pytz has so many timezones!

[mensanator at aol.com]

On Oct 8, 2:32 am, Sanjay <skpate... at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I am using pytz.common_timezones to populate the timezone combo box of
> some user registration form. But as it has so many timezones (around
> 400),

There are only 25 timezones: -12, -11, ... -1, 0 (GMT), +1, ... +11,
+12.

A handful of countries set their clocks offset by a half hour,
but those aren't timezones.

And there is one country whose clock setting is the product of
a diseased mind (GMT+13), but that isn't a timezone either.

The 400 you're seeing are duplications based on locality. Of the 86
shown in Windows, all but 33 are dulplicate references to the same
timezones.

For example, Windows has seperate listings for

Central America
Central Time (US & Canada)
Guadalahara, Mexico City, Monterry - New
Guadalahara, Mexico City, Monterry - Old
Saskatchewan

but they are all GMT-6

> it is a bit confusing to the users. Is there a smaller and more
> practical set?

Filter the list by location.

> If not, some suggestions on how to handle the
> registration form effectively would help me a lot.
>
> thanks
> Sanjay