xref: /freebsd/lib/libc/stdtime/strftime.3 (revision 5129159789cc9d7bc514e4546b88e3427695002d)
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36.\"     @(#)strftime.3	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/4/93
37.\" $FreeBSD$
38.\"
39.Dd October 4, 1997
40.Dt STRFTIME 3
41.Os
42.Sh NAME
43.Nm strftime
44.Nd format date and time
45.Sh SYNOPSIS
46.Fd #include <time.h>
47.Ft size_t
48.Fn strftime "char *buf" "size_t maxsize" "const char *format" "const struct tm *timeptr"
49.Sh DESCRIPTION
50The
51.Fn strftime
52function formats the information from
53.Fa timeptr
54into the buffer
55.Fa buf
56according to the string pointed to by
57.Fa format .
58.Pp
59The
60.Fa format
61string consists of zero or more conversion specifications and
62ordinary characters.
63All ordinary characters are copied directly into the buffer.
64A conversion specification consists of a percent sign
65.Dq Ql %
66and one other character.
67.Pp
68No more than
69.Fa maxsize
70characters will be placed into the array.
71If the total number of resulting characters, including the terminating
72NUL character, is not more than
73.Fa maxsize ,
74.Fn strftime
75returns the number of characters in the array, not counting the
76terminating NUL.
77Otherwise, zero is returned and the buffer contents is indeterminate.
78.Pp
79The conversion specifications are copied to the buffer after expansion
80as follows:-
81.Bl -tag -width "xxxx"
82.It Cm \&%A
83is replaced by national representation of the full weekday name.
84.It Cm %a
85is replaced by national representation of
86the abbreviated weekday name, where the abbreviation
87is the first three characters.
88.It Cm \&%B
89is replaced by national representation of the full month name.
90.It Cm %b
91is replaced by national representation of
92the abbreviated month name, where the abbreviation is
93the first three characters.
94.It Cm \&%C
95is replaced by (year / 100) as decimal number; single
96digits are preceded by a zero.
97.It Cm %c
98is replaced by national representation of time and date
99(the format is similar with produced by
100.Xr asctime 3 ) .
101.It Cm \&%D
102is equivalent to
103.Dq Li %m/%d/%y .
104.It Cm %d
105is replaced by the day of the month as a decimal number (01-31).
106.It Cm \&%E* Cm \&%O*
107POSIX locale extensions.
108The sequences
109%Ec %EC %Ex %EX %Ey %EY
110%Od %Oe %OH %OI %Om %OM
111%OS %Ou %OU %OV %Ow %OW %Oy
112are supposed to provide alternate
113representations.
114.Pp
115Additionly %Ef implemented to represent short month name / day
116order of the date, %EF to represent long month name / day
117order
118and %OB to represent alternative months names
119(used standalone, without day mentioned).
120.It Cm %e
121is replaced by the day of month as a decimal number (1-31); single
122digits are preceded by a blank.
123.It Cm \&%G
124is replaced by a year as a decimal number with century.
125This year is the one that contains the greater part of
126the week (Monday as the first day of the week).
127.It Cm %g
128is replaced by the same year as in
129.Dq Li %G ,
130but as a decimal number without century (00-99).
131.It Cm \&%H
132is replaced by the hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number (00-23).
133.It Cm %h
134the same as %b.
135.It Cm \&%I
136is replaced by the hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number (01-12).
137.It Cm %j
138is replaced by the day of the year as a decimal number (001-366).
139.It Cm %k
140is replaced by the hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number (0-23);
141single digits are preceded by a blank.
142.It Cm %l
143is replaced by the hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number (1-12);
144single digits are preceded by a blank.
145.It Cm \&%M
146is replaced by the minute as a decimal number (00-59).
147.It Cm %m
148is replaced by the month as a decimal number (01-12).
149.It Cm %n
150is replaced by a newline.
151.It Cm \&%O*
152the same as %E*.
153.It Cm %p
154is replaced by national representation of either
155"ante meridiem"
156or
157"post meridiem"
158as appropriate.
159.It Cm \&%R
160is equivalent to
161.Dq Li %H:%M .
162.It Cm %r
163is equivalent to
164.Dq Li %I:%M:%S %p .
165.It Cm \&%S
166is replaced by the second as a decimal number (00-60).
167.It Cm %s
168is replaced by the number of seconds since the Epoch, UTC (see
169.Xr mktime 3 ) .
170.It Cm \&%T
171is equivalent to
172.Dq Li %H:%M:%S .
173.It Cm %t
174is replaced by a tab.
175.It Cm \&%U
176is replaced by the week number of the year (Sunday as the first day of
177the week) as a decimal number (00-53).
178.It Cm %u
179is replaced by the weekday (Monday as the first day of the week)
180as a decimal number (1-7).
181.It Cm \&%V
182is replaced by the week number of the year (Monday as the first day of
183the week) as a decimal number (01-53).  If the week containing January
1841 has four or more days in the new year, then it is week 1; otherwise
185it is the last week of the previous year, and the next week is week 1.
186.It Cm %v
187is equivalent to
188.Dq Li %e-%b-%Y .
189.It Cm \&%W
190is replaced by the week number of the year (Monday as the first day of
191the week) as a decimal number (00-53).
192.It Cm %w
193is replaced by the weekday (Sunday as the first day of the week)
194as a decimal number (0-6).
195.It Cm \&%X
196is replaced by national representation of the time.
197.It Cm %x
198is replaced by national representation of the date.
199.It Cm \&%Y
200is replaced by the year with century as a decimal number.
201.It Cm %y
202is replaced by the year without century as a decimal number (00-99).
203.It Cm \&%Z
204is replaced by the time zone name.
205.It Cm %+
206is replaced by national representation of the date and time
207(the format is similar to that produced by
208.Xr date 1 ) .
209.It Cm %%
210is replaced by
211.Ql % .
212.El
213.Sh SEE ALSO
214.Xr date 1 ,
215.Xr printf 1 ,
216.Xr ctime 3 ,
217.Xr printf 3 ,
218.Xr strptime 3
219.Sh STANDARDS
220The
221.Fn strftime
222function
223conforms to
224.St -ansiC
225with a lot of extensions including
226.Ql %C ,
227.Ql %D ,
228.Ql %E* ,
229.Ql %e ,
230.Ql %G ,
231.Ql %g ,
232.Ql %h ,
233.Ql %k ,
234.Ql %l ,
235.Ql %n ,
236.Ql %O* ,
237.Ql \&%R ,
238.Ql %r ,
239.Ql %s ,
240.Ql \&%T ,
241.Ql %t ,
242.Ql %u ,
243.Ql \&%V ,
244.Ql %+ .
245
246The peculiar week number and year in the replacements of
247.Ql %G ,
248.Ql %g
249and
250.Ql \&%V
251are defined in ISO 8601: 1988.
252
253.Sh BUGS
254There is no conversion specification for the phase of the moon.
255