FreeBSD Man Pages

difftime(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 *
     ctime(const time_t *clock);

     double
     difftime(time_t time1, time_t time0);

     char *
     asctime(const struct tm *tm);

     struct tm *
     localtime(const time_t *clock);

     struct tm *
     gmtime(const time_t *clock);

     time_t
     mktime(struct tm *tm);

     time_t
     timegm(struct tm *tm);

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

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

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

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

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)).

     The function localtime() converts the time value pointed at by clock, and
     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 vari-
     able (see tzset(3)).  The function localtime() uses tzset(3) to initial-
     time zone adjustment, and 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(), and returns a pointer to a 26-character
     string of the form:

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

     All the fields have constant width.

     The ctime_r() function provides the same functionality as ctime() except
     the caller must provide the output buffer buf to store the result, which
     must be at least 26 characters long.  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 down time in the structure tm
     pointed at by *tm to the form shown in the example above.

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

     The functions mktime() and timegm() convert the broken-down time in the
     structure pointed to by tm into a time value with the same encoding as
     that of the values returned by the time(3) function (that is, seconds
     from the Epoch, UTC).  The mktime() function interprets the input struc-
     ture 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, and the original values of the other components are not
     restricted to their normal ranges, and will be normalized if needed.  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 in
     effect for the specified time, respectively.  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 in the
     <time.h> include file.  The tm structure includes at least the following

	   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 time is in effect.

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

FreeBSD 5.4			January 2, 1999 		   FreeBSD 5.4

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