xref: /minix/lib/libc/time/strftime.3 (revision 84d9c625)
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32.\"     from: @(#)strftime.3	5.12 (Berkeley) 6/29/91
33.\"	$NetBSD: strftime.3,v 1.30 2013/09/20 19:06:54 christos Exp $
34.\"
35.Dd April 14, 2011
36.Dt STRFTIME 3
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm strftime ,
40.Nm strftime_z
41.Nd format date and time
42.Sh LIBRARY
43.Lb libc
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.In time.h
46.Ft size_t
47.Fn strftime "char * restrict buf" "size_t maxsize" "const char * restrict format" "const struct tm * restrict timeptr"
48.Ft size_t
49.Fn strftime_z "const timezone_t tz" "char * restrict buf" "size_t maxsize" "const char * restrict format" "const struct tm * restrict timeptr"
50.Sh DESCRIPTION
51The
52.Fn strftime
53function formats the information from
54.Fa timeptr
55into the buffer
56.Fa buf
57according to the string pointed to by
58.Fa format .
59.Pp
60The
61.Fa format
62string consists of zero or more conversion specifications and
63ordinary characters.
64All ordinary characters are copied directly into the buffer.
65A conversion specification consists of a percent sign
66.Ql %
67and one other character.
68.Pp
69No more than
70.Fa maxsize
71characters will be placed into the array.
72If the total number of resulting characters, including the terminating
73null character, is not more than
74.Fa maxsize ,
75.Fn strftime
76returns the number of characters in the array, not counting the
77terminating null.
78Otherwise, zero is returned and the contents of the array are undefined.
79.Pp
80Each conversion specification is replaced by the characters as
81follows which are then copied into the buffer.
82.Bl -tag -width "xxxx"
83.It Cm \&%A
84is replaced by the locale's full weekday name.
85.It Cm %a
86is replaced by the locale's abbreviated weekday name.
87.It Cm \&%B
88is replaced by the locale's full month name.
89.It Cm \&%b No or Cm \&%h
90is replaced by the locale's abbreviated month name.
91.It Cm \&%C
92is replaced by the century (a year divided by 100 and truncated to an integer)
93as a decimal number [00,99].
94.It Cm \&%c
95is replaced by the locale's appropriate date and time representation.
96.It Cm \&%D
97is replaced by the date in the format
98.Dq Li %m/%d/%y .
99.It Cm \&%d
100is replaced by the day of the month as a decimal number [01,31].
101.It Cm \&%e
102is replaced by the day of month as a decimal number [1,31];
103single digits are preceded by a blank.
104.It Cm \&%F
105is replaced by the date in the format
106.Dq Li %Y-%m-%d
107(the ISO 8601 date format).
108.It Cm \&%G
109is replaced by the ISO 8601 year with century as a decimal number.
110.It Cm \&%g
111is replaced by the ISO 8601 year without century as a decimal number (00-99).
112This is the year that includes the greater part of the week.
113(Monday as the first day of a week).
114See also the
115.Ql \&%V
116conversion specification.
117.It Cm \&%H
118is replaced by the hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number [00,23].
119.It Cm \&%I
120is replaced by the hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number [01,12].
121.It Cm \&%j
122is replaced by the day of the year as a decimal number [001,366].
123.It Cm \&%k
124is replaced by the hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number [0,23];
125single digits are preceded by a blank.
126.It Cm \&%l
127is replaced by the hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number [1,12];
128single digits are preceded by a blank.
129.It Cm \&%M
130is replaced by the minute as a decimal number [00,59].
131.It Cm %m
132is replaced by the month as a decimal number [01,12].
133.It Cm %n
134is replaced by a newline.
135.It Cm %p
136is replaced by the locale's equivalent of either
137.Dq Tn AM
138or
139.Dq Tn PM .
140.It Cm \&%R
141is replaced by the time in the format
142.Dq Li %H:%M .
143.It Cm \&%r
144is replaced by the locale's representation of 12-hour clock time
145using AM/PM notation.
146.It Cm \&%S
147is replaced by the second as a decimal number [00,61].
148The range of
149seconds is (00-61) instead of (00-59) to allow for the periodic occurrence
150of leap seconds and double leap seconds.
151.It Cm %s
152is replaced by the number of seconds since the Epoch (see
153.Xr ctime 3 ) .
154.It Cm \&%T
155is replaced by the time in the format
156.Dq Li %H:%M:%S .
157.It Cm \&%t
158is replaced by a tab.
159.It Cm \&%U
160is replaced by the week number of the year (Sunday as the first day of
161the week) as a decimal number [00,53].
162.It Cm \&%u
163is replaced by the weekday (Monday as the first day of the week)
164as a decimal number [1,7].
165.It Cm \&%V
166is replaced by the week number of the year (Monday as the first day of
167the week) as a decimal number [01,53]. According to ISO 8601 the week
168containing January 1 is week 1 if it has four or more days in the new year,
169otherwise it is week 53 of the previous year, and the next week is week 1.
170The year is given by the
171.Ql \&%G
172conversion specification.
173.It Cm \&%v
174is replaced by the date in the format
175.Dq Li %e-%b-%Y .
176.It Cm \&%W
177is replaced by the week number of the year (Monday as the first day of
178the week) as a decimal number [00,53].
179.It Cm \&%w
180is replaced by the weekday (Sunday as the first day of the week)
181as a decimal number [0,6].
182.It Cm \&%X
183is replaced by the locale's appropriate time representation.
184.It Cm \&%x
185is replaced by the locale's appropriate date representation.
186.It Cm \&%Y
187is replaced by the year with century as a decimal number.
188.It Cm \&%y
189is replaced by the year without century as a decimal number [00,99].
190.It Cm \&%Z
191is replaced by the time zone name.
192.It Cm \&%z
193is replaced by the offset from the Prime Meridian in the format
194+HHMM or -HHMM (ISO 8601) as appropriate, with positive values representing
195locations east of Greenwich, or by the empty string if this is
196not determinable.
197.Dq Li [-]hhmm .
198.It Cm %%
199is replaced by
200.Ql % .
201.El
202.Pp
203The
204.Fn strftime_z
205function is similar to
206.Fn strftime ,
207but it also takes a
208.Ft "const timezone_t"
209.Fa tz
210argument.
211.Sh SEE ALSO
212.Xr date 1 ,
213.Xr printf 1 ,
214.Xr ctime 3 ,
215.Xr printf 3 ,
216.Xr strptime 3 ,
217.Xr tm 3
218.Sh STANDARDS
219The
220.Fn strftime
221function
222conforms to
223.St -isoC-99 .
224The
225.Ql \&%C ,
226.Ql \&%D ,
227.Ql \&%e ,
228.Ql \&%g ,
229.Ql \&%G ,
230.Ql \&%h ,
231.Ql \&%k ,
232.Ql \&%l ,
233.Ql \&%n ,
234.Ql \&%r ,
235.Ql \&%R ,
236.Ql \&%s ,
237.Ql \&%t ,
238.Ql \&%T ,
239.Ql \&%u ,
240.Ql \&%V ,
241and
242.Ql \&%v
243conversion specifications are extensions.
244.Pp
245Use of the ISO 8601 conversions may produce non-intuitive results.
246Week 01 of a year is per definition the first week which has the Thursday
247in this year, which is equivalent to the week which contains the fourth
248day of January.
249In other words, the first week of a new year is the week which has the
250majority of its days in the new year.
251Week 01 might also contain days from the previous year and the week
252before week 01 of a year is the last week (52 or 53) of the previous
253year even if it contains days from the new year.
254A week starts with Monday (day 1) and ends with Sunday (day 7).
255For example, the first week of the year 1997 lasts from
2561996-12-30 to 1997-01-05.
257.Sh BUGS
258There is no conversion specification for the phase of the moon.
259.Pp
260A return value of zero does not necessarily indicate an error.
261If the resulting string is an empty string, the result value is
262zero and it is not possible to distinguish between success and error.
263For example, in many locales
264.Cm \&%p
265yields an empty string.
266This problem can be avoided by inserting an extra space at the
267beginning of the format string and then skipping over it or removing
268it from the result.
269