# Date & Time Format Variants — Guardrails and Fix Pattern
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> You are in a sub-page of **LanguageLocale**. > To reorient, go back here: > > - [**LanguageLocale** — localization, regional settings, and context adaptation](./README.md) > - [**WFGY Global Fix Map** — main Emergency Room, 300+ structured fixes](../README.md) > - [**WFGY Problem Map 1.0** — 16 reproducible failure modes](../../README.md) > > Think of this page as a desk within a ward. > If you need the full triage and all prescriptions, return to the Emergency Room lobby.
A focused repair for **ambiguous or mixed date/time formats** across CJK/RTL/Indic/Latin content. Use this page when numeric dates, month names, calendars, or time zones cause retrieval drift or broken citations. ## What this page is - A compact, locale-aware repair guide for **date/time parsing → storage → retrieval → reasoning**. - Concrete steps that **do not require infra changes**. - Acceptance targets you can measure. ## When to use - Queries or snippets contain **ambiguous numeric dates** like `03/04/05`, `04-05-06`, or `110/05/01` (ROC). - Month/day names switch languages or scripts in the same corpus: `2024年3月4日`, `4 Mar 2024`, `مارس 4 2024`. - **Eastern Arabic digits**, **full-width digits**, or punctuation appear in dates. - **Time zone or DST** is missing, or mixes `UTC`, `GMT+8`, `Asia/Taipei`, `Z`. - Relative phrases like “today / 昨天 / الأسبوع الماضي” appear in docs or queries. ## Open these first - Visual map and recovery: [RAG Architecture & Recovery](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/rag-architecture-and-recovery.md) - End-to-end retrieval knobs: [Retrieval Playbook](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/retrieval-playbook.md) - Why this snippet (traceability schema): [Retrieval Traceability](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/retrieval-traceability.md) - Contract the payload: [Data Contracts](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/data-contracts.md) - Locale drift audit: [locale_drift.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/LanguageLocale/locale_drift.md) - Tokenizer issues: [tokenizer_mismatch.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/LanguageLocale/tokenizer_mismatch.md) - Digits, width, punctuation: [digits_width_punctuation.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/LanguageLocale/digits_width_punctuation.md) - Script mixing within one query: [script_mixing.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/LanguageLocale/script_mixing.md) ## Core acceptance - ΔS(question, retrieved) ≤ 0.45 - Coverage of target section ≥ 0.70 - λ remains **convergent** across 3 paraphrases and 2 seeds - E_resonance flat on long windows --- ## Map symptoms → structural fixes (Problem Map) - **Ambiguous numeric dates** (`03/04/05`, `04-05-06`) Lock parse locale and calendar in the contract. Store canonical plus original. → [data-contracts.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/data-contracts.md), [retrieval-traceability.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/retrieval-traceability.md) - **Mixed month/day names across languages** (`3月4日`, `Mar 4`) Normalize to canonical; add derived fields `year`, `month_num`, `weekday`. → [retrieval-playbook.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/retrieval-playbook.md) - **Eastern Arabic or full-width digits** (`٠١٢٣`, `２０２４`) Fold digits and punctuation before parse; keep `orig_text` for audit. → [digits_width_punctuation.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/LanguageLocale/digits_width_punctuation.md) - **Missing or mixed time zones / DST jumps** Require IANA zone and offset at storage time; derive `epoch_ms`. → [locale_drift.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/LanguageLocale/locale_drift.md) - **Calendar variants (ROC 114, Buddhist 2568, week-year ISO-8601)** Store `calendar` field and canonical Gregorian ISO. Keep both. → [data-contracts.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/data-contracts.md) - **Relative phrases in docs or queries** (“today”, “昨天”, “last week”) Resolve relative time **at index time** (doc clock) and **at query time** (user clock). → [retrieval-traceability.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/retrieval-traceability.md) --- ## 60-second fix checklist (store-agnostic) 1) **Canonical schema** Use **ISO-8601/RFC3339 extended**: `YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss±HH:MM` or `Z` (24-hour). Add fields: `epoch_ms`, `tz_iana`, `offset`, `calendar`, `parse_locale`, `orig_text`. 2) **Parser fences** - Fold width and digits before parse. - Provide **allowed format set** per locale; reject others. - Treat `/` `-` `.` as distinct; do not auto-swap day/month. 3) **Index for retrieval** - Index canonical string and numeric keys: `year`, `month_num`, `day`, `weekday`, `hour`. - Add synonyms for month names in corpus languages to a controlled list. 4) **Query normalization** - Pre-normalize user input to the same canonical. - If relative terms appear, resolve using **user time zone** and pass both raw and normalized. 5) **Contract the payload** Minimum required for any snippet carrying a date/time: ```json { "datetime_iso": "2025-03-04T09:30:00+08:00", "epoch_ms": 1741051800000, "tz_iana": "Asia/Taipei", "offset": "+08:00", "calendar": "gregorian", "parse_locale": "zh-TW", "orig_text": "民國114年3月4日上午9:30" } ```` 6. **Verify** Run three paraphrases with different date surface forms. Pass if ΔS ≤ 0.45 and citations point to the same anchor. --- ## Deep diagnostics * **Triangulate anchors** Compare ΔS with the expected section and a decoy month. If close, your month mapping or digit folding is leaking. * **Epoch audit** Validate `epoch_ms` monotonicity across DST transitions and week-year boundaries. Mismatch implies calendar conversion error. * **Tokenizer probe** If token splits differ by locale (e.g., Arabic/Thai digits), rebuild with folded text or add a rerank step. Open: [tokenizer\_mismatch.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/LanguageLocale/tokenizer_mismatch.md) --- ## Escalate * ΔS stays high after normalization and rerank → Rebuild index with correct metric; verify semantic vs embedding gaps. Open: [embedding-vs-semantic.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/embedding-vs-semantic.md) * Mixed scripts in the **same** query keep flipping λ → Stabilize with script gating and header locks. Open: [script\_mixing.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/GlobalFixMap/LanguageLocale/script_mixing.md), [retrieval-traceability.md](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/ProblemMap/retrieval-traceability.md) --- ## Copy-paste prompt (LLM step) ``` You have TXT OS and WFGY Problem Map loaded. My bug: retrieval flips when date formats vary by locale. - symptoms: wrong snippet on 03/04/05 vs 4 Mar 2005 vs 民國94年3月4日 - traces: ΔS(question,retrieved)=..., λ states across 3 paraphrases, tz=... Tell me: 1) the failing layer and why, 2) the exact WFGY pages to open, 3) the minimal contract and normalization to pass ΔS ≤ 0.45, 4) a reproducible test I can run (3 paraphrases, 2 seeds). Use BBMC/BBCR/BBAM where relevant. ``` --- ### 🔗 Quick-Start Downloads (60 sec) | Tool | Link | 3-Step Setup | | -------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **WFGY 1.0 PDF** | [Engine Paper](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/I_am_not_lizardman/WFGY_All_Principles_Return_to_One_v1.0_PSBigBig_Public.pdf) | 1️⃣ Download · 2️⃣ Upload to your LLM · 3️⃣ Ask “Answer using WFGY + \” | | **TXT OS (plain-text OS)** | [TXTOS.txt](https://github.com/onestardao/WFGY/blob/main/OS/TXTOS.txt) | 1️⃣ Download · 2️⃣ Paste into any LLM chat · 3️⃣ Type “hello world” — OS boots instantly | --- ### Explore More | Layer | Page | What it’s for | | --- | --- | --- | | Proof | [WFGY Recognition Map](/recognition/README.md) | External citations, integrations, and ecosystem proof | | Engine | [WFGY 1.0](/legacy/README.md) | Original PDF based tension engine | | Engine | [WFGY 2.0](/core/README.md) | Production tension kernel and math engine for RAG and agents | | Engine | [WFGY 3.0](/TensionUniverse/EventHorizon/README.md) | TXT based Singularity tension engine, 131 S class set | | Map | [Problem Map 1.0](/ProblemMap/README.md) | Flagship 16 problem RAG failure checklist and fix map | | Map | [Problem Map 2.0](/ProblemMap/rag-architecture-and-recovery.md) | RAG focused recovery pipeline | | Map | [Problem Map 3.0](/ProblemMap/wfgy-rag-16-problem-map-global-debug-card.md) | Global Debug Card, image as a debug protocol layer | | Map | [Semantic Clinic](/ProblemMap/SemanticClinicIndex.md) | Symptom to family to exact fix | | Map | [Grandma’s Clinic](/ProblemMap/GrandmaClinic/README.md) | Plain language stories mapped to Problem Map 1.0 | | Onboarding | [Starter Village](/StarterVillage/README.md) | Guided tour for newcomers | | App | [TXT OS](/OS/README.md) | TXT semantic OS, fast boot | | App | [Blah Blah Blah](/OS/BlahBlahBlah/README.md) | Abstract and paradox Q and A built on TXT OS | | App | [Blur Blur Blur](/OS/BlurBlurBlur/README.md) | Text to image with semantic control | | App | [Blow Blow Blow](/OS/BlowBlowBlow/README.md) | Reasoning game engine and memory demo | If this repository helped, starring it improves discovery so more builders can find the docs and tools. 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