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NAME

       strptime - date and time conversion

SYNOPSIS

       #include <time.h>

       char *strptime(const char *restrict buf, const char *restrict format,
              struct tm *restrict tm);

DESCRIPTION

       The  strptime()  function shall convert the character string pointed to
       by buf to values which are stored in the tm structure pointed to by tm,
       using the format specified by format.

       The  format  is  composed of zero or more directives. Each directive is
       composed of one of the following: one or  more  white-space  characters
       (as  specified  by isspace()); an ordinary character (neither ’%’ nor a
       white-space character); or a conversion specification.  Each conversion
       specification  is  composed of a ’%’ character followed by a conversion
       character which specifies the  replacement  required.  The  application
       shall  ensure  that  there  is  white-space  or  other non-alphanumeric
       characters between any two  conversion  specifications.  The  following
       conversion specifications are supported:

       %a     The  day  of  the week, using the locale’s weekday names; either
              the abbreviated or full name may be specified.

       %A     Equivalent to %a .

       %b     The  month,  using  the  locale’s  month   names;   either   the
              abbreviated or full name may be specified.

       %B     Equivalent to %b .

       %c     Replaced   by   the   locale’s   appropriate   date   and   time
              representation.

       %C     The century number [00,99]; leading zeros are permitted but  not
              required.

       %d     The  day  of  the month [01,31]; leading zeros are permitted but
              not required.

       %D     The date as %m / %d / %y .

       %e     Equivalent to %d .

       %h     Equivalent to %b .

       %H     The hour (24-hour clock) [00,23]; leading  zeros  are  permitted
              but not required.

       %I     The  hour  (12-hour  clock) [01,12]; leading zeros are permitted
              but not required.

       %j     The  day  number  of  the  year  [001,366];  leading  zeros  are
              permitted but not required.

       %m     The  month  number  [01,12]; leading zeros are permitted but not
              required.

       %M     The  minute  [00,59];  leading  zeros  are  permitted  but   not
              required.

       %n     Any white space.

       %p     The locale’s equivalent of a.m or p.m.

       %r     12-hour clock time using the AM/PM notation if t_fmt_ampm is not
              an empty string in the LC_TIME portion of the current locale; in
              the  POSIX locale, this shall be equivalent to %I : %M : %S %p .

       %R     The time as %H : %M .

       %S     The  seconds  [00,60];  leading  zeros  are  permitted  but  not
              required.

       %t     Any white space.

       %T     The time as %H : %M : %S .

       %U     The  week  number  of  the  year (Sunday as the first day of the
              week) as a decimal number [00,53]; leading zeros  are  permitted
              but not required.

       %w     The  weekday  as  a  decimal  number  [0,6], with 0 representing
              Sunday; leading zeros are permitted but not required.

       %W     The week number of the year (Monday as  the  first  day  of  the
              week)  as  a decimal number [00,53]; leading zeros are permitted
              but not required.

       %x     The date, using the locale’s date format.

       %X     The time, using the locale’s time format.

       %y     The year  within  century.  When  a  century  is  not  otherwise
              specified, values in the range [69,99] shall refer to years 1969
              to 1999 inclusive, and values in the range [00,68]  shall  refer
              to  years  2000  to  2068  inclusive;  leading  zeros  shall  be
              permitted but shall not be required.

       Note:
              It is expected that in a future version of  IEEE Std 1003.1-2001
              the  default  century  inferred from a 2-digit year will change.
              (This would apply to all commands accepting a  2-digit  year  as
              input.)

       %Y     The year, including the century (for example, 1988).

       %%     Replaced by % .

   Modified Conversion Specifiers
       Some  conversion  specifiers  can  be  modified by the E and O modifier
       characters to indicate that  an  alternative  format  or  specification
       should  be  used  rather  than  the one normally used by the unmodified
       conversion specifier. If the alternative format or  specification  does
       not  exist  in  the  current  locale,  the  behavior shall be as if the
       unmodified conversion specification were used.

       %Ec    The   locale’s   alternative   appropriate   date    and    time
              representation.

       %EC    The  name  of the base year (period) in the locale’s alternative
              representation.

       %Ex    The locale’s alternative date representation.

       %EX    The locale’s alternative time representation.

       %Ey    The offset from %EC (year  only)  in  the  locale’s  alternative
              representation.

       %EY    The full alternative year representation.

       %Od    The  day  of  the  month  using the locale’s alternative numeric
              symbols; leading zeros are permitted but not required.

       %Oe    Equivalent to %Od .

       %OH    The hour (24-hour clock) using the locale’s alternative  numeric
              symbols.

       %OI    The  hour (12-hour clock) using the locale’s alternative numeric
              symbols.

       %Om    The month using the locale’s alternative numeric symbols.

       %OM    The minutes using the locale’s alternative numeric symbols.

       %OS    The seconds using the locale’s alternative numeric symbols.

       %OU    The week number of the year (Sunday as  the  first  day  of  the
              week) using the locale’s alternative numeric symbols.

       %Ow    The   number  of  the  weekday  (Sunday=0)  using  the  locale’s
              alternative numeric symbols.

       %OW    The week number of the year (Monday as  the  first  day  of  the
              week) using the locale’s alternative numeric symbols.

       %Oy    The  year  (offset  from  %C  )  using  the locale’s alternative
              numeric symbols.

       A  conversion  specification  composed  of  white-space  characters  is
       executed by scanning input up to the first character that is not white-
       space (which remains unscanned), or until no  more  characters  can  be
       scanned.

       A conversion specification that is an ordinary character is executed by
       scanning the next character from the buffer. If the  character  scanned
       from  the  buffer  differs  from  the one comprising the directive, the
       directive fails, and the differing  and  subsequent  characters  remain
       unscanned.

       A series of conversion specifications composed of %n , %t , white-space
       characters, or any combination is executed by scanning up to the  first
       character  that  is not white space (which remains unscanned), or until
       no more characters can be scanned.

       Any other conversion specification is executed by  scanning  characters
       until  a  character matching the next directive is scanned, or until no
       more characters can  be  scanned.  These  characters,  except  the  one
       matching  the  next  directive,  are then compared to the locale values
       associated with the conversion specifier. If a match is  found,  values
       for   the   appropriate   tm   structure  members  are  set  to  values
       corresponding to the locale information. Case is ignored when  matching
       items  in  buf  such  as  month or weekday names. If no match is found,
       strptime() fails and no more characters are scanned.

RETURN VALUE

       Upon successful completion, strptime() shall return a  pointer  to  the
       character  following  the  last  character  parsed.   Otherwise, a null
       pointer shall be returned.

ERRORS

       No errors are defined.

       The following sections are informative.

EXAMPLES

       None.

APPLICATION USAGE

       Several "equivalent to" formats and the special  processing  of  white-
       space  characters  are  provided  in order to ease the use of identical
       format strings for strftime() and strptime().

       Applications should use %Y (4-digit years) in preference to %y (2-digit
       years).

       It  is  unspecified whether multiple calls to strptime() using the same
       tm structure will update the  current  contents  of  the  structure  or
       overwrite  all  contents  of  the  structure.   Conforming applications
       should make a single call to strptime() with  a  format  and  all  data
       needed to completely specify the date and time being converted.

RATIONALE

       None.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

       The strptime() function is expected to be mandatory in the next version
       of this volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001.

SEE ALSO

       scanf() ,  strftime()  ,  time()  ,  the  Base  Definitions  volume  of
       IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, <time.h>

COPYRIGHT

       Portions  of  this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
       from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
       --  Portable  Operating  System  Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
       Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003  by  the  Institute  of
       Electrical  and  Electronics  Engineers, Inc and The Open Group. In the
       event of any discrepancy between this version and the original IEEE and
       The  Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group Standard
       is the referee document. The original Standard can be  obtained  online
       at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .