Ben Bennett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> schrieb/wrote: > On Wed, Jul 16, 2003 at 12:05:00PM +0200, Claus F�rber wrote: >> Not all languages use suffixes when writing numbers. In German, for >> example, you'd just write "14. Juli". (Actually, it's spoken >> "vierzehn*ter* Juli", but one does not write "14ter Juli"; in spoken >> language, the suffix is also used for the month as in "vierzehnter >> siebter" or "14ter 7ter").
> Great! Someone who can tell me real German usage! In the example > above, is the . after 14 optional? I assume so... Actually, the dot (.) has a function similar to the suffix in other languages (e.g. -st, -nd, -th in English), i.e. it indicates an ordinal number. It is not optional in standard German orthography (that does not mean that everyone always adheres to this rule, of course). > Can you clarify what AM/PM and BC/AD forms would be expected? AM/PM is not used in German-speaking countries. We simply use the 24 hour system when writing down times. (Spoken language is different and often ambiguous but I don't think that's relevant for a parser class.) BC is 'vor Christus' or 'v. Chr.'. AD is 'nach Christus' or 'n. Chr.' Sometimes 'AD' is used, too (very rare; usually only ecclesiastic texts). I'd suggest /v(?:or|\.)?\s*Chr(?:ist(?:us)|\.)?/ and /n(?:ach|\.)?\s*Chr(?:ist(?:us)|\.)?/ as patters to conver most non- standard variants. Claus -- http://www.faerber.muc.de
