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80 | 80 | <step>
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81 | 81 | <para>
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82 | 82 | See if the token matches any known time zone abbreviation.
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83 |
| - These abbreviations are supplied by the configuration file |
| 83 | + These abbreviations are determined by the configuration settings |
84 | 84 | described in <xref linkend="datetime-config-files"/>.
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85 | 85 | </para>
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86 | 86 | </step>
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424 | 424 | <para>
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425 | 425 | Since timezone abbreviations are not well standardized,
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426 | 426 | <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> provides a means to customize
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427 |
| - the set of abbreviations accepted by the server. The |
428 |
| - <xref linkend="guc-timezone-abbreviations"/> run-time parameter |
429 |
| - determines the active set of abbreviations. While this parameter |
| 427 | + the set of abbreviations accepted in datetime input. |
| 428 | + There are two sources for these abbreviations: |
| 429 | + |
| 430 | + <orderedlist> |
| 431 | + <listitem> |
| 432 | + <para> |
| 433 | + The <xref linkend="guc-timezone"/> run-time parameter is usually |
| 434 | + set to the name of an entry in the IANA time zone database. |
| 435 | + If that zone has widely-used zone abbreviations, they will appear |
| 436 | + in the IANA data, and <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> will |
| 437 | + preferentially recognize those abbreviations with the meanings |
| 438 | + given in the IANA data. |
| 439 | + For example, if <varname>timezone</varname> is set |
| 440 | + to <literal>America/New_York</literal> then <literal>EST</literal> |
| 441 | + will be understood as UTC-5 and <literal>EDT</literal> will be |
| 442 | + understood as UTC-4. (These IANA abbreviations will also be used |
| 443 | + in datetime output, if <xref linkend="guc-datestyle"/> is set to a |
| 444 | + style that prefers non-numeric zone abbreviations.) |
| 445 | + </para> |
| 446 | + </listitem> |
| 447 | + |
| 448 | + <listitem> |
| 449 | + <para> |
| 450 | + If an abbreviation is not found in the current IANA time zone, |
| 451 | + it is sought in the list specified by the |
| 452 | + <xref linkend="guc-timezone-abbreviations"/> run-time parameter. |
| 453 | + The <varname>timezone_abbreviations</varname> list is primarily |
| 454 | + useful for allowing datetime input to recognize abbreviations for |
| 455 | + time zones other than the current zone. (These abbreviations will |
| 456 | + not be used in datetime output.) |
| 457 | + </para> |
| 458 | + </listitem> |
| 459 | + </orderedlist> |
| 460 | + </para> |
| 461 | + |
| 462 | + <para> |
| 463 | + While the <varname>timezone_abbreviations</varname> parameter |
430 | 464 | can be altered by any database user, the possible values for it
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431 | 465 | are under the control of the database administrator — they
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432 | 466 | are in fact names of configuration files stored in
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