Timezone Abbreviation Regex for Go

What this pattern does

This page provides a comprehensive, battle-tested regular expression for matching timezone abbreviation, 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

// Timezone Abbreviation
// ReDoS-safe | RegexVault — Localization > Time Formats

package validation

import "regexp"

var timezoneAbbreviationRe = regexp.MustCompile(`^(?:UTC|GMT|EST|EDT|CST|CDT|MST|MDT|PST|PDT|HST|AKST|AKDT|IST|JST|KST|CST|HKT|SGT|AEST|AEDT|ACST|ACDT|AWST|NZST|NZDT|CET|CEST|EET|EEST|WET|WEST|MSK|BST|WAT|CAT|EAT|SAST)$`)

func ValidateTimezoneAbbreviation(s string) bool {
    return timezoneAbbreviationRe.MatchString(s)
}

// Example
// fmt.Println(ValidateTimezoneAbbreviation("UTC")) // true

Test Cases

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

Technical Notes

Timezone abbreviations are AMBIGUOUS — IST means Indian Standard Time (+05:30), Irish Standard Time (+01:00), AND Israel Standard Time (+02:00). CST means Central Standard Time (US, -06:00) AND China Standard Time (+08:00). Always prefer IANA timezone identifiers (Asia/Singapore, America/New_York).