GETTIMEOFDAY(2) GETTIMEOFDAY(2)
NAME
gettimeofday, settimeofday - get/set date and time
SYNOPSIS
#include <<sys/time.h>>
gettimeofday(tp, tzp)
struct timeval *tp;
struct timezone *tzp;
settimeofday(tp, tzp)
struct timeval *tp;
struct timezone *tzp;
DESCRIPTION
Gettimeofday returns the system's notion of the current Greenwich time
and the current time zone. Time returned is expressed relative in sec-
onds and microseconds since midnight January 1, 1970.
The structures pointed to by tp and tzp are defined in <sys/time.h> as:
struct timeval {
u_long tv_sec; /* seconds since Jan. 1, 1970 */
long tv_usec; /* and microseconds */
};
struct timezone {
int tz_minuteswest; /* of Greenwich */
int tz_dsttime; /* type of dst correction to apply */
};
The timezone structure indicates the local time zone (measured in min-
utes of time westward from Greenwich), and a flag that, if nonzero,
indicates that Daylight Saving time applies locally during the appro-
priate part of the year.
Only the super-user may set the time of day.
RETURN
A 0 return value indicates that the call succeeded. A -1 return value
indicates an error occurred, and in this case an error code is stored
into the global variable errno.
ERRORS
The following error codes may be set in errno:
[EFAULT] An argument address referenced invalid memory.
[EPERM] A user other than the super-user attempted to set the
time.
SEE ALSO
date(1), ctime(3)
BUGS
Time is never correct enough to believe the microsecond values. There
should a mechanism by which, at least, local clusters of systems might
synchronize their clocks to millisecond granularity.
4th Berkeley Distribution 27 July 1983 GETTIMEOFDAY(2)
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