minix/commands/zoneinfo/newctime.3.txt

NAME

     asctime, ctime, difftime, gmtime, localtime, mktime -
     convert date and time to ASCII

SYNOPSIS
     extern char *tzname[2];

     void tzset()

     #include <sys/types.h>

     char *ctime(clock)
     const time_t *clock;

     double difftime(time1, time0)
     time_t time1;
     time_t time0;

     #include <time.h>

     char *asctime(tm)
     const struct tm *tm;

     struct tm *localtime(clock)
     const time_t *clock;

     struct tm *gmtime(clock)
     const time_t *clock;

     time_t mktime(tm)
     struct tm *tm;

     cc ... -ltz

DESCRIPTION
     Ctime converts a long integer, pointed to by clock,
     representing the time in seconds since 00:00:00 UTC, 1970-
     01-01, and returns a pointer to a string of the form
                     Thu Nov 24 18:22:48 1986\n\0
     Years requiring fewer than four characters are padded with
     leading zeroes.  For years longer than four characters, the
     string is of the form
                  Thu Nov 24 18:22:48     81986\n\0
     with five spaces before the year.  These unusual formats are
     designed to make it less likely that older software that
     expects exactly 26 bytes of output will mistakenly output
     misleading values for out-of-range years.

     Localtime and gmtime return pointers to ``tm'' structures,
     described below.  Localtime corrects for the time zone and
     any time zone adjustments (such as Daylight Saving Time in
     the United States).  After filling in the ``tm'' structure,
     localtime sets the tm_isdst'th element of tzname to a
     pointer to an ASCII string that's the time zone abbreviation
     to be used with localtime's return value.

     Gmtime converts to Coordinated Universal Time.

     Asctime converts a time value contained in a ``tm''
     structure to a string, as shown in the above example, and
     returns a pointer to the string.

     Mktime converts the broken-down time, expressed as local
     time, in the structure pointed to by tm into a calendar time
     value with the same encoding as that of the values returned
     by the time function.  The original values of the tm_wday
     and tm_yday components of the structure are ignored, and the
     original values of the other components are not restricted
     to their normal ranges.  (A positive or zero value for
     tm_isdst causes mktime to presume initially that summer time
     (for example, Daylight Saving Time in the U.S.A.)
     respectively, is or is not 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.)  On successful completion, the values of
     the tm_wday and tm_yday components 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.  Mktime returns the
     specified calendar time; If the calendar time cannot be
     represented, it returns -1.

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

     Declarations of all the functions and externals, and the
     ``tm'' structure, are in the <time.h> header file.  The
     structure (of type) struct tm includes 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 tm_zone and tm_gmtoff fields exist, and are filled in,
     only if arrangements to do so were made when the library
     containing these functions was created.  There is no
     guarantee that these fields will continue to exist in this
     form in future releases of this code.

     Tm_isdst is non-zero if summer time is in effect.

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

FILES
     /usr/local/etc/zoneinfo             time zone information
     directory
     /usr/local/etc/zoneinfo/localtime   local time zone file
     /usr/local/etc/zoneinfo/posixrules  used with POSIX-style
     TZ's
     /usr/local/etc/zoneinfo/GMT         for UTC leap seconds

     If /usr/local/etc/zoneinfo/GMT is absent, UTC leap seconds
     are loaded from /usr/local/etc/zoneinfo/posixrules.

SEE ALSO
     getenv(3), newstrftime(3), newtzset(3), time(2), tzfile(5)

NOTES
     The return values point to static data; the data is
     overwritten by each call.  The tm_zone field of a returned
     struct tm points to a static array of characters, which will
     also be overwritten at the next call (and by calls to
     tzset).

     Asctime and ctime behave strangely for years before 1000 or
     after 9999.  The 1989 and 1999 editions of the C Standard
     say that years from -99 through 999 are converted without
     extra spaces, but this conflicts with longstanding tradition
     and with this implementation.  Traditional implementations
     of these two functions are restricted to years in the range
     1900 through 2099.  To avoid this portability mess, new
     programs should use strftime instead.

     Avoid using out-of-range values with mktime when setting up
     lunch with promptness sticklers in Riyadh.