ftime(3) Library Functions Manual ftime(3)
NAME
ftime - return date and time
LIBRARY
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <sys/timeb.h>
int ftime(struct timeb *tp);
DESCRIPTION
NOTE: This function is no longer provided by the GNU C library. Use
clock_gettime(2) instead.
This function returns the current time as seconds and milliseconds
since the Epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 +0000 (UTC). The time is returned
in tp, which is declared as follows:
struct timeb {
time_t time;
unsigned short millitm;
short timezone;
short dstflag;
};
Here time is the number of seconds since the Epoch, and millitm is the
number of milliseconds since time seconds since the Epoch. The time-
zone field is the local timezone measured in minutes of time west of
Greenwich (with a negative value indicating minutes east of Greenwich).
The dstflag field is a flag that, if nonzero, indicates that Daylight
Saving time applies locally during the appropriate part of the year.
POSIX.1-2001 says that the contents of the timezone and dstflag fields
are unspecified; avoid relying on them.
RETURN VALUE
This function always returns 0. (POSIX.1-2001 specifies, and some sys-
tems document, a -1 error return.)
VERSIONS
Starting with glibc 2.33, the ftime() function and the <sys/timeb.h>
header have been removed. To support old binaries, glibc continues to
provide a compatibility symbol for applications linked against glibc
2.32 and earlier.
ATTRIBUTES
For an explanation of the terms used in this section, see at-
tributes(7).
┌────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┬─────────┐
│Interface │ Attribute │ Value │
├────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┼─────────┤
│ftime() │ Thread safety │ MT-Safe │
└────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┴─────────┘
STANDARDS
4.2BSD, POSIX.1-2001. POSIX.1-2008 removes the specification of
ftime().
This function is obsolete. Don't use it. If the time in seconds suf-
fices, time(2) can be used; gettimeofday(2) gives microseconds;
clock_gettime(2) gives nanoseconds but is not as widely available.
BUGS
Early glibc2 is buggy and returns 0 in the millitm field; glibc 2.1.1
is correct again.
SEE ALSO
gettimeofday(2), time(2)
Linux man-pages 6.03 2022-12-15 ftime(3)
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