ctime(3)

NAME

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

SYNOPSIS

     #include <sys/types.h>
     #include <time.h>

     void tzset(void)
     char *ctime(const time_t *clock)
     char *asctime(const struct tm *tm)
     struct tm *localtime(const time_t *clock)
     struct tm *gmtime(const time_t *clock)

DESCRIPTION

     Tzset uses the value of the environment variable TZ to set  up  the  time
     conversion information used by localtime.

     If TZ does not appear in the environment, the TZDEFAULT file (as  defined
     in  <tzfile.h>) is used by localtime.  If this file fails for any reason,
     the GMT offset as provided by the kernel is used.  In this case,  DST  is
     ignored,  resulting  in the time being incorrect by some amount if DST is
     currently in effect.  If this fails for any reason, GMT is used.

     If TZ appears in  the  environment  but  its  value  is  a  null  string,
     Greenwich Mean Time is used; if TZ appears and begins with a slash, it is
     used as the absolute pathname of the tzfile(5)-format file from which  to
     read  the  time  conversion  information; if TZ appears and begins with a
     character other than a slash, it's used as a  pathname  relative  to  the
     system  time  conversion  information  directory, defined as TZDIR in the
     include file tzfile.h.  If this file fails for any reason, the GMT offset
     as provided by the kernel is used, as described above.  If this fails for
     any reason, GMT is used.  See TZ(5) for a proper description  of  the  TZ
     variable.

     Ctime converts a time value, pointed to by clock,  such  as  returned  by
     time(2)  into ASCII and returns a pointer to a 26-character string in the
     following form.  All the fields have constant width.

          Sun Sep 16 01:03:52 1973\n\0

     Localtime and gmtime return pointers to structures containing the broken-
     down  time.   Localtime  corrects for the time zone and possible daylight
     savings time; gmtime converts directly to GMT, which  is  the  time  UNIX
     uses.  Asctime converts a broken-down time to ASCII and returns a pointer
     to a 26-character string.

     The structure declaration from the include file is:


          struct tm {
                int tm_sec;    /* 0-59  seconds */
                int tm_min;    /* 0-59  minutes */
                int tm_hour;   /* 0-23  hour */
                int tm_mday;   /* 1-31  day of month */
                int tm_mon;    /* 0-11  month */
                int tm_year;   /* 0-    year - 1900 */
                int tm_wday;   /* 0-6   day of week (Sunday = 0) */
                int tm_yday;   /* 0-365 day of year */
                int tm_isdst;  /* flag: daylight savings time in effect */
                long tm_gmtoff; /* offset from GMT in seconds */
                char **tm_zone; /* abbreviation of timezone name */
          };

     Tm_isdst is non-zero if a time zone adjustment such as  Daylight  Savings
     time is in effect.

     Tm_gmtoff is the offset (in seconds) of the time  represented  from  GMT,
     with positive values indicating East of Greenwich.

FILES

     /usr/lib/zoneinfo    time zone information directory
     /etc/localtime       local time zone file

SEE ALSO

     time(2), getenv(3), tzfile(5), TZ(5), environ(7), zic(8).

NOTE

     The return values point to static data whose content  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).