mercurial/help/dates.txt

profiling: move profiling code from dispatch.py (API)

Currently, profiling code lives in dispatch.py, which is a low-level
module centered around command dispatch. Furthermore, dispatch.py
imports a lot of other modules, meaning that importing dispatch.py
to get at profiling functionality would often result in a module import
cycle.

Profiling is a generic activity. It shouldn't be limited to command
dispatch. This patch moves profiling code from dispatch.py to the
new profiling.py. The low-level "run a profiler against a function"
functions have been moved verbatim. The code for determining how to
invoke the profiler has been extracted to its own function.

I decided to create a new module rather than stick this code
elsewhere (such as util.py) because util.py is already quite large.
And, I foresee this file growing larger once Facebook's profiling
enhancements get added to it.

Some commands allow the user to specify a date, e.g.:

- backout, commit, import, tag: Specify the commit date.
- log, revert, update: Select revision(s) by date.

Many date formats are valid. Here are some examples:

- ``Wed Dec 6 13:18:29 2006`` (local timezone assumed)
- ``Dec 6 13:18 -0600`` (year assumed, time offset provided)
- ``Dec 6 13:18 UTC`` (UTC and GMT are aliases for +0000)
- ``Dec 6`` (midnight)
- ``13:18`` (today assumed)
- ``3:39`` (3:39AM assumed)
- ``3:39pm`` (15:39)
- ``2006-12-06 13:18:29`` (ISO 8601 format)
- ``2006-12-6 13:18``
- ``2006-12-6``
- ``12-6``
- ``12/6``
- ``12/6/6`` (Dec 6 2006)
- ``today`` (midnight)
- ``yesterday`` (midnight)
- ``now`` - right now

Lastly, there is Mercurial's internal format:

- ``1165411109 0`` (Wed Dec 6 13:18:29 2006 UTC)

This is the internal representation format for dates. The first number
is the number of seconds since the epoch (1970-01-01 00:00 UTC). The
second is the offset of the local timezone, in seconds west of UTC
(negative if the timezone is east of UTC).

The log command also accepts date ranges:

- ``<DATE`` - at or before a given date/time
- ``>DATE`` - on or after a given date/time
- ``DATE to DATE`` - a date range, inclusive
- ``-DAYS`` - within a given number of days of today