Re: Arabic date format and Microsoft programs

> Date: Mon, 17 Oct 2011 08:42:02 +0200
> From: Simon Montagu <smontagu_at_smontagu.org>
> List-software: Ecartis version 1.0.0
>
> On 10/15/2011 05:19 PM, Andreas Prilop wrote:
> > I return to
> > http://www.unicode.org/mail-arch/unicode-ml/y2011-m10/att-0059/1999-12-31.html
> >
> > Microsoft programs (Internet Explorer, MS Word), display this as
> > 31/12/1999
> >
> > Other programs (Firefox, Opera, OpenOffice) display this as
> > 1999/12/31
>
> Given that the bidi category of U+002F is CS, 1999/12/31 seems to be the
> correct rendering following rule W4 of the Bidi Algorithm: "A single
> common separator between two numbers of the same type changes to that type".
>
> Note that this changed in version 4.0.1 of Unicode -- before that the
> category of U+002F was ES, which would make the correct rendering
> 31/12/1999 as in Microsoft programs.

Actually, it's the other way around: U+002F being a CS, the correct
display is 31/12/1999, while if it where an ES, the correct display
would have been 1999/12/31. I verified this with the Reference
Implementation (where, confusingly, `/' is ES, so you need to use
something else, like a comma).

Btw, according to my testing, the current Firefox displays this as
31/12/1999. I don't have Opera or OO to check there, but it's
possible that the OP was using old versions of these that were still
using the old Unicode data base.
Received on Mon Oct 17 2011 - 03:13:35 CDT