time

Synopsis

$time()

Technical

Returns the current system time in whole seconds since the Unix epoch, 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC, by calling time(NULL) on each invocation. It does not use EPIC's cached event-loop time. All arguments are ignored.

The timestamp does not depend on the local timezone. Its accuracy depends on the host's clock; different hosts need not agree. For subsecond resolution, use utime.

Practical

Convert the timestamp to readable local time using stime or strftime. Store a timestamp and subtract it from a later value to calculate elapsed seconds; tdiff can format the difference.

The system clock can move backward or forward when adjusted, so this is not a monotonic elapsed-time clock. The time command instead sends a server request and does not supply this local timestamp.

Returns

A decimal timestamp. The handler returns the system result directly, including -1 if the system call fails; it does not check errors separately. Resolution and representable dates depend on the platform's time_t. There are no options, settings, or server requirements.

Examples

$time()    Might return 850381369.

History

First appeared in ircII.

Source

Handler: source/functions.c. Integer return formatting: include/functions.h.