--- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/mercurial/help/dates.txt Tue Dec 01 16:06:10 2009 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+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)
+
+Lastly, there is Mercurial's internal format:
+
+- ``1165432709 0`` (Wed Dec 6 13:18:29 2006 UTC)
+
+This is the internal representation format for dates. unixtime is the
+number of seconds since the epoch (1970-01-01 00:00 UTC). offset 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:
+
+- ``<{datetime}`` - at or before a given date/time
+- ``>{datetime}`` - on or after a given date/time
+- ``{datetime} to {datetime}`` - a date range, inclusive
+- ``-{days}`` - within a given number of days of today