Description
Return supplied historical-unit ambiguity status.
Regional records connect place labels, language coverage, source vintages, calendar offsets and historical units. A literal label or supplied year offset can organize metadata without resolving changes in borders, calendar systems or naming authority. Unknown and ambiguous values must retain their explicit flags.
Return supplied historical-unit ambiguity status.
When to use this tool
Use Historical Measure Unit Ambiguity when checking the stated regional record, period, hierarchy or text convention.
How to use the tool and how it works
- Enter token, candidateUnits, sourceUnitKnown. Use the units and conventions below.
- Run the tool. Correct any format, range, or cross-field input error before interpreting the output.
- Read ambiguous, candidateCount, resolvedUnit. Inspect ambiguous before interpreting the associated values.
Return supplied historical-unit ambiguity status. Require nonempty token; deduplicate candidates, ambiguous means unknown source unit and candidate count not one; resolvedUnit is token when known, the sole candidate otherwise, or empty.1
| Input field | Meaning and units | Accepted input |
|---|---|---|
| token | Token | Required. Text; maximum UTF-16 length 8192. |
| candidateUnits | Candidate Units | Required. Array of text; maximum UTF-16 length 8192; maximum items 256. |
| sourceUnitKnown | Source Unit Known | Required. Boolean. |
| Output field | Interpretation | Returned shape |
|---|---|---|
| ambiguous | True when the source unit is unknown and candidate count is not exactly one; zero candidates is ambiguous too. | Required. Boolean. |
| candidateCount | Candidate Count | Required. Safe integer. |
| resolvedUnit | Resolved Unit | Required. Text; maximum UTF-16 length 8192. |
{
"input": {
"token": "ton",
"candidateUnits": [
"short-ton",
"long-ton"
],
"sourceUnitKnown": false
},
"output": {
"ambiguous": true,
"candidateCount": 2,
"resolvedUnit": ""
}
}Limitations and assumptions
- A known token need not appear among candidates; actual unit identity, historical meaning and conversion factor are not established.
- Inputs must satisfy both the field types and the cross-field conditions above. Invalid input causes an error; a successful false flag or documented placeholder is a different result.
Alternative or Complementary methods
Consult the original sources, applicable calendar and historical naming/measurement authorities for geographic or historical interpretation.
References
Similar or alternative tools
- Regional Identifier Era Token
Split a regional identifier into region and era tokens.
- Historical Region Jurisdiction Source Key
Encode supplied historical region, jurisdiction transcription and source identifiers without determining boundaries.