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1NEWTZSET(3)                Library Functions Manual                NEWTZSET(3)
2
3NAME
4       tzset - initialize time conversion information
5
6SYNOPSIS
7       #include <time.h>
8
9       timezone_t tzalloc(char const *TZ);
10
11       void tzfree(timezone_t tz);
12
13       void tzset(void);
14
15       cc ... -ltz
16
17DESCRIPTION
18       The tzalloc function allocates and returns a timezone object described
19       by TZ.  If TZ is not a valid timezone description, or if the object
20       cannot be allocated, tzalloc returns a null pointer and sets errno.
21
22       The tzfree function frees a timezone object tz, which should have been
23       successfully allocated by tzalloc.  This invalidates any tm_zone
24       pointers that tz was used to set.
25
26       The tzset function acts like tzalloc(getenv("TZ")), except it saves any
27       resulting timezone object into internal storage that is accessed by
28       localtime, localtime_r, and mktime.  The anonymous shared timezone
29       object is freed by the next call to tzset.  If the implied call to
30       tzalloc fails, tzset falls back on Universal Time (UT).
31
32       If TZ is null, the best available approximation to local (wall clock)
33       time, as specified by the tzfile(5)-format file localtime in the system
34       time conversion information directory, is used.  If TZ is the empty
35       string, UT is used, with the abbreviation "UTC" and without leap second
36       correction; please see newctime(3) for more about UT, UTC, and leap
37       seconds.  If TZ is nonnull and nonempty:
38
39              if the value begins with a colon, it is used as a pathname of a
40              file from which to read the time conversion information;
41
42              if the value does not begin with a colon, it is first used as
43              the pathname of a file from which to read the time conversion
44              information, and, if that file cannot be read, is used directly
45              as a specification of the time conversion information.
46
47       When TZ is used as a pathname, if it begins with a slash, it is used as
48       an absolute pathname; otherwise, it is used as a pathname relative to a
49       system time conversion information directory.  The file must be in the
50       format specified in tzfile(5).
51
52       When TZ is used directly as a specification of the time conversion
53       information, it must have the following syntax (spaces inserted for
54       clarity):
55
56              stdoffset[dst[offset][,rule]]
57
58       Where:
59
60              std and dst    Three or more bytes that are the designation for
61                             the standard (std) or the alternative (dst, such
62                             as daylight saving time) time zone.  Only std is
63                             required; if dst is missing, then daylight saving
64                             time does not apply in this locale.  Upper- and
65                             lowercase letters are explicitly allowed.  Any
66                             characters except a leading colon (:), digits,
67                             comma (,), ASCII minus (-), ASCII plus (+), and
68                             NUL bytes are allowed.  Alternatively, a
69                             designation can be surrounded by angle brackets <
70                             and >; in this case, the designation can contain
71                             any characters other than > and NUL.
72
73              offset         Indicates the value one must add to the local
74                             time to arrive at Coordinated Universal Time.
75                             The offset has the form:
76
77                                    hh[:mm[:ss]]
78
79                             The minutes (mm) and seconds (ss) are optional.
80                             The hour (hh) is required and may be a single
81                             digit.  The offset following std is required.  If
82                             no offset follows dst, daylight saving time is
83                             assumed to be one hour ahead of standard time.
84                             One or more digits may be used; the value is
85                             always interpreted as a decimal number.  The hour
86                             must be between zero and 24, and the minutes (and
87                             seconds) - if present - between zero and 59.  If
88                             preceded by a "-", the time zone shall be east of
89                             the Prime Meridian; otherwise it shall be west
90                             (which may be indicated by an optional preceding
91                             "+".
92
93              rule           Indicates when to change to and back from
94                             daylight saving time.  The rule has the form:
95
96                                    date/time,date/time
97
98                             where the first date describes when the change
99                             from standard to daylight saving time occurs and
100                             the second date describes when the change back
101                             happens.  Each time field describes when, in
102                             current local time, the change to the other time
103                             is made.  As an extension to POSIX, daylight
104                             saving is assumed to be in effect all year if it
105                             begins January 1 at 00:00 and ends December 31 at
106                             24:00 plus the difference between daylight saving
107                             and standard time, leaving no room for standard
108                             time in the calendar.
109
110                             The format of date is one of the following:
111
112                             Jn        The Julian day n (1 <= n <= 365).  Leap
113                                       days are not counted; that is, in all
114                                       years - including leap years - February
115                                       28 is day 59 and March 1 is day 60.  It
116                                       is impossible to explicitly refer to
117                                       the occasional February 29.
118
119                             n         The zero-based Julian day
120                                       (0 <= n <= 365).  Leap days are
121                                       counted, and it is possible to refer to
122                                       February 29.
123
124                             Mm.n.d    The d'th day (0 <= d <= 6) of week n of
125                                       month m of the year (1 <= n <= 5,
126                                       1 <= m <= 12, where week 5 means "the
127                                       last d day in month m" which may occur
128                                       in either the fourth or the fifth
129                                       week).  Week 1 is the first week in
130                                       which the d'th day occurs.  Day zero is
131                                       Sunday.
132
133                             The time has the same format as offset except
134                             that POSIX does not allow a leading sign ("-" or
135                             "+").  As an extension to POSIX, the hours part
136                             of time can range from -167 through 167; this
137                             allows for unusual rules such as "the Saturday
138                             before the first Sunday of March".  The default,
139                             if time is not given, is 02:00:00.
140
141       Here are some examples of TZ values that directly specify the timezone;
142       they use some of the extensions to POSIX.
143
144       EST5   stands for US Eastern Standard Time (EST), 5 hours behind UT,
145              without daylight saving.
146
147       <+12>-12<+13>,M11.1.0,M1.2.1/147
148              stands for Fiji time, 12 hours ahead of UT, springing forward on
149              November's first Sunday at 02:00, and falling back on January's
150              second Monday at 147:00 (i.e., 03:00 on the first Sunday on or
151              after January 14).  The abbreviations for standard and daylight
152              saving time are "+12" and "+13".
153
154       IST-2IDT,M3.4.4/26,M10.5.0
155              stands for Israel Standard Time (IST) and Israel Daylight Time
156              (IDT), 2 hours ahead of UT, springing forward on March's fourth
157              Thursday at 26:00 (i.e., 02:00 on the first Friday on or after
158              March 23), and falling back on October's last Sunday at 02:00.
159
160       <-04>4<-03>,J1/0,J365/25
161              stands for permanent daylight saving time, 3 hours behind UT
162              with abbreviation "-03".  There is a dummy fall-back transition
163              on December 31 at 25:00 daylight saving time (i.e., 24:00
164              standard time, equivalent to January 1 at 00:00 standard time),
165              and a simultaneous spring-forward transition on January 1 at
166              00:00 standard time, so daylight saving time is in effect all
167              year and the initial <-04> is a placeholder.
168
169       <-03>3<-02>,M3.5.0/-2,M10.5.0/-1
170              stands for time in western Greenland, 3 hours behind UT, where
171              clocks follow the EU rules of springing forward on March's last
172              Sunday at 01:00 UT (-02:00 local time, i.e., 22:00 the previous
173              day) and falling back on October's last Sunday at 01:00 UT
174              (-01:00 local time, i.e., 23:00 the previous day).  The
175              abbreviations for standard and daylight saving time are "-03"
176              and "-02".
177
178       If no rule is present in TZ, the rules specified by the
179       tzfile(5)-format file posixrules in the system time conversion
180       information directory are used, with the standard and daylight saving
181       time offsets from UT replaced by those specified by the offset values
182       in TZ.
183
184       For compatibility with System V Release 3.1, a semicolon (;) may be
185       used to separate the rule from the rest of the specification.
186
187FILES
188       /usr/share/zoneinfo             timezone information directory
189       /usr/share/zoneinfo/localtime   local timezone file
190       /usr/share/zoneinfo/posixrules  used with POSIX-style TZ's
191       /usr/share/zoneinfo/GMT         for UTC leap seconds
192
193       If /usr/share/zoneinfo/GMT is absent, UTC leap seconds are loaded from
194       /usr/share/zoneinfo/posixrules.
195
196SEE ALSO
197       getenv(3), newctime(3), newstrftime(3), time(2), tzfile(5)
198
199                                                                   NEWTZSET(3)
200