_ftime, _ftime32, _ftime64

Get the current time. More secure versions of these functions are available; see _ftime_s, _ftime32_s, _ftime64_s.

Syntax

void _ftime( struct _timeb *timeptr );
void _ftime32( struct __timeb32 *timeptr );
void _ftime64( struct __timeb64 *timeptr );

Parameters

timeptr
Pointer to a _timeb, __timeb32, or __timeb64 structure.

Remarks

The _ftime function gets the current local time and stores it in the structure pointed to by timeptr. The _timeb, __timeb32, and __timeb64 structures are defined in <sys\timeb.h>. They contain four fields, which are listed in the following table.

Field	Description
dstflag	Nonzero if daylight savings time is currently in effect for the local time zone. (See _tzset for an explanation of how daylight savings time is determined.)
millitm	Fraction of a second in milliseconds.
time	Time in seconds since midnight (00:00:00), January 1, 1970, coordinated universal time (UTC).
timezone	Difference in minutes, moving westward, between UTC and local time. The value of timezone is set from the value of the global variable _timezone (see _tzset).

The _ftime64 function, which uses the __timeb64 structure, allows file-creation dates to be expressed up through 23:59:59, December 31, 3000, UTC; whereas _ftime32 only represents dates through 23:59:59 January 18, 2038, UTC. Midnight, January 1, 1970, is the lower bound of the date range for all these functions.

The _ftime function is equivalent to _ftime64, and _timeb contains a 64-bit time unless _USE_32BIT_TIME_T is defined, in which case the old behavior is in effect; _ftime uses a 32-bit time and _timeb contains a 32-bit time.

_ftime validates its parameters. If passed a null pointer as timeptr, the function invokes the invalid parameter handler, as described in Parameter validation. If execution is allowed to continue, the function sets errno to EINVAL.

By default, this function's global state is scoped to the application. To change this behavior, see Global state in the CRT.

Requirements

Function	Required header
_ftime	<sys/types.h> and <sys/timeb.h>
_ftime32	<sys/types.h> and <sys/timeb.h>
_ftime64	<sys/types.h> and <sys/timeb.h>

For more compatibility information, see Compatibility.

Example

// crt_ftime.c
// compile with: /W3
// This program uses _ftime to obtain the current
// time and then stores this time in timebuffer.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/timeb.h>
#include <time.h>

int main( void )
{
   struct _timeb timebuffer;
   char timeline[26];
   errno_t err;
   time_t time1;
   unsigned short millitm1;
   short timezone1;
   short dstflag1;

   _ftime( &timebuffer ); // C4996
   // Note: _ftime is deprecated; consider using _ftime_s instead

   time1 = timebuffer.time;
   millitm1 = timebuffer.millitm;
   timezone1 = timebuffer.timezone;
   dstflag1 = timebuffer.dstflag;

   printf( "Seconds since midnight, January 1, 1970 (UTC): %I64d\n",
   time1);
   printf( "Milliseconds: %d\n", millitm1);
   printf( "Minutes between UTC and local time: %d\n", timezone1);
   printf( "Daylight savings time flag (1 means Daylight time is in "
           "effect): %d\n", dstflag1);

   err = ctime_s( timeline, 26, & ( timebuffer.time ) );
   if (err)
   {
       printf("Invalid argument to ctime_s. ");
   }
   printf( "The time is %.19s.%hu %s", timeline, timebuffer.millitm,
           &timeline[20] );
}

Seconds since midnight, January 1, 1970 (UTC): 1051553334
Milliseconds: 230
Minutes between UTC and local time: 480
Daylight savings time flag (1 means Daylight time is in effect): 1
The time is Mon Apr 28 11:08:54.230 2003

See also

Time management
asctime, _wasctime
ctime, _ctime32, _ctime64, _wctime, _wctime32, _wctime64
gmtime, _gmtime32, _gmtime64
localtime, _localtime32, _localtime64
time, _time32, _time64