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Built-In Entities

We provide entities that identify objective information from the user input, like time, date, and addresses.


Description of system_entities_01.eps follows

These built-in entities extract primitive values like strings and integers, but can also extract more complicated values from the user input using groups of properties.

Note

Whenever you define a variable as an entity in a YAML-based dialog flow, be sure to match the entity name and letter case exactly. For example, you’ll get a validation error if you enter confirm: "YESNO" instead of confirm: “YES_NO”.

Built-In Entities and Their Properties

Entities extract content using properties, each of which recognizes a specific value. You can see these properties in the JSON output that’s returned by the NLU Engine. In this output, the matched entities display along with the value that they’ve identified from the user input. Within your dialog flow definition, you can use these properties to isolate a specific facet of an entity value. While each entity has its specific properties, all entities have the following properties:
Property Description
beginOffset The beginning offset of this slotted entity value starting at 0.
endOffset The ending offset of this slotted entity value starting at 0.
originalString The original string that was extracted from the query for this entity slot or the response to the prompt.
Note

The DATE, TIME, and DURATION entities are deprecated in Release 22.08. These entities are not available to skills created on this version of the platform. They use the DATE_TIME entity instead. Existing skills upgraded to 22.08 will continue to support these legacy system entities, though there may be some behavior changes.
Entity Name Content Extracted Examples Properties (Referenced in Value Expressions) Example NLU Engine Response
ADDRESS The city, house number, and road

This entity is English-only.

 500 Smith Road, Smithville

  • city

  • houseNumber

  • road

 
{
"road": "smith road",
"city": "smithville",
"entityName": "ADDRESS",
"houseNumber": "500",
"originalString": "500 Smith Road, Smithville"
}
CURRENCY Representations of money. You can disambiguate $ and ¥ currencies by the detected locale of the user.

  • $67

  • 75 dollars

  • amount

  • currency

  • totalCurrency

 "CURRENCY": [ { "amount": 550, "currency": "usd", "totalCurrency": "550.0 usd", "entityName": "CURRENCY" } ]
DATE An absolute or relative date.

This entity is deprecated in Version 22.08 and is unavailable to skills created on this version of the platform. For skills created using prior versions, consider using the DATE_TIME entity instead.

Note: When the user input names a day, but provides no other temporal context, the system considers this a future date. For example, it considers Wednesday in the following input as next Wednesday, not the current Wednesday or the prior Wednesday.

  • Book me a ticket for Wednesday.

  • I want to file an expense report for Wednesday.

You can override this behavior by applying an ambiguity resolution rule. While the DATE entity resolves to format of several supported locales, you can opt to ignore the format of the detected locale, and impose a default format and a tense (future, past, nearest, etc.) by applying an ambiguity resolution rule.

  • November 9, 2016

  • Today

 date 
  {
          "entityName": "Meeting",
          "DATE_TIME": [
            {
              "originalString": "Monday, October 16th",
              "bagItem": "Meeting:DateTime",
              "subType": "DATE",
              "timeZone": "UTC",
              "movableDateValue": "--10-16",
              "relativeRepresentation": "--10-16",
              "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
              "value": "2022-10-16"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
DATE_TIME Extracts various time-related information through the following subtypes: a date, a time, a date and time, a recurring event, an interval or a duration.
  • Date: January 1, 2023
  • Time: 10am
  • Date and Time: January 1, 2023 at 10am
  • Interval: January 1 2023 from 10 am for 2 hours
  • Duration: 2 hours
   For "Schedule a meeting for every Tuesday from 10:00 am to 1 pm starting on January 23, 2022 and ending February 23":
   "entityMatches": {
      "Meeting": [
        {
          "entityName": "Meeting",
          "DATE_TIME": [
            {
              "originalString": "February 23",
              "bagItem": "Meeting:DateTime",
              "subType": "DATE",
              "timeZone": "UTC",
              "role": "end",
              "movableDateValue": "--02-23",
              "relativeRepresentation": "--02-23",
              "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
              "value": "2023-02-23"
            },
            {
              "originalString": "January 23, 2022",
              "bagItem": "Meeting:DateTime",
              "subType": "INTERVAL",
              "startDate": {
                "originalString": "January 23, 2022",
                "subType": "DATE",
                "timeZone": "UTC",
                "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
                "value": "2022-01-23"
              },
              "entityName": "DATE_TIME"
            },
            {
              "originalString": "every Tuesday from 10:00 am to 1 pm",
              "bagItem": "Meeting:DateTime",
              "subType": "RECURRING",
              "timeZone": "UTC",
              "recurrenceFrequency": {
                "originalString": "every Tuesday from 10:00 am to 1 pm",
                "subType": "DURATION",
                "timeZone": "UTC",
                "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
                "value": "P1W"
              },
              "startInterval": {
                "originalString": "Tuesday from 10:00 am to 1 pm",
                "subType": "INTERVAL",
                "timeZone": "UTC",
                "startDate": {
                  "originalString": "Tuesday",
                  "subType": "DATE",
                  "timeZone": "UTC",
                  "weekday": "TU",
                  "relativeReference": "weekday",
                  "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
                  "value": "2022-10-18"
                },
                "startTime": {
                  "originalString": "10:00 am",
                  "subType": "TIME",
                  "timeZone": "UTC",
                  "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
                  "value": "10:00:00"
                },
                "endTime": {
                  "originalString": "1 pm",
                  "subType": "TIME",
                  "timeZone": "UTC",
                  "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
                  "value": "13:00:00"
                },
                "entityName": "DATE_TIME"
              },
              "entityName": "DATE_TIME"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  • Interpretation of February 23 per the time resolution rules. Because the use case is for scheduling a meeting, the date will always be interpreted as forward-looking. 
    "movableDateValue": "--02-23",
              "relativeRepresentation": "--02-23"
  • "value": "P1W": An ISO 8601 interchange standard representation of weekly/once a week, where P is the duration desigator and W is the week designator.
 
DURATION The amount of time between the two endpoints of a time interval

This entity is deprecated in Version 22.08 and is unavailable to skills created on this version of the platform. For skills created using prior versions, consider using the DATE_TIME entity instead.

  • 4 years

  • two weeks

  • startDate

  • endDate

 [ { "originalString": "2 hours", "bagItem": "Meeting:DateTime", "subType": "DURATION", "timeZone": "UTC", "entityName": "DATE_TIME", "value": "PT2H" } ] } ]
EMAIL An email address. The NLU system can recognize email addresses that have a combination of the following:
  • part before the at (@) symbol:
    • uppercase and lowercase letters in the Latin alphabet (A-Z and a-z)
    • digits (0-9)
    • the following printable characters: !#$%&'*+-/=?^_`{}~
    • dot (.)
  • part after the at (@) symbol:
    • uppercase and lowercase letters in the Latin alphabet (A-Z and a-z)
    • digits (0-9)
    • hyphen (-)
ragnar.smith@example.com    
LOCATION Extracts cities, states, and countries from the user's input.
  • Redwood City
  • CA
  • USA
  • city
  • state
  • country
 "LOCATION": [ { "originalString": "Redwood City, CA, USA", "name": "redwood city, ca, usa", "country": "usa", "state": "ca", "city": "redwood city", "entityName": "LOCATION" } ]
NUMBER Matches ordinal and cardinal numbers. You can resolve a entity as the locale-specific format (grouping of thousands by full stops, commas, spaces, etc.).

  • 1st

  • first

  • 1

  • one

    
PERSON Recognizes a string as the name of a person.

The PERSON entity can't match names that are also locations (for example, Virginia North).

To expand the PERSON entity to always match the people in your organization, you can associate it with a Value List Entity.
  • John J. Jones
  • Ashok Kumar
  • Gabriele D'Annunzio
  • Jones, David
  • Cantiflas
  • Zhang San
  • Virginia Jones
 name "PERSON": [ { "originalString": "John J. Johnson", "name": "john j. johnson", "entityName": "PERSON" } ]
PHONE NUMBER A phone number—The NLU Engine recognizes phone numbers that have seven or more digits (it can’t recognize any phone number with fewer digits). All country codes need to be prefixed with a plus sign (+), except for the United States of America (where the plus sign is optional). The various parts of the phone number (the area code, prefix, and line number), can be separated by dots (.), dashes (-), or spaces. If there are multiple phone numbers entered in the user input, then the NLU Engine can recognize them when they’re separated by commas. It can’t recognize different phone numbers if they’re separated by dots, dashes or spaces.

  • (650)-555–5555

  • 16505555555

  • +61.3.5555.5555

  • phoneNumber

  • completeNumber

 { "phone_number":"(650)-555-5555", "complete_number":"(650)-555-5555", "entityName":"PHONE_NUMBER" }
TIME A specific time.

This entity is deprecated in Version 22.08 and is unavailable to skills created on this version of the platform. For skills created using prior versions, consider using the DATE_TIME entity instead.

In some cases, for example, when the input is ambiguous, you may need the TIME entity to resolve input consistently as a past or future time, or approximate it by the nearest time. To do this, apply an ambiguity resolution rule.

2:30 pm

  • hrs

  • mins

  • secs

  • "hourFormat":"PM"

 "startTime": { "date": 1613653200000, "zoneOffset": "0", "endOffset": 4, "mins": 0, "zone": "UTC", "entityName": "TIME", "secs": 0, "hrs": 1, "originalString": "1 pm", "type": "TIME", "hourFormat": "PM", "beginOffset": 0 }
URL A URL—This entity can extract IPv4 addresses, Web URLs, deep links (http://example.com/path/page), file paths, and mailto URIs. If the user input specifies login credentials, then it must also include the protocol. Otherwise, the protocol isn’t required. http://example.com

  • protocol

  • domain

  • fullPath

 {"protocol":"http","domain":"example.com",}
YES_NO Detects a "yes" or a "no".     "YES_NO": [ { "beginOffset": 0, "endOffset": 4, "originalString": "Yeah", "yesno": "YES", "entityName": "YES_NO", "type": "YES_NO" } ]

The DATE_TIME Entity

There are many ways that your skill might need to get date and time input. For example, you may need a simple date or time, a date and a time, or a one-time or recurring period. You can use the DATE_TIME entity to gather information for all of these scenarios.

With the DATE_TIME entity, you choose a specific subtype to define what information to gather. The following table shows which subtype to use for each possible scenario and links to information about the attributes for each subtype.

Scenario DATE_TIME Subtype Reference
A date. Date. DATE Subtype Attributes
A time. Time TIME Subtype Attributes
A date and a time. Date Time DATETIME Subtype Attributes
A span of time. For example, 1 hour or 4 days. Duration DURATION Subtype Attributes
A single occurrence of a period defined by a beginning and ending date or a beginning and ending date and time. Interval INTERVAL Subtype Attributes
A regularly recurring period defined by, for example, the start and end of the first period, the interval between the recurring periods, and when the periods stop recurring. Recurring RECURRING Subtype Attributes
Note

the DATE_TIME entity supersedes the DATE, TIME, DURATION, and SET system entities, which have been deprecated and are not available in skills created in Release 22.08 and later. Existing skills upgraded to 22.08 will support these deprecated system entities, though there may be some behavior changes.
You can use the Date, Time, and Duration subtypes as standalone entities in the dialog flow (where you declare separate variables for each), but you can only utilize the Interval and Recurring subtypes by incorporating them into a composite bag entity.
Note

We recommend that all DATE_TIME subtypes be managed within a composite bag entity.

In visual dialog mode, reference DATE_TIME subtypes using Resolve Entity and Resolve Declarative Entity states.

Note

If you use the Date, Time, and Duration subtypes as standalone entities in a YAML-based dialog flow, specify the subtype using dot notation: DATE_TIME.DATE, DATE_TIME.TIME, DATE_TIME.DURATION and for SET, DATE_TIME.RECURRING. For example:
context:
  variables:
    iResult: "nlpresult"
    Startdate: "DATE_TIME.DATE"
    duration: "DATE_TIME.DURATION"
In the states node, you reference these variables using a System.ResolveEntities component.
DATE_TIME values are representated as ISO 8601. For user-friendly output, use the Apache FreeMarker .xs built-in. For example, the Time subtype is extracted using .value.value?time.xs?string['hh:mm a'] in the following resource bundle reference:
${rb('pizzaDeliveryMessage','time',deliveryTime.value.value?time.xs?string['hh:mm a'])}
The first value gets the content of the variable as an object. The second value is an attribute of the DATE_TIME object that holds the time value.

Attributes for Each DATE_TIME Subtype

Here are the attributes for each DATE_TIME subtype.

Note that, just like every other system entity, the subtypes also include the beginOffset, endOffset, and originalString properties.

DATE Subtype Attributes

The DATE subtype contains these attributes about a specific date:

Attribute Type Explanation
entityName String DATE_TIME
month Integer

When DATE is an attribute of the RECURRING subtype, and the original string includes the name of a month, such as "every Monday of July", this represents the numeric representation ("7" in this example) of the explicitly-specified month value .
movableDateValue String

When DATE is an attribute of RECURRING and the slotted date doesn't represent a specific date (that is, it is a movable date such as July 4), this represents the explicitly-specified movable date value that's used by the RECURRING subtype's DATE attribute to differentiate between the resolved movable date and the resolved non-movable date. For example, if the slotted date is July 4, then this value is --07-04.

ordinal Integer

When DATE is an attribute of the RECURRING subtype, and the original string specifies an ordinal value, such as first in "every first Monday", this represents the numeric value of the ordinal (in this example, "1").
ordinalReference Enum

When DATE is an attribute of the RECURRING subtype, and the original string includes an ordinal that is qualified by the name of a month, such as July in "every first Monday of July", this represents the explicitly-specified qualifier ('M' for month).
subType String DATE
timezone String The time zone offset. For example: +07:00.
type String DATE_TIME
value String The resolved value in ISO 8601 format. For example 2022-08-05.
weekday Enum

When DATE is an attribute of the RECURRING subtype, and the original string includes the name of a day, such as "every Monday", this represents the explicitly-specified weekday value using the iCalendar format, such as MO, TU, and WE.
year Integer

When DATE is an attribute of the RECURRING subtype, and the original string includes the year, such as "every Monday of 2023", this represents the explicitly-specified year value.

Here's an example of the NLU response for the DATE subtype:

          "aDate": {
            "endOffset": 8,
            "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
            "timeZone": "-10:00",
            "originalString": "tomorrow",
            "subType": "DATE",
            "type": "DATE_TIME",
            "value": "2022-09-07",
            "beginOffset": 0
          }

TIME Subtype Attributes

The TIME subtype contains these attributes about a specific time:

Attribute Type Explanation
entityName String DATE_TIME
subType String TIME
timezone String The time zone offset. For example: +07:00.
type String DATE_TIME
value String The resolved value in ISO 8601 format. For example 12:00:00.

Here's an example of the NLU response for the TIME entity:

          "aTime": {
            "endOffset": 4,
            "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
            "timeZone": "-10:00",
            "originalString": "2 pm",
            "subType": "TIME",
            "type": "DATE_TIME",
            "value": "14:00:00",
            "beginOffset": 0
          }

DATETIME Subtype Attributes

The DATETIME subtype contains these attributes about a specific date and time:

Attribute Type Explanation
date DATE This object contains the attributes described in DATE Subtype Attributes.
entityName String DATE_TIME
subType String DATETIME
time TIME This object contains the attributes described in TIME Subtype Attributes.

Here's an example of the NLU response for the DATETIME subtype:


          "aDateAndTime": {
            "date": {
              "endOffset": 5,
              "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
              "timeZone": "-10:00",
              "originalString": "today",
              "subType": "DATE",
              "type": "DATE_TIME",
              "value": "2022-09-06",
              "beginOffset": 0
            },
            "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
            "subType": "DATETIME",
            "time": {
              "endOffset": 13,
              "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
              "timeZone": "-10:00",
              "originalString": "noon",
              "subType": "TIME",
              "type": "DATE_TIME",
              "value": "12:00:00",
              "beginOffset": 9
            }
          }

DURATION Subtype Attributes

The DURATION subtype contains these attributes about a day or time duration, such as 1 week:

Attribute Type Explanation
entityName String DATE_TIME
subType String DURATION
timezone String The time zone offset. For example: +07:00.
type String DATE_TIME
value String Duration in ISO 8601 format. Examples: PT1H for 1 hour,P4D for 4 days, P1W for 1 week, P2M for 2 months.

Here's an example of the NLU response for the DURATION subtype:

          "aDuration": {
            "endOffset": 7,
            "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
            "timeZone": "-10:00",
            "originalString": "3 hours",
            "subType": "DURATION",
            "type": "DATE_TIME",
            "value": "PT3H",
            "beginOffset": 0
          }

INTERVAL Subtype Attributes

The INTERVAL subtype contains these attributes about a period that's defined by a beginning and ending date and time, or is defined by a date, start time, and length, such as 2 hours.

Attribute Type Explanation
duration ENTITY This object contains the attributes described in DURATION Subtype Attributes.
endDate DATE This object contains the attributes described in DATE Subtype Attributes.

Included for Date and Time and Date Only prompt types.
endTime TIME This object contains the attributes described in TIME Subtype Attributes.

Included for Date and Time and Time Only prompt types.
entityName String DATE_TIME
startDate DATE This object contains the attributes described in DATE Subtype Attributes.

Included for Date and Time and Date Only prompt types.
startTime TIME This object contains the attributes described in TIME Subtype Attributes.

Included for Date and Time and Time Only prompt types.
subType String INTERVAL

Here's an example of the NLU response for the INTERVAL entity with the Date and Time prompt type:

          "anInterval": {
            "duration": {
              "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
              "subType": "DURATION",
              "value": "P1D"
            },
            "endDate": {
              "endOffset": 8,
              "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
              "timeZone": "-10:00",
              "originalString": "tomorrow",
              "subType": "DATE",
              "type": "DATE_TIME",
              "value": "2022-09-07",
              "beginOffset": 0
            },
            "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
            "subType": "INTERVAL",
            "startTime": {
              "endOffset": 4,
              "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
              "timeZone": "-10:00",
              "originalString": "noon",
              "subType": "TIME",
              "type": "DATE_TIME",
              "value": "12:00:00",
              "beginOffset": 0
            },
            "endTime": {
              "endOffset": 4,
              "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
              "timeZone": "-10:00",
              "originalString": "noon",
              "subType": "TIME",
              "type": "DATE_TIME",
              "value": "12:00:00",
              "beginOffset": 0
            },
            "startDate": {
              "endOffset": 5,
              "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
              "timeZone": "-10:00",
              "originalString": "today",
              "subType": "DATE",
              "type": "DATE_TIME",
              "value": "2022-09-06",
              "beginOffset": 0
            }
          }

RECURRING Subtype Attributes

The RECURRING subtype contains these attributes about a regularly recurring period:

Attribute Type Explanation
entityName String DATE_TIME
recurrenceDates Array of DATE Included when multiple recurring dates are given. This object contains an array of DATE objects with the attributes described in DATE Subtype Attributes.
recurrenceFrequency DURATION This object contains the attributes described in DURATION Subtype Attributes.
recurrenceTimes Array of TIME Included when multiple recurring times are given. This object contains an array of TIME objects with the attributes described in TIME Subtype Attributes.
recurrenceUntil INTERVAL Specifies the bounds of the repetition. Typically, only the end date is specified. This object contains the attributes described in INTERVAL Subtype Attributes.
startDate DATE This object contains the attributes described in DATE Subtype Attributes.

Note that for RECURRING entities, the DATE object may include the month. movevableDateValue, ordinal, ordinalReference, weekday, and year attributes.

Included for Date Only prompt type.
startDateTime DATETIME This object contains the attributes described in DATETIME Subtype Attributes.

Note that for RECURRING entities, the DATETIME's DATE sub-object may include the month. movevableDateValue, ordinal, ordinalReference, weekday, and year attributes.

Included for Date and Time prompt type.
startInterval INTERVAL This object contains the attributes described in INTERVAL Subtype Attributes.
startTime TIME This object contains the attributes described in TIME Subtype Attributes.

Included for Time Only prompt type.
subType String RECURRING

Here's an example of the NLU response for the RECURRING subtype with the Date and Time prompt type:

          "aRecurringPeriod": {
            "startInterval": {
              "duration": {
                "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
                "subType": "DURATION",
                "value": "PT1H"
              },
              "endDate": {
                "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
                "timeZone": "-10:00",
                "subType": "DATE",
                "value": "2022-07-28"
              },
              "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
              "subType": "INTERVAL",
              "startTime": {
                "endOffset": 7,
                "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
                "timeZone": "-10:00",
                "originalString": "12 noon",
                "subType": "TIME",
                "bagItem": "Meeting:DateTime",
                "type": "DATE_TIME",
                "value": "12:00:00",
                "beginOffset": 0
              },
              "endTime": {
                "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
                "timeZone": "-10:00",
                "subType": "TIME",
                "value": "13:00:00"
              },
              "startDate": {
                "endOffset": 8,
                "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
                "timeZone": "-10:00",
                "originalString": "tomorrow",
                "subType": "DATE",
                "bagItem": "Meeting:DateTime",
                "type": "DATE_TIME",
                "value": "2022-07-28",
                "beginOffset": 0
              }
            },
            "recurrenceFrequency": {
              "endOffset": 10,
              "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
              "timeZone": "-10:00",
              "originalString": "every week",
              "subType": "DURATION",
              "type": "DATE_TIME",
              "bagItem": "Meeting:DateTime",
              "value": "P1W",
              "beginOffset": 0
            },
            "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
            "subType": "RECURRING",
            "recurrenceUntil": {
              "endDate": {
                "endOffset": 6,
                "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
                "timeZone": "-10:00",
                "originalString": "Sept 1",
                "subType": "DATE",
                "bagItem": "Meeting:DateTime",
                "type": "DATE_TIME",
                "value": "2022-09-01",
                "beginOffset": 0
              },
              "entityName": "DATE_TIME",
              "subType": "INTERVAL"
            }
          }

Ambiguity Resolution Rules for Time and Date Matches

Users can enter partial dates where the time is implied. For example:
  • "Schedule a meeting for Monday"
  • "Create an expense report for 7/11"
  • "Create an expense report for the 11th"
Some situations, like scheduling a meeting, imply a future time. Others, like creating an expense report, refer to some time in the past. To ensure that the DATE_TIME entity Time and Date subtypes can resolve ambiguous input as the past, present, or as the closest approximation, you can apply Ambiguity Resolution Rules. To set the temporal context for the time resolution, for example, click the DATE_TIME entity and then apply a rule.
Note

The ambiguity resolution rules do not validate the user input. You can validate the user input with custom validator that uses Apache FreeMarker (which is not recommended) or in an Entity Event Handler (which is recommended). This validator returns false (validation fails) if a past date is given for a forward-looking use case (for example, a meeting scheduler). For a backward-looking use case like expense reporting, the validator returns false if the user inputs a future date.

Description of time_entity_configuration.png follows

Note

If you're referencing the same entity with two or more items within the same composite bag, or if two or more composite bags reference the same entity and are also associated with the same intent, upgrade to Release 21.12 to ensure that the ambiguity resolution rules specific each entity reference are handled separately and not overwritten by the rules set for a previously resolved entity.

Resolution Rules for Matches to the Date Subtype

Date resolves to the UTC date, not the server's date nor the browser's date. For example, "today" uttered at 8 pm on July 8th from the Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone (UTC−10:00) is resolved as July 9th.
Rule How it works Examples
Past Resolves the ambiguous input as the nearest day of the week in the past.
  • If the utterance includes "Monday" and the current day is also Monday, then "Monday" is resolved as today.
  • If the utterance includes "Monday" and the current day is Wednesday, the "Monday" is resolved as the previous Monday.
Future Resolves the ambiguous input as the nearest day in the future
  • If the utterance includes "Monday" and the current day is also Monday, then "Monday" is resolved as today.
  • If the utterance includes "Monday", and the current day is Tuesday, then "Monday" is resolved as the following Monday.
  • If the utterance includes "Tuesday", and the current day is Monday, then "Tuesday" is resolved as this Tuesday.
Nearest Resolves the ambiguous input as the nearest day.
  • If the utterance includes "Monday"and the current day is also Monday, the "Monday" is resolved as today. If the utterance includes "Monday" and the current day is Tuesday, then "Monday" resolves as yesterday.
  • If the utterance includes "Monday", and the current day is Sunday, the "Monday" resolves as tomorrow.
Default Resolves the ambiguous input as a future date. For example, if the input includes Wednesday, the day is interpreted as next Wednesday, not the prior Wednesday or the current day (if it's a Wednesday, that is).

Resolution Rules for Matches to the Time Subtype

Rule How it works Examples
Past Resolves the input to the nearest time in the past relative to the current time in the UTC time zone.
  • If the utterance includes "9 am" and the current time is 10:00 am, then the time is resolved as 9:00 am today.
  • If the utterance includes "9 pm" and the current time is 10:00 am, then the time is resolved as 9:00 pm yesterday.
  • If the utterance includes "9" and the current time is 10:00 am, then the time is resolved as 9:00 am today.
Future Resolves the input to the nearest time in the future relative to the current time in the UTC time zone.
  • If the utterance includes "9 am" and the current time right now is 10:00 am, then the time is resolved as 9:00 am tomorrow.
  • If the utterance includes "9 pm" and the current time is 10:00 am, the time is resolved as 9 pm today.
  • If the utterance includes "9" and the current time is 10:00 am, then the time is resolved as 9:00 pm today.
Nearest Resolves the input as the nearest time relative to the current time in the UTC time zone.
  • If the utterance includes "9 am" and the current time is 10:00 am, then the time is resolved as today 9:00 am.
  • If the utterance includes "9 pm" and the current time is 10:00 am, then the time is resolved as 9:00 pm today.
  • If the utterance includes "9" and the current time is 10:00 am, then the time is resolved as 9:00 am today.
  • If the utterance includes "10:00" and the current time is 1:00 am, then the time is resolved as 10:00 pm yesterday.
Default Resolves the input by the method used in the pre-21.06 releases of Oracle Digital Assistant.
  • If the utterance includes is "9 am" and the current time is 10 am, then the time is resolved as 9 am today.
  • If the utterance includes "9 pm" and the current time is 10 am, then the time is resolved as 9 pm today.
  • If the utterance includes "9" and the current time is 10 am, then the time is resolved as 9 am today.
  • If the utterance includes "1:00 am" and the current time is 2 pm, then the time is resolved as 1 am tomorrow.

Locale-Based Entity Resolution

You can enable the CURRENCY, DATE and NUMBER entities to resolve to the user locale by switching on Consider End User Locale.
Description of currency_entity_customization.png follows

Depending on the entity, this option has different applications:
  • DATE resolves to the locale-specific format: it can resolve 11/7 as November 7 for en-US or July 11 for en-AU, for example. For non-supported locales, you can apply a format and a temporal context, such as past or future.
  • NUMBER resolves to the country-specific numeric format -- the comma, period, or space used to separate groups of thousands and the decimal point with or without a thin space that separates the fractional part of the number. For example, the U.K. and U.S. both use a comma to separate groups of thousands.
    Note

    When Consider End User Locale is switched off, the NUMBER entity resolves as COMMA_DOT (1,000.00).
  • CURRENCY uses locale to resolve to a specific $ or ¥ currency. When no locale is detected, you can set the input to resolve as the $ or ¥ currency that's set by the Ambiguity Resolution Rule.
Note

If you're referencing the same entity with two more items within the same composite bag, or if two or more composite bags reference the same entity and are also associated with the same intent, upgrade to Release 21.12 to ensure that the locale customization specific to each entity reference is handled separately and not overwritten by the locale configuration of a previously resolved entity.

Locale-Based Date Resolution

When the user's locale cannot be detected, the date is resolved as the selected default date format.
For this Locale... This input... ...Resolves as... Format (Date-Month Sequence)
United States (en_US) 11/7 November 7 MONTH_DAY
Great Britain (en_GB) 11/7 July 11 DAY_MONTH
Canada - English (en_CA) 11/7 November 7 MONTH_DAY
Canada - French (fr_CA) 11/7 November 7 MONTH_DAY
Australia (en_AU) 11/7 July 11 DAY_MONTH
Mexico (es_MX) 11/7 July 11 DAY_MONTH
Singapore (zh_SG) 11/7 July 11 DAY_MONTH
United Arab Emirates (ar_AE) 11/7 November 7 MONTH_DAY
Arabic (ar_AR) 11/7 November 7 MONTH_DAY
France (fr_FR) 11/7 July 11 DAY_MONTH
Netherlands (nl_NL) 11/7 July 11 DAY_MONTH
Germany (de_DE) 11/7 July 11 DAY_MONTH
Italy (it_IT) 11/7 July 11 DAY_MONTH
Portugal (pt_PT) 11/7 July 11 DAY_MONTH
Spain (en_ES) 11/7 July 11 DAY_MONTH
China (zh_CN) 11/7 November 7 MONTH_DAY
Japan (ja_JP) 11/7 November 7 MONTH_DAY

Locale-Based Currency Resolution

For this Locale... This input... ...Resolves as (Dollar Ambiguity) This input... ...Resolves as (Yen Ambiguity)
United States (en_US) 20 dollars 20.0 USD 20 ¥ 20.0 JPY
Great Britain (en_GB) 20 dollars 20.0 USD 20 ¥ 20.0 JPY
Canada - English (en_CA) 20 dollars 20.0 CAD 20 ¥ 20.0 JPY
Canada - French (fr_CA) 20 dollars 20.0 CAD 20 ¥ 20.0 JPY
Australia (en_AU) 20 dollars 20.0 AUD 20 ¥ 20.0 JPY
Mexico (es_MX) 20 dollars 20.0 MXN 20 ¥ 20.0 CNY
Singapore (zh_SG) 20 dollars 20.0 SGD 20 ¥ 20.0 JPY
United Arab Emirates (ar_AE) 20 dollars 20.0 USD 20 ¥ 20.0 JPY
Arabic (ar_AR) 20 dollars 20.0 USD 20 ¥ 20.0 JPY
France (fr_FR) 20 dollars 20.0 USD 20 ¥ 20.0 JPY
Netherlands (nl_NL) 20 dollars 20.0 USD 20 ¥ 20.0 JPY
Germany (de_DE) 20 dollars 20.0 USD 20 ¥ 20.0 JPY
Italy (it_IT) 20 dollars 20.0 USD 20 ¥ 20.0 JPY
Portugal (pt_PT) 20 dollars 20.0 USD 20 ¥ 20.0 JPY
Spain (en_ES) 20 dollars 20.0 USD 20 ¥ 20.0 JPY
China (zh_CN) 20 dollars 20.0 USD 20 ¥ 20.0 CNY
Japan (ja_JP) 20 dollars 20.0 USD 20 ¥ 20.0 JPY

Locale-Based Number Resolution

When Consider End User Locale is switched off, the number format defaults to COMMA_DOT (1,000.00).
When the locale is enabled for... ...The recognized format is … Example
United States (en_US) COMMA_DOT 1,000,000.00
Great Britain (en_GB) COMMA_DOT 1,000,000.00
Canada - English (en_CA) COMMA_DOT 1,000,000.00
Canada - French (fr_CA) DOT_COMMA 1.000.000,00
Australia (en_AU) COMMA_DOT 1,000,000.00
Mexico (es_MX) COMMA_DOT 1,000,000.00
Singapore (zh_SG) COMMA_DOT 1,000,000.00
United Arab Emirates (ar_AE) DOT_COMMA 1.000.000,00
Arabic (ar_AR) DOT_COMMA 1.000.000,00
France (fr_FR) SPACE_COMMA 1 000 000,00
Netherlands (nl_NL) DOT_COMMA 1.000.000,00
Germany (de_DE) DOT_COMMA 1.000.000,00
Italy (it_IT) DOT_COMMA 1.000.000,00
Portugal (pt_PT) COMMA_DOT 1,000,000.00
Spain (en_ES) DOT_COMMA 1.000.000,00
China (zh_CN) COMMA_DOT 1,000,000.00
Japan (ja_JP) COMMA_DOT 1,000,000.00

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