Why Does Go\'s `time.Parse` Ignore Timezone Information?

Why Time.Parse Doesn't Use Timezone Information

The time.Parse function is designed to parse a time string and generate a corresponding time.Value object. However, it does not take timezone information into account. This behavior can lead to unexpected results when parsing time strings that include timezone abbreviations.

Consider the following code snippet:

import "time"

func main() {
    t, err := time.Parse("2006-01-02 MST", "2018-05-11 IST")
    if err != nil {
        return
    }
    t2, err := time.Parse("2006-01-02 MST", "2018-05-11 UTC")
    if err != nil {
        return
    }
    fmt.Println(t.Unix())
    fmt.Println(t2.Unix())
}

This code parses two time strings, "2018-05-11 IST" and "2018-05-11 UTC", and prints the Unix timestamps of the resulting time values. However, the output is surprising:

1525996800
1525996800

Both timestamps are the same, even though the time strings refer to different time zones. This is because time.Parse ignores timezone information when parsing a time string. It treats the time string as if it were in the local timezone, and it does not adjust for any timezone offset.

To resolve this issue, you can use one of the following approaches:

• Use a time layout that includes a numeric zone offset. For example, you could use the following layout: "2006-01-02 -0700". This layout specifies the time zone offset (-0700 in this case) as part of the time string.
• Use the time.ParseInLocation function. This function takes a location argument, which specifies the timezone to use when parsing the time string.
• Create a custom timezone using time.FixedZone. This allows you to specify the timezone offset and abbreviation for a particular timezone. You can then use this custom timezone as an argument to the time.Parse function.

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