Linear time points

linear_time() creates a vector of linear time points with a specified chronon (smallest time unit). This function is useful for creating custom time representations that aren't covered by the convenience functions like yearmonth() or yearweek().

Usage

linear_time(
  data,
  chronon = time_chronon(data),
  discrete = TRUE,
  calendar = time_calendar(data)
)

Arguments

data

Input data to convert to linear time. Can be:

• Numeric values (interpreted as chronons since Unix epoch)

• Character strings (parsed as dates/times)

• Date or POSIXct objects

• Other time objects

chronon

A time unit expression representing the chronon (smallest indivisible time unit), evaluated in the context of calendar. Use unquoted expressions like month(1L) or hour(1L). Chronons from a specific calendar can also be used (e.g. cal_isoweek$week(1L)). Defaults to the time chronon of the input data (time_chronon(data)).

discrete

Logical. If TRUE (default), returns integer chronons since Unix epoch (discrete time model). If FALSE, returns fractional chronons allowing representation of partial time units (continuous time model).

calendar

Calendar system used to evaluate chronon and granules. Defaults to time_calendar(data) for existing time objects. Common options include cal_gregorian and cal_isoweek.

Value

A mixtime time vector containing an mt_linear vector.

See also

• new_linear_time_fn() for creating reusable linear time functions

• yearmonth(), yearquarter(), year() for Gregorian time representations

• yearweek() for ISO 8601 week-based time

• cal_gregorian, cal_isoweek for calendar systems

Examples

# Hourly time
linear_time(
  Sys.time(),
  chronon = hour(1L)
)
#> <mixtime[1]>
#> [1] 2026-04-08 03h

# Monthly time
linear_time(
  Sys.Date(),
  chronon = month(1L)
)
#> <mixtime[1]>
#> [1] 2026 Apr

# Discrete vs continuous time
linear_time(Sys.time(), chronon = day(1L), discrete = TRUE)
#> <mixtime[1]>
#> [1] 2026-04-08
linear_time(Sys.time(), chronon = day(1L), discrete = FALSE)
#> <mixtime[1]>
#> [1] 2026-04-08 12.9%

# ISO week calendar with week-day structure
# TODO - needs default format strings to dispatch on calendar
# linear_time(
#   Sys.Date(),
#   chronon = day(1L),
#   calendar = cal_isoweek
# )