xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/stdtime/ctime.3 (revision 589a5e341f2fb2700816e0a54ce169a00175be21)
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34.\"     From: @(#)ctime.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
35.\" $FreeBSD$
36.\"
37.Dd January 2, 1999
38.Dt CTIME 3
39.Os BSD 4.3
40.Sh NAME
41.Nm asctime ,
42.Nm asctime_r ,
43.Nm ctime ,
44.Nm ctime_r ,
45.Nm difftime ,
46.Nm gmtime ,
47.Nm gmtime_r ,
48.Nm localtime ,
49.Nm localtime_r ,
50.Nm mktime ,
51.Nm timegm
52.Nd transform binary date and time values
53.Sh LIBRARY
54.Lb libc
55.Sh SYNOPSIS
56.Fd #include <time.h>
57.Vt extern char *tzname[2] ;
58.Ft char *
59.Fn ctime "const time_t *clock"
60.Ft double
61.Fn difftime "time_t time1" "time_t time0"
62.Ft char *
63.Fn asctime "const struct tm *tm"
64.Ft struct tm *
65.Fn localtime "const time_t *clock"
66.Ft struct tm *
67.Fn gmtime "const time_t *clock"
68.Ft time_t
69.Fn mktime "struct tm *tm"
70.Ft time_t
71.Fn timegm "struct tm *tm"
72.Ft char *
73.Fn ctime_r "const time_t *clock" "char *buf"
74.Ft struct tm *
75.Fn localtime_r "const time_t *clock" "struct tm *result"
76.Ft struct tm *
77.Fn gmtime_r "const time_t *clock" "struct tm *result"
78.Ft char *
79.Fn asctime_r "const struct tm *tm" "char *buf"
80.Sh DESCRIPTION
81The functions
82.Fn ctime ,
83.Fn gmtime
84and
85.Fn localtime
86all take as an argument a time value representing the time in seconds since
87the Epoch (00:00:00
88.Tn UTC ,
89January 1, 1970; see
90.Xr time 3 ) .
91.Pp
92The function
93.Fn localtime
94converts the time value pointed at by
95.Fa clock ,
96and returns a pointer to a
97.Dq Fa struct tm
98(described below) which contains
99the broken-out time information for the value after adjusting for the current
100time zone (and any other factors such as Daylight Saving Time).
101Time zone adjustments are performed as specified by the
102.Ev TZ
103environment variable (see
104.Xr tzset 3 ) .
105The function
106.Fn localtime
107uses
108.Xr tzset 3
109to initialize time conversion information if
110.Xr tzset 3
111has not already been called by the process.
112.Pp
113After filling in the tm structure,
114.Fn localtime
115sets the
116.Fa tm_isdst Ns 'th
117element of
118.Fa tzname
119to a pointer to an
120.Tn ASCII
121string that's the time zone abbreviation to be
122used with
123.Fn localtime Ns 's
124return value.
125.Pp
126The function
127.Fn gmtime
128similarly converts the time value, but without any time zone adjustment,
129and returns a pointer to a tm structure (described below).
130.Pp
131The
132.Fn ctime
133function
134adjusts the time value for the current time zone in the same manner as
135.Fn localtime ,
136and returns a pointer to a 26-character string of the form:
137.Bd -literal -offset indent
138Thu Nov 24 18:22:48 1986\en\e0
139.Ed
140.Pp
141All the fields have constant width.
142.Pp
143.Fn ctime_r
144provides the same functionality as
145.Fn ctime
146except the caller must provide the output buffer
147.Fa buf
148to store the result, which must be at least 26 characters long.
149.Fn localtime_r
150and
151.Fn gmtime_r
152provide the same functionality as
153.Fn localtime
154and
155.Fn gmtime
156respectively, except the caller must provide the output buffer
157.Fa result .
158.Pp
159The
160.Fn asctime
161function
162converts the broken down time in the structure
163.Fa tm
164pointed at by
165.Fa *tm
166to the form
167shown in the example above.
168.Pp
169.Fn asctime_r
170provides the same functionality as
171.Fn asctime
172except the caller provide the output buffer
173.Fa buf
174to store the result, which must be at least 26 characters long.
175.Pp
176The functions
177.Fn mktime
178and
179.Fn timegm
180convert the broken-down time in the structure
181pointed to by tm into a time value with the same encoding as that of the
182values returned by the
183.Xr time 3
184function (that is, seconds from the Epoch,
185.Tn UTC ) .
186.Fn mktime
187interprets the input structure according to the current timezone setting
188(see
189.Xr tzset 3 ) .
190.Fn timegm
191interprets the input structure as representing Universal Coordinated Time
192.Pq Tn UTC .
193.Pp
194The original values of the
195.Fa tm_wday
196and
197.Fa tm_yday
198components of the structure are ignored, and the original values of the
199other components are not restricted to their normal ranges.
200(A positive or zero value for
201.Fa tm_isdst
202causes
203.Fn mktime
204to presume initially that summer time (for example, Daylight Saving Time)
205is or is not in effect for the specified time, respectively.
206A negative value for
207.Fa tm_isdst
208causes the
209.Fn mktime
210function to attempt to divine whether summer time is in effect for the
211specified time.
212The
213.Fa tm_isdst
214and
215.Fa tm_gmtoff
216members are forced to zero by
217.Fn timegm . )
218.Pp
219On successful completion, the values of the
220.Fa tm_wday
221and
222.Fa tm_yday
223components of the structure are set appropriately, and the other components
224are set to represent the specified calendar time, but with their values
225forced to their normal ranges; the final value of
226.Fa tm_mday
227is not set until
228.Fa tm_mon
229and
230.Fa tm_year
231are determined.
232.Fn Mktime
233returns the specified calendar time; if the calendar time cannot be
234represented, it returns \-1;
235.Pp
236The
237.Fn difftime
238function
239returns the difference between two calendar times,
240.Pf ( Fa time1
241-
242.Fa time0 ) ,
243expressed in seconds.
244.Pp
245External declarations as well as the tm structure definition are in the
246.Aq Pa time.h
247include file.
248The tm structure includes at least the following fields:
249.Bd -literal -offset indent
250int tm_sec;	/\(** seconds (0 - 60) \(**/
251int tm_min;	/\(** minutes (0 - 59) \(**/
252int tm_hour;	/\(** hours (0 - 23) \(**/
253int tm_mday;	/\(** day of month (1 - 31) \(**/
254int tm_mon;	/\(** month of year (0 - 11) \(**/
255int tm_year;	/\(** year \- 1900 \(**/
256int tm_wday;	/\(** day of week (Sunday = 0) \(**/
257int tm_yday;	/\(** day of year (0 - 365) \(**/
258int tm_isdst;	/\(** is summer time in effect? \(**/
259char \(**tm_zone;	/\(** abbreviation of timezone name \(**/
260long tm_gmtoff;	/\(** offset from UTC in seconds \(**/
261.Ed
262.Pp
263The
264field
265.Fa tm_isdst
266is non-zero if summer time is in effect.
267.Pp
268The field
269.Fa tm_gmtoff
270is the offset (in seconds) of the time represented from
271.Tn UTC ,
272with positive
273values indicating east of the Prime Meridian.
274.Sh SEE ALSO
275.Xr date 1 ,
276.Xr gettimeofday 2 ,
277.Xr getenv 3 ,
278.Xr time 3 ,
279.Xr tzset 3 ,
280.Xr tzfile 5
281.Sh STANDARDS
282The
283.Fn asctime ,
284.Fn ctime ,
285.Fn difftime ,
286.Fn gmtime ,
287.Fn localtime ,
288and
289.Fn mktime
290functions conform to
291.St -isoC ,
292and conform to
293.St -p1003.1-96
294provided the selected local timezone does not contain a leap-second table
295(see
296.Xr zic 8 ) .
297.Pp
298The
299.Fn asctime_r ,
300.Fn ctime_r ,
301.Fn gmtime_r ,
302and
303.Fn localtime_r
304functions are expected to conform to
305.St -p1003.1-96
306(again provided the selected local timezone does not contain a leap-second
307table).
308.Pp
309The
310.Fn timegm
311function is not specified by any standard; its function cannot be
312completely emulated using the standard functions described above.
313.Sh HISTORY
314This manual page is derived from
315the time package contributed to Berkeley by
316.An Arthur Olson
317and which appeared in
318.Bx 4.3 .
319.Sh BUGS
320Except for
321.Fn difftime ,
322.Fn mktime ,
323and the
324.Fn \&_r
325variants of the other functions,
326these functions leaves their result in an internal static object and return
327a pointer to that object.
328Subsequent calls to these
329function will modify the same object.
330.Pp
331The C Standard provides no mechanism for a program to modify its current
332local timezone setting, and the
333.Tn POSIX Ns No \&-standard
334method is not reentrant.  (However, thread-safe implementations are provided
335in the
336.Tn POSIX
337threaded environment.)
338.Pp
339The
340.Fa tm_zone
341field of a returned tm structure points to a static array of characters,
342which will also be overwritten by any subsequent calls (as well as by
343subsequent calls to
344.Xr tzset 3
345and
346.Xr tzsetwall 3 ) .
347.Pp
348Use of the external variable
349.Fa tzname
350is discouraged; the
351.Fa tm_zone
352entry in the tm structure is preferred.
353