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TIME(3) Library Functions Manual TIME(3) NAME time - get time of day LIBRARY Standard C Library (libc, -lc) SYNOPSIS #include <time.h> time_t time(time_t *tloc); DESCRIPTION The time() function returns the value of time in seconds since 0 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds, January 1, 1970, Coordinated Universal Time. A copy of the time value may be saved to the area indicated by the pointer tloc. If tloc is a NULL pointer, no value is stored. Upon successful completion, time() returns the value of time. Otherwise a value of ((time_t) -1) is returned and the global variable errno is set to indicate the error. ERRORS No errors are defined. SEE ALSO gettimeofday(2), ctime(3) STANDARDS The time() function conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-1990 ("POSIX.1"). HISTORY A time() function appeared in Version 2 AT&T UNIX. It returned a 32-bit value measuring sixtieths of a second, leading to rollover every 2.26 years. In Version 6 AT&T UNIX, the precision of time() was changed to seconds, allowing 135.6 years between rollovers. In NetBSD 6.0 the time_t type was changed to be 64 bits wide, including on 32-bit machines, making rollover a concern for the far distant future only. Note however that any code making the incorrect assumption that time_t is the same as long will fail on 32-bit machines in 2038. NetBSD 10.99 November 5, 2011 NetBSD 10.99