xref: /freebsd-12.1/lib/libc/sys/gettimeofday.2 (revision dfd2f2d4)
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28.\"     @(#)gettimeofday.2	8.2 (Berkeley) 5/26/95
29.\" $FreeBSD$
30.\"
31.Dd May 26, 1995
32.Dt GETTIMEOFDAY 2
33.Os
34.Sh NAME
35.Nm gettimeofday ,
36.Nm settimeofday
37.Nd get/set date and time
38.Sh LIBRARY
39.Lb libc
40.Sh SYNOPSIS
41.In sys/time.h
42.Ft int
43.Fn gettimeofday "struct timeval *tp" "struct timezone *tzp"
44.Ft int
45.Fn settimeofday "const struct timeval *tp" "const struct timezone *tzp"
46.Sh DESCRIPTION
47.Bf -symbolic
48Note: timezone is no longer used; this information is kept outside
49the kernel.
50.Ef
51.Pp
52The system's notion of the current Greenwich time and the current time
53zone is obtained with the
54.Fn gettimeofday
55system call, and set with the
56.Fn settimeofday
57system call.
58The time is expressed in seconds and microseconds
59since midnight (0 hour), January 1, 1970.
60The resolution of the system
61clock is hardware dependent, and the time may be updated continuously or
62in
63.Dq ticks .
64If
65.Fa tp
66or
67.Fa tzp
68is NULL, the associated time
69information will not be returned or set.
70.Pp
71The structures pointed to by
72.Fa tp
73and
74.Fa tzp
75are defined in
76.In sys/time.h
77as:
78.Bd -literal
79struct timeval {
80	time_t		tv_sec;		/* seconds */
81	suseconds_t	tv_usec;	/* and microseconds */
82};
83
84struct timezone {
85	int	tz_minuteswest; /* minutes west of Greenwich */
86	int	tz_dsttime;	/* type of dst correction */
87};
88.Ed
89.Pp
90The
91.Vt timezone
92structure indicates the local time zone
93(measured in minutes of time westward from Greenwich),
94and a flag that, if nonzero, indicates that
95Daylight Saving time applies locally during
96the appropriate part of the year.
97.Pp
98Only the super-user may set the time of day or time zone.
99If the system is running at securelevel >= 2 (see
100.Xr init 8 ) ,
101the time may only be advanced or retarded by a maximum of one second.
102This limitation is imposed to prevent a malicious super-user
103from setting arbitrary time stamps on files.
104The system time can be adjusted backwards without restriction using the
105.Xr adjtime 2
106system call even when the system is secure.
107.Sh RETURN VALUES
108.Rv -std
109.Sh ERRORS
110The following error codes may be set in
111.Va errno :
112.Bl -tag -width Er
113.It Bq Er EFAULT
114An argument address referenced invalid memory.
115.It Bq Er EPERM
116A user other than the super-user attempted to set the time.
117.El
118.Sh SEE ALSO
119.Xr date 1 ,
120.Xr adjtime 2 ,
121.Xr clock_gettime 2 ,
122.Xr ctime 3 ,
123.Xr timeradd 3 ,
124.Xr clocks 7 ,
125.Xr timed 8
126.Sh HISTORY
127The
128.Fn gettimeofday
129system call appeared in
130.Bx 4.2 .
131