Remove one leading zero in date in Writer and Calc

English
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#1

This question may have already been asked, but, while I did look, I could not find if there is a post exactly answering my question.

My date fields are coming out like this:

02:46 PM

I want the time to work on a 12 hour basis, so I get the AM / PM distinction; and I want it to accommodate single or double digit hours, so like 2:00 PM would be written as 2:00 PM, and 12:00 AM would be written as 12:00 AM.

But I dont want 2:00 PM to be written like 02:00 PM. (Note: The unwanted, leading zero).

Both Calc and Writer seem to have the same dialog options, and, unless I missed something, the manuals didn’t help.

Any ideas on how to fix the leading 0?

#2

I think you mean Time not Date

I am inclined to agree with you that the leading zero should only be for 24 hour format; 02:00 PM looks like 2:00 in the morning but with a confusing PM suffix

You can modify the Format code to H:MM AM/PM, that is delete the first H. You will then see 2:00 PM. Cheers, Al

#3

I tried that yesterday, but it was like 1:00 in the afternoon here. I got a little worried it would make 12:00 PM look like 2:00 PM. I couldn’t confirm it one way or the other at that time, but but so long as it works.

And, yes, thank you for the clarification. I did mean time, not date. :slight_smile:

#4

So-called 12-hour-formats go back to a more then 4000 years old bad decision: To not regard the full cycle of “light and darkness” as the relevant period, but to treat them as “day” and “night” separately. Originally each of both was then divided in 12 equal parts accepting changig durations of the “hours” defined that way…
Well, the fundamental problem with day-hours and night-hours needed to be straightened out when people in regions with larger distances from the equator than Babylon gained more importance. But still some insist to use one “12” as a surrogate for the correct “0”, and to assign the other “12” to the wrong part of the day accepting that 1:30 PM is one hour later than 12:30 PM.
Shouldn’t we also abandon this nonsense after 4000 years? .

#5

Time for everybody to buy digital watches? I prefer to use the 24 hour clock in print to avoid misunderstanding.

The original usage of 2:00 PM (or 2:00 AM) in English has never had a leading 0 until computer programs started adding them; that is the nonsense, it confuses the differentiation between the two systems.

#6

“!2:45 AM” in place of “00:45” is the original sin.

#7

There are two distinct systems, the sin is trying to create a confusing hybrid third system

#8

I know, of course, both “systems” you are talking of.
One of them, however, isn’t a serious system but a mess from the beginning After all the “12” in “12:10 AM” is the result of counting the PM-hours of the previous day. (Of course, you don’t need to agree.)
I’m aware of the fact that there are lots of similar nonsense-systems in human-regulated contexts. This shouldn’t be a reason to abandon none of them. Even the UK finally abandoned their 20/12 subdivision of the “Pound Sterling”, and shifted to ISO paper sizes for everyday prints. Within a few more centuries they may even manage to get rid of the “imperial” (or re-defined?) mile.
Specifically concerning spreadsheets: Date and time formats should follow a standard allowing for sorting and calculations even with results converted to text. To achieve this locale-independent you need to apply ISO8601 or very similar specifications. (The “T” as separator e.g. may be replaced with a space.)

#9

you need to apply ISO8601 or very similar specifications.

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