These dates must be instances of the correct object. See want_class() below.

  want_class
The class of which we expect the date objects to be objects. By default this is Date::Simple, but this could be any other date class. See Time::Piece::Range for an example of a subclass that uses a different date class.

  start / end / length
  my $earliest = $range->start;
  my $latest   = $range->end;
  my $days     = $range->length;

These methods allow you retrieve the start and end dates of the range, and the number of days in the range.

  equals
  if ($range1->equals($range2)) { }

This tells you if two ranges are the same - i.e. start and end at the same dates.

  includes
  if ($range->includes($date3)) { ... }
  if ($range->includes($range2)) { ... }

These methods tell you if a given range includes a given date, or a given range.

  overlaps / overlap
  if ($range->overlaps($range2)) {
    my $range3 = $range->overlap($range2);
  }

These methods let you know whether one range overlaps another or not, and access this overlap range.

  gap
        my $range3 = $range->gap($range2);

This returns a new range representing the gap between two other ranges.

  abuts
        if ($range->abuts($range2)) { ... }

This tells you whether or not two ranges are contiguous - i.e. there is no gap between them, but they do not overlap.

  dates
  foreach my $date ($range->dates) { ... }

This returns a list of each date in the range as a Date::Simple object.

AUTHOR
Tony Bowden, based heavily on Martin Fowler's "Analysis Patterns 2" discussion and code at http://www.martinfowler.com/ap2/range.html

BUGS and QUERIES
Please direct all correspondence regarding this module to:
  bug-Date-Range@rt.cpan.org

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
  Copyright (C) 2001-2006 Tony Bowden.

  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License; either version
  2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.