[tz] tabs vs spaces

[Tobias Conradi]

On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 6:45 AM, Guy Harris <guy at alum.mit.edu> wrote:
>
> On May 1, 2013, at 9:09 PM, Tobias Conradi <mail.2012 at tobiasconradi.com> wrote:
>
>> I came from random832 at fastmail.us:
>>
>> "Tokens in the timezone files are separated by _any whitespace_." and
>> re-used the any.
>>
>> I wanted to say "And I assume not /every/ 'any white space' separates tokens."
>>
>> I had in mind the spaces in the comment field:
>>
>> ftp://ftp.iana.org/tz/data/zone.tab
>>
>> "Rothera Station, Adelaide Island"
>
> ...which isn't a timezone file.
Where is the set of what you call "timezone files" defined?

ftp://ftp.iana.org/tz/code/Theory talks of
"time zone rule files" and singular:

"The daylight saving time rules to be used
for a particular time zone are encoded in the time zone file"

No "time zone files" or "timezone files" found.

> That file has a different syntax, as described in the leading comment:
>
>         # Columns are separated by a single tab.
So, the benefits layed down at
http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/2013-May/019175.html
and other unknown reason that lead to multiple white space in some
files are out-weighted by something unknown for zone.tab? What could
that be?

-- 
Tobias Conradi
Rheinsberger Str. 18
10115 Berlin
Germany

http://tobiasconradi.com