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+.. _datetime:
+
+Supported date and time formats
+===============================
+
+.. _duration:
+
+Time duration
+-------------
+
+This format is used to express a time duration in the Kerberos
+configuration files and user commands.  The allowed formats are:
+
+ ====================== ============== ============
+ Format                      Example        Value
+ ---------------------- -------------- ------------
+  h:m[:s]                36:00          36 hours
+  NdNhNmNs               8h30s          8 hours 30 seconds
+  N (number of seconds)  3600           1 hour
+ ====================== ============== ============
+
+Here *N* denotes a number, *d* - days, *h* - hours, *m* - minutes,
+*s* - seconds.
+
+.. note::
+    The time interval should not exceed 2147483647 seconds.
+
+Examples::
+
+    Request a ticket valid for one hour, five hours, 30 minutes
+    and 10 days respectively:
+
+      kinit -l 3600
+      kinit -l 5:00
+      kinit -l 30m
+      kinit -l "10d 0h 0m 0s"
+
+
+.. _getdate:
+
+getdate time
+------------
+
+Some of the kadmin and kdb5_util commands take a date-time in a
+human-readable format.  Some of the acceptable date-time
+strings are:
+
+ +-----------+------------------+-----------------+
+ |           |   Format         | Example         |
+ +===========+==================+=================+
+ | Date      |   mm/dd/yy       | 07/27/12        |
+ |           +------------------+-----------------+
+ |           | month dd, yyyy   | Jul 27, 2012    |
+ |           +------------------+-----------------+
+ |           |   yyyy-mm-dd     |  2012-07-27     |
+ +-----------+------------------+-----------------+
+ | Absolute  | HH:mm[:ss]pp     |  08:30 PM       |
+ | time      +------------------+-----------------+
+ |           | hh:mm[:ss]       |  20:30          |
+ +-----------+------------------+-----------------+
+ | Relative  | N tt             |  30 sec         |
+ | time      |                  |                 |
+ +-----------+------------------+-----------------+
+ | Time zone | Z                |  EST            |
+ |           +------------------+-----------------+
+ |           | z                |  -0400          |
+ +-----------+------------------+-----------------+
+
+(See :ref:`abbreviation`.)
+
+Examples::
+
+    Create a principal that expires on the date indicated:
+        addprinc test1 -expire "3/27/12 10:00:07 EST"
+        addprinc test2 -expire "January 23, 2015 10:05pm"
+        addprinc test3 -expire "22:00 GMT"
+    Add a principal that will expire in 30 minutes:
+        addprinc test4 -expire "30 minutes"
+
+
+.. _abstime:
+
+Absolute time
+-------------
+
+This rarely used date-time format can be noted in one of the
+following ways:
+
+
+ +------------------------+----------------------+--------------+
+ | Format                 | Example              | Value        |
+ +========================+======================+==============+
+ | yyyymmddhhmmss         | 20141231235900       | One minute   |
+ +------------------------+----------------------+ before 2015  |
+ | yyyy.mm.dd.hh.mm.ss    | 2014.12.31.23.59.00  |              |
+ +------------------------+----------------------+              |
+ | yymmddhhmmss           | 141231235900         |              |
+ +------------------------+----------------------+              |
+ | yy.mm.dd.hh.mm.ss      | 14.12.31.23.59.00    |              |
+ +------------------------+----------------------+              |
+ | dd-month-yyyy:hh:mm:ss | 31-Dec-2014:23:59:00 |              |
+ +------------------------+----------------------+--------------+
+ | hh:mm:ss               | 20:00:00             | 8 o'clock in |
+ +------------------------+----------------------+ the evening  |
+ | hhmmss                 | 200000               |              |
+ +------------------------+----------------------+--------------+
+
+(See :ref:`abbreviation`.)
+
+Example ::
+
+    Set the default expiration date to July 27, 2012 at 20:30
+    default_principal_expiration = 20120727203000
+
+
+.. _abbreviation:
+
+Abbreviations used in this document
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+| *month*  : locale’s month name or its abbreviation;
+| *dd*   : day of month (01-31);
+| *HH*   : hours (00-12);
+| *hh*   : hours (00-23);
+| *mm*   : in time - minutes (00-59); in date - month (01-12);
+| *N*    : number;
+| *pp*   : AM or PM;
+| *ss*   : seconds  (00-60);
+| *tt*   : time units (hours, minutes, min, seconds, sec);
+| *yyyy* : year;
+| *yy*   : last two digits of the year;
+| *Z*    : alphabetic time zone abbreviation;
+| *z*    : numeric time zone;
+
+.. note::
+     - If the date specification contains spaces, you may need to
+       enclose it in double quotes;
+     - All keywords are case-insensitive.