xref: /freebsd/contrib/tzcode/zdump.8 (revision 911f0260390e18cf85f3dbf2c719b593efdc1e3c)
1.\" This file is in the public domain, so clarified as of
2.\" 2009-05-17 by Arthur David Olson.
3.Dd December 15, 2022
4.Dt ZDUMP 8
5.Os
6.Sh NAME
7.Nm zdump
8.Nd timezone dumper
9.Sh SYNOPSIS
10.Nm
11.Op Fl -help
12.Op Fl -version
13.Op Fl ivV
14.Oo
15.Fl c
16.Op Ar loyear , Ns
17.Ar hiyear
18.Oc
19.Oo
20.Fl t
21.Op Ar lotime , Ns
22.Ar hitime
23.Oc
24.Op Ar timezone ...
25.Sh DESCRIPTION
26The
27.Nm
28program prints the current time in each
29.Ar timezone
30named on the command line.
31.Pp
32The following options are available:
33.Bl -tag -width indent
34.It Fl -version
35Output version information and exit.
36.It Fl -help
37Output short usage message and exit.
38.It Fl i
39Output a description of time intervals.
40For each
41.Ar timezone
42on the command line, output an interval-format description of the
43timezone.
44See
45.Sx "INTERVAL FORMAT"
46below.
47.It Fl v
48Output a verbose description of time intervals.
49For each
50.Ar timezone
51on the command line,
52print the times at the two extreme time values,
53the times (if present) at and just beyond the boundaries of years that
54.Xr localtime 3
55and
56.Xr gmtime 3
57can represent, and
58the times both one second before and exactly at
59each detected time discontinuity.
60Each line is followed by
61.Cm isdst= Ns Ar D
62where
63.Ar D
64is positive, zero, or negative depending on whether
65the given time is daylight saving time, standard time,
66or an unknown time type, respectively.
67Each line is also followed by
68.Cm gmtoff= Ns Ar N
69if the given local time is known to be
70.Ar N
71seconds east of Greenwich.
72.It Fl V
73Like
74.Fl v ,
75except omit output concerning extreme time and year values.
76This generates output that is easier to compare to that of
77implementations with different time representations.
78.It Fl c Oo Ar loyear , Oc Ns Ar hiyear
79Cut off interval output at the given year(s).
80Cutoff times are computed using the proleptic Gregorian calendar with year 0
81and with Universal Time (UT) ignoring leap seconds.
82Cutoffs are at the start of each year, where the lower-bound
83timestamp is inclusive and the upper is exclusive; for example,
84.Ql "-c 1970,2070"
85selects transitions on or after 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
86and before 2070-01-01 00:00:00 UTC.
87The default cutoff is
88.Ql -500,2500 .
89.It Fl t Oo Ar lotime , Oc Ns Ar hitime
90Cut off interval output at the given time(s),
91given in decimal seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00
92Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
93The
94.Ar timezone
95determines whether the count includes leap seconds.
96As with
97.Fl c ,
98the cutoff's lower bound is inclusive and its upper bound is exclusive.
99.El
100.Sh "INTERVAL FORMAT"
101The interval format is a compact text representation that is intended
102to be both human- and machine-readable.
103It consists of an empty line,
104then a line
105.Dq "TZ=\fIstring\fP"
106where
107.Ar string
108is a double-quoted string giving the timezone, a second line
109.Dq "\*- \*- \fIinterval\fP"
110describing the time interval before the first transition if any, and
111zero or more following lines
112.Dq "\fIdate time interval\fP",
113one line for each transition time and following interval.
114Fields are
115separated by single tabs.
116.Pp
117Dates are in
118.Ql "yyyy - mm - dd"
119format and times are in 24-hour
120.Ql "hh : mm : ss"
121format where
122.Ql "hh <24" .
123Times are in local time immediately after the transition.
124A
125time interval description consists of a UT offset in signed
126.Ql "\(+- hhmmss"
127format, a time zone abbreviation, and an isdst flag.
128An abbreviation
129that equals the UT offset is omitted; other abbreviations are
130double-quoted strings unless they consist of one or more alphabetic
131characters.
132An isdst flag is omitted for standard time, and otherwise
133is a decimal integer that is unsigned and positive (typically 1) for
134daylight saving time and negative for unknown.
135.Pp
136In times and in UT offsets with absolute value less than 100 hours,
137the seconds are omitted if they are zero, and
138the minutes are also omitted if they are also zero.
139Positive UT
140offsets are east of Greenwich.
141The UT offset \*-00 denotes a UT
142placeholder in areas where the actual offset is unspecified; by
143convention, this occurs when the UT offset is zero and the time zone
144abbreviation begins with
145.Dq "-"
146or is
147.Dq "zzz".
148.Pp
149In double-quoted strings, escape sequences represent unusual
150characters.
151The escape sequences are \es for space, and \e", \e\e,
152\ef, \en, \er, \et, and \ev with their usual meaning in the C
153programming language.
154E.g., the double-quoted string
155\*(lq"CET\es\e"\e\e"\*(rq represents the character sequence \*(lqCET
156"\e\*(rq.\""
157.Pp
158Here is an example of the output, with the leading empty line omitted.
159(This example is shown with tab stops set far enough apart so that the
160tabbed columns line up.)
161.Bd -literal -offset indent
162TZ="Pacific/Honolulu"
163-	-	-103126	LMT
1641896-01-13	12:01:26	-1030	HST
1651933-04-30	03	-0930	HDT	1
1661933-05-21	11	-1030	HST
1671942-02-09	03	-0930	HWT	1
1681945-08-14	13:30	-0930	HPT	1
1691945-09-30	01	-1030	HST
1701947-06-08	02:30	-10	HST
171.Ed
172.Pp
173Here, local time begins 10 hours, 31 minutes and 26 seconds west of
174UT, and is a standard time abbreviated LMT.
175Immediately after the
176first transition, the date is 1896-01-13 and the time is 12:01:26, and
177the following time interval is 10.5 hours west of UT, a standard time
178abbreviated HST.
179Immediately after the second transition, the date is
1801933-04-30 and the time is 03:00:00 and the following time interval is
1819.5 hours west of UT, is abbreviated HDT, and is daylight saving time.
182Immediately after the last transition the date is 1947-06-08 and the
183time is 02:30:00, and the following time interval is 10 hours west of
184UT, a standard time abbreviated HST.
185.Pp
186Here are excerpts from another example:
187.Bd -literal -offset indent
188TZ="Europe/Astrakhan"
189-	-	+031212	LMT
1901924-04-30	23:47:48	+03
1911930-06-21	01	+04
1921981-04-01	01	+05		1
1931981-09-30	23	+04
194\&...
1952014-10-26	01	+03
1962016-03-27	03	+04
197.Ed
198.Pp
199This time zone is east of UT, so its UT offsets are positive.
200Also,
201many of its time zone abbreviations are omitted since they duplicate
202the text of the UT offset.
203.Sh LIMITATIONS
204Time discontinuities are found by sampling the results returned by
205.Xr localtime 3
206at twelve-hour intervals.
207This works in all real-world cases;
208one can construct artificial time zones for which this fails.
209.Pp
210In the
211.Fl v
212and
213.Fl V
214output,
215.Dq "UT"
216denotes the value returned by
217.Xr gmtime 3 ,
218which uses UTC for modern timestamps and some other UT flavor for
219timestamps that predate the introduction of UTC.
220No attempt is currently made to have the output use
221.Dq "UTC"
222for newer and
223.Dq "UT"
224for older timestamps, partly because the exact date of the
225introduction of UTC is problematic.
226.Sh SEE ALSO
227.Xr tzfile 5 ,
228.Xr zic 8
229