xref: /freebsd-12.1/lib/libc/sys/gettimeofday.2 (revision 7d0fc2f4)
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32.\"     @(#)gettimeofday.2	8.2 (Berkeley) 5/26/95
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd May 26, 1995
36.Dt GETTIMEOFDAY 2
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm gettimeofday ,
40.Nm settimeofday
41.Nd get/set date and time
42.Sh LIBRARY
43.Lb libc
44.Sh SYNOPSIS
45.In sys/time.h
46.Ft int
47.Fn gettimeofday "struct timeval *tp" "struct timezone *tzp"
48.Ft int
49.Fn settimeofday "const struct timeval *tp" "const struct timezone *tzp"
50.Sh DESCRIPTION
51.Bf -symbolic
52Note: timezone is no longer used; this information is kept outside
53the kernel.
54.Ef
55.Pp
56The system's notion of the current Greenwich time and the current time
57zone is obtained with the
58.Fn gettimeofday
59system call, and set with the
60.Fn settimeofday
61system call.
62The time is expressed in seconds and microseconds
63since midnight (0 hour), January 1, 1970.
64The resolution of the system
65clock is hardware dependent, and the time may be updated continuously or
66in
67.Dq ticks .
68If
69.Fa tp
70or
71.Fa tzp
72is NULL, the associated time
73information will not be returned or set.
74.Pp
75The structures pointed to by
76.Fa tp
77and
78.Fa tzp
79are defined in
80.In sys/time.h
81as:
82.Pp
83.Bd -literal
84struct timeval {
85	long	tv_sec;		/* seconds since Jan. 1, 1970 */
86	long	tv_usec;	/* and microseconds */
87};
88
89struct timezone {
90	int	tz_minuteswest; /* minutes west of Greenwich */
91	int	tz_dsttime;	/* type of dst correction */
92};
93.Ed
94.Pp
95The
96.Vt timezone
97structure indicates the local time zone
98(measured in minutes of time westward from Greenwich),
99and a flag that, if nonzero, indicates that
100Daylight Saving time applies locally during
101the appropriate part of the year.
102.Pp
103Only the super-user may set the time of day or time zone.
104If the system is running at securelevel >= 2 (see
105.Xr init 8 ) ,
106the time may only be advanced or retarded by a maximum of one second.
107This limitation is imposed to prevent a malicious super-user
108from setting arbitrary time stamps on files.
109The system time can be adjusted backwards without restriction using the
110.Xr adjtime 2
111system call even when the system is secure.
112.Sh RETURN VALUES
113.Rv -std
114.Sh ERRORS
115The following error codes may be set in
116.Va errno :
117.Bl -tag -width Er
118.It Bq Er EFAULT
119An argument address referenced invalid memory.
120.It Bq Er EPERM
121A user other than the super-user attempted to set the time.
122.El
123.Sh SEE ALSO
124.Xr date 1 ,
125.Xr adjtime 2 ,
126.Xr clock_gettime 2 ,
127.Xr ctime 3 ,
128.Xr timeradd 3 ,
129.Xr clocks 7 ,
130.Xr timed 8
131.Sh HISTORY
132The
133.Fn gettimeofday
134system call appeared in
135.Bx 4.2 .
136