GoDuration

A C# library that parses Go-style duration strings into TimeSpan values, and formats TimeSpan values back to Go-style duration strings.

Packages

Package	Purpose
GoDuration	Core parser and formatter. Returns TimeSpan.
GoDuration.NodaTime	Parser and formatter that returns NodaTime.Duration.

All packages target netstandard2.0, net8.0, and net10.0.

Install

dotnet add package GoDuration

Use

using GoDuration;

TimeSpan value = GoDurationConverter.Parse("1h30m45s");
string text = GoDurationConverter.Format(value);

The parser accepts the same units as Go: ns, us, µs, μs, ms, s, m, and h.

Format options

Use DurationFormatOptions to change the output format:

var options = new DurationFormatOptions
{
    OmitZeroUnits = true,
    IncludePositiveSign = true,
    MicrosecondSymbol = MicrosecondSymbol.Ascii,
};

string text = GoDurationConverter.Format(TimeSpan.FromHours(1), options);

Direct nanosecond access

Both packages sit on top of GoDurationReader and GoDurationWriter. Use these when you want raw nanosecond counts and no value-type conversion:

using GoDuration;

if (GoDurationReader.TryRead("1h30m", out long nanoseconds, out _))
{
    string text = GoDurationWriter.Write(nanoseconds);
}

Value range

The accepted range matches Go's time.Duration: signed int64 nanoseconds (about ±292 years). Parse rejects strings outside this range. Format throws OverflowException for TimeSpan values outside this range.

NodaTime

For NodaTime.Duration values, use the GoDuration.NodaTime package:

using GoDuration.NodaTime;
using NodaTime;

Duration value = GoDurationConverter.Parse("1h30m45s");
string text = GoDurationConverter.Format(value);

See GoDuration.NodaTime.

Build

The build uses Fallout. Run one of the scripts at the repository root:

./build.sh Test
./build.sh Pack

Targets: Clean, Restore, Compile, Test, Pack, BundleZip, PublishNuGet, PublishGitHubRelease, Publish.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.