Format
#include <time.h>
char *ctime(const time_t *time);
Language Level: ANSI
Threadsafe: No. Use ctime_r() instead.
Locale Sensitive: The behavior of this function might be affected by the LC_TOD category of the current locale. For more information, see Understanding CCSIDs and Locales.
Description
The ctime() function converts the time value pointed to by time to local time in the form of a character string. A time value is usually obtained by a call to the time() function.
The string result that is produced by ctime() contains exactly 26 characters and has the format:
"%.3s %.3s%3d %.2d:%.2d:%.2d %d\n"
For example:
Mon Jul 16 02:03:55 1987\n\0
The ctime() function uses a 24-hour clock format. The days are abbreviated to: Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, and Sat. The months are abbreviated to: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, and Dec. All fields have a constant width. Dates with only one digit are preceded with a zero. The new-line character (\n) and the null character (\0) occupy the last two positions of the string.
Return Value
The ctime() function returns a pointer to the character string result. If the function is unsuccessful, it returns NULL. A call to the ctime() function is equivalent to:
asctime(localtime(&anytime))
Example that uses ctime()
This example polls the system clock using time(). It then prints a message giving the current date and time.
#include <time.h>
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void)
{
time_t ltime;
time(<ime);
printf("the time is %s", ctime(<ime));
}
Related Information