time


function
<ctime> 
time_t time ( time_t * timer );

Get current time

Get the current calendar time as a time_t object.

The function returns this value, and if the argument is not a null pointer, the value is also set to the object pointed by timer.

Parameters

timer
Pointer to an object of type time_t, where the time value is stored.
Alternativelly, this parameter can be a null pointer, in which case the parameter is not used, but a time_t object is still returned by the function.


Return Value

The current calendar time as a time_t object.

If the argument is not a null pointer, the return value is the same as the one stored in the location pointed by the argument.

If the function could not retrieve the calendar time, it returns a -1 value.

Example

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/* time example */
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>

int main ()
{
  time_t seconds;

  seconds = time (NULL);
  printf ("%ld hours since January 1, 1970", seconds/3600);
  
  return 0;
}


Possible output:

266344 hours since January 1, 1970


See also

asctime Convert tm structure to string (function)
gmtime Convert time_t to tm as UTC time (function)
localtime Convert time_t to tm as local time (function)