XQuery

xs:gYear

The primitive type xs:gYear represents a specific year. The lexical representation of xs:gYear is YYYY. A preceding minus sign (−) can be used to represent years before 0001. An optional time zone may be used, as described in "Time Zones" in Chapter 19. Table B-14 lists some values of the xs:gYear type.

Table B-14. Values of the xs:gYear type

Values	Explanation
Valid
2006	2006
2006-08:00	2006, U.S. Pacific Time
12006	The year 12006
0922	The year 922
−0073	73 B.C.
Invalid
99	It must have at least four digits
922	It must have at least four digits; leading zeros can be added
	An empty value or zero-length string is not permitted

Values of xs:gYear can be tested for equality (or inequality) with other values of the same type, but they cannot be compared using the operators <, <=, >, or >=.

Values of this type can be cast from the xs:date and xs:dateTime types. For example, the expression xs:date("2006-05-30") cast as xs:gYear returns an xs:gYear value of 2006. They can also be cast to and from xs:string and xs:untypedAtomic.