Time with Fractional Seconds and Timezone Regex for Go
/^(2[0-3]|[01][0-9]):([0-5][0-9]):([0-5][0-9])(?:\.(\d{1,9}))?(?:Z|([+-])(2[0-3]|[01][0-9]):([0-5][0-9]))?$/What this pattern does
This page provides a comprehensive, battle-tested regular expression for matching time with fractional seconds and timezone, ported and verified for Go. A rigorously tested regex reduces debugging time and protects your application from edge-case failures. The snippet below is ready to drop into your Go project — whether you're validating in a Gin handler, a gRPC service, or a command-line tool.
Go Implementation
// Time with Fractional Seconds and Timezone
// ReDoS-safe | RegexVault — Localization > Time Formats
package validation
import "regexp"
var timeWithFractionalSecondsAndTimezoneRe = regexp.MustCompile(`^(2[0-3]|[01][0-9]):([0-5][0-9]):([0-5][0-9])(?:\.(\d{1,9}))?(?:Z|([+-])(2[0-3]|[01][0-9]):([0-5][0-9]))?$`)
func ValidateTimeWithFractionalSecondsAndTimezone(s string) bool {
return timeWithFractionalSecondsAndTimezoneRe.MatchString(s)
}
// Example
// fmt.Println(ValidateTimeWithFractionalSecondsAndTimezone("12:30:45")) // trueTest Cases
Matches (Valid) | Rejects (Invalid) |
|---|---|
12:30:45 | 24:00:00Z |
12:30:45Z | 12:60:00Z |
12:30:45.123 | 12:30:45+25:00 |
12:30:45.123456789Z | 12:30:45.1234567890 |
12:30:45+08:00 | — |
00:00:00-05:30 | — |
When to use this pattern
This pattern is drawn from the Localization > Time Formats category and carries a ReDoS-safe certification. That matters for Go developers because Go's RE2 engine is inherently safe from catastrophic backtracking, but this pattern has been additionally verified for correctness. RegexVault audits patterns against known backtracking attack vectors, ensuring you have the necessary context before using this regex in a high-stakes production environment.
Common Pitfalls
India Standard Time (+05:30), Newfoundland (-03:30), Iran (+03:30), and Australia Central (+09:30) use 30-minute offsets. Nepal (+05:45) uses a 45-minute offset. Pattern allows all combinations.
Technical Notes
Capture groups: 1=hour, 2=minute, 3=second, 4=fractional, 5=tz sign, 6=tz hour, 7=tz minute. Z = UTC. Fractional seconds up to 9 places (nanoseconds). Half-hour timezones (+05:30 India, +09:30 Australia) are supported.
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