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ctime(3)                 BSD Library Functions Manual                 ctime(3)


NAME

     asctime, asctime_r, ctime, ctime_r, difftime, gmtime, gmtime_r,
     localtime, localtime_r, mktime, timegm -- transform binary date and time
     values


LIBRARY

     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)


SYNOPSIS

     #include <time.h>

     extern char *tzname[2];

     char *
     asctime(const struct tm *timeptr);

     char *
     asctime_r(const struct tm *restrict timeptr, char *restrict buf);

     char *
     ctime(const time_t *clock);

     char *
     ctime_r(const time_t *clock, char *buf);

     double
     difftime(time_t time1, time_t time0);

     struct tm *
     gmtime(const time_t *clock);

     struct tm *
     gmtime_r(const time_t *clock, struct tm *result);

     struct tm *
     localtime(const time_t *clock);

     struct tm *
     localtime_r(const time_t *clock, struct tm *result);

     time_t
     mktime(struct tm *timeptr);

     time_t
     timegm(struct tm *timeptr);


DESCRIPTION

     The functions ctime(), gmtime(), and localtime() all take as an argument
     a time value representing the time in seconds since the Epoch (00:00:00
     UTC, January 1, 1970; see time(3)).  When encountering an error, these
     functions return NULL and set errno to an appropriate value.

     The function localtime() converts the time value pointed at by clock.  It
     returns a pointer to a ``struct tm'' (described below), which contains
     the broken-out time information for the value after adjusting for the
     current time zone (and any other factors such as Daylight Saving Time).
     Time zone adjustments are performed as specified by the TZ environment
     variable (see tzset(3)).  The function localtime() uses tzset(3) to ini-
     tialize time conversion information, if tzset(3) has not already been
     called by the process.

     After filling in the tm structure, localtime() sets the tm_isdst'th ele-
     ment of tzname to a pointer to an ASCII string containing the time zone
     abbreviation to be used with localtime()'s return value.

     The function gmtime() also converts the time value, but makes no time
     zone adjustment.  It returns a pointer to a tm structure (described
     below).

     The ctime() function adjusts the time value for the current time zone, in
     the same manner as localtime().  It returns a pointer to a 26-character
     string of the form:

           Thu Nov 24 18:22:48 1986\n\0

     All of the fields have constant width.

     The ctime_r() function provides the same functionality as ctime(), except
     that the caller must provide the output buffer buf (which must be at
     least 26 characters long) to store the result.  The localtime_r() and
     gmtime_r() functions provide the same functionality as localtime() and
     gmtime(), respectively, except the caller must provide the output buffer
     result.

     The asctime() function converts the broken-out time in the structure tm
     (pointed at by *timeptr) to the form shown in the example above.

     The asctime_r() function provides the same functionality as asctime(),
     except that the caller provides the output buffer buf (which must be at
     least 26 characters long) to store the result.

     The functions mktime() and timegm() convert the broken-out time (in the
     structure pointed to by *timeptr) into a time value with the same encod-
     ing as that of the values returned by the time(3) function (that is, sec-
     onds from the Epoch, UTC).  The mktime() function interprets the input
     structure according to the current timezone setting (see tzset(3)).  The
     timegm() function interprets the input structure as representing Univer-
     sal Coordinated Time (UTC).

     The original values of the tm_wday and tm_yday components of the struc-
     ture are ignored. The original values of the other components are not
     restricted to their normal ranges and will be normalized, if need be.
     For example, October 40 is changed into November 9, a tm_hour of -1 means
     1 hour before midnight, tm_mday of 0 means the day preceding the current
     month, and tm_mon of -2 means 2 months before January of tm_year.  (A
     positive or zero value for tm_isdst causes mktime() to presume initially
     that summer time (for example, Daylight Saving Time) is or is not
     (respectively) in effect for the specified time.  A negative value for
     tm_isdst causes the mktime() function to attempt to divine whether summer
     time is in effect for the specified time.  The tm_isdst and tm_gmtoff
     members are forced to zero by timegm().)

     On successful completion, the values of the tm_wday and tm_yday compo-
     nents of the structure are set appropriately, and the other components
     are set to represent the specified calendar time, but with their values
     forced to their normal ranges; the final value of tm_mday is not set
     until tm_mon and tm_year are determined.  The mktime() function returns
     the specified calendar time; if the calendar time cannot be represented,
     it returns -1;

     The difftime() function returns the difference between two calendar
     times, (time1 - time0), expressed in seconds.

     External declarations, as well as the tm structure definition, are con-
     tained in the <time.h> include file.  The tm structure includes at least
     the following fields:

           int tm_sec;     /* seconds (0 - 60) */
           int tm_min;     /* minutes (0 - 59) */
           int tm_hour;    /* hours (0 - 23) */
           int tm_mday;    /* day of month (1 - 31) */
           int tm_mon;     /* month of year (0 - 11) */
           int tm_year;    /* year - 1900 */
           int tm_wday;    /* day of week (Sunday = 0) */
           int tm_yday;    /* day of year (0 - 365) */
           int tm_isdst;   /* is summer time in effect? */
           char *tm_zone;  /* abbreviation of timezone name */
           long tm_gmtoff; /* offset from UTC in seconds */

     The field tm_isdst is non-zero if summer (i.e., Daylight Saving) time is
     in effect.

     The field tm_gmtoff is the offset (in seconds) of the time represented
     from UTC, with positive values indicating locations east of the Prime
     Meridian.


SEE ALSO

     date(1), gettimeofday(2), getenv(3), time(3), tzset(3), tzfile(5)


STANDARDS

     The asctime(), ctime(), difftime(), gmtime(), localtime(), and mktime()
     functions conform to ISO/IEC 9899:1990 (``ISO C90''), and conform to
     ISO/IEC 9945-1:1996 (``POSIX.1'') provided the selected local timezone
     does not contain a leap-second table (see zic(8)).

     The asctime_r(), ctime_r(), gmtime_r(), and localtime_r() functions are
     expected to conform to ISO/IEC 9945-1:1996 (``POSIX.1'') (again provided
     the selected local timezone does not contain a leap-second table).

     The timegm() function is not specified by any standard; its function can-
     not be completely emulated using the standard functions described above.


HISTORY

     This manual page is derived from the time package contributed to Berkeley
     by Arthur Olson and which appeared in 4.3BSD.


BUGS

     Except for difftime(), mktime(), and the _r() variants of the other func-
     tions, these functions leaves their result in an internal static object
     and return a pointer to that object.  Subsequent calls to these function
     will modify the same object.

     The C Standard provides no mechanism for a program to modify its current
     local timezone setting, and the POSIX-standard method is not reentrant.
     (However, thread-safe implementations are provided in the POSIX threaded
     environment.)

     The tm_zone field of a returned tm structure points to a static array of
     characters, which will also be overwritten by any subsequent calls (as
     well as by subsequent calls to tzset(3) and tzsetwall(3)).

     Use of the external variable tzname is discouraged; the tm_zone entry in
     the tm structure is preferred.

BSD                             January 2, 1999                            BSD

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