Time Zone Names for Setting TIME ZONE
The time zone names listed below are recognized by Vertica as valid settings for the SQL time zone (the TIME ZONE run-time parameter).
Time zone and daylight-saving rules are controlled by individual governments, and are subject to change. For the latest information, see Sources for Time Zone and Daylight Saving Time Data.
These names are not the same as the names shown in /opt/vertica/share/timezonesets, which are recognized by Vertica in date/time input values. The TIME ZONE names listed below imply a local Daylight Saving Time rule, where date/time input names represent a fixed offset from UTC.
In many cases, the same zone has several names. These are grouped together. The list is sorted primarily by commonly used zone names.
In addition to the names in the list, Vertica accepts time zone names as one of the following:
- STDoffset
- STDoffsetDST
where STD is a zone abbreviation, offset is a numeric offset in hours west from UTC, and DST is an optional Daylight Saving Time zone abbreviation, assumed to stand for one hour ahead of the given offset.
For example, if EST5EDT were not already a recognized zone name, Vertica accepts it as functionally equivalent to USA East Coast time. When a Daylight Saving Time zone name is present, Vertica assumes it uses USA time zone rules, so this feature is of limited use outside North America.
Be aware that this provision can lead to silently accepting invalid input, as there is no check on the reasonableness of the zone abbreviations. For example, SET TIME ZONE TO FOOBANKO works, leaving the system effectively using a rather peculiar abbreviation for GMT.