Question 1

How do I mock time for testing in Go using Carbon?

Accepted Answer

Carbon provides SetTestNow() and ClearTestNow() functions to set and clear mocked times, making unit tests deterministic. For example, use carbon.SetTestNow(carbon.Parse('2020-08-05')) to fix time in tests, as shown in the quick start.

Question 2

Carbon vs Go's standard time package: which should I use?

Accepted Answer

Use Carbon if you need a more intuitive API, localization, or testing utilities for complex date manipulations. Stick to stdlib if you prioritize minimal dependencies and raw performance for basic operations, as Carbon adds an abstraction layer.

Question 3

How to parse a date from a custom string format with Carbon?

Accepted Answer

Use carbon.ParseByLayout() for Go-style layouts or carbon.ParseByFormat() for PHP-style formats. For instance, carbon.ParseByFormat('It is 2020-08-05', '\I\t \i\s Y-m-d') works as demonstrated in the README for flexible parsing.

Question 4

Does Carbon support timezone conversions?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Carbon handles timezones through methods like SetTimezone() and provides utilities for conversions. The default timezone is UTC, but you can easily switch between timezones for international applications.

Question 5

How to handle different languages for date formatting in Carbon?

Accepted Answer

Use the SetLocale() method to change the language locale, such as 'zh-CN' for Chinese, which affects methods like DiffForHumans() for human-readable outputs, as shown in the example with carbon.Parse().SetLocale('zh-CN').

Question 6

What's the performance impact of using Carbon compared to other Go time libraries?

Accepted Answer

Carbon provides benchmark reports comparing it to stdlib and other libraries like jinzhu/now. While generally efficient, for critical path operations, it's recommended to benchmark in your specific context due to potential abstraction overhead.

carbon

What is carbon?

Overview

Use Cases

Best For

Related Projects

Found a gem we're missing?

Not Ideal For

Pros & Cons

Pros

Cons

Frequently Asked Questions