---
name: "localtime"
section: "5"
platform: "linux"
package: "systemd"
version: "262.1-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/localtime/5"
---

# localtime(5)

Local timezone configuration file

## NAME

localtime - Local timezone configuration file

## SYNOPSIS

/etc/localtime -\> ../usr/share/zoneinfo/...

## DESCRIPTION

The /etc/localtime file configures the system-wide timezone of the local system that is used by applications for presentation to the user. It should be an absolute or relative symbolic link pointing to /usr/share/zoneinfo/, followed by a timezone identifier such as "Europe/Berlin" or "Etc/UTC". The resulting link should lead to the corresponding binary [**tzfile**(5)](/tzfile/5.md) timezone data for the configured timezone.

Because the timezone identifier is extracted from the symlink target name of /etc/localtime, this file may not be a normal file or hardlink.

If /etc/localtime is missing, the default "UTC" timezone is used.

The timezone may be overridden for individual programs by using the *$TZ* environment variable. See [**environ**(7)](/environ/7.md).

You may use [**timedatectl**(1)](/timedatectl/1.md) to change the settings of this file from the command line during runtime. Use [**systemd-firstboot**(1)](/systemd-firstboot/1.md) to initialize the time zone on mounted (but not booted) system images.

## SEE ALSO

[**systemd**(1)](/systemd/1.md), [**tzset**(3)](/tzset/3.md), [**localtime**(3)](/localtime/3.md), [**timedatectl**(1)](/timedatectl/1.md), [**systemd-timedated.service**(8)](/systemd-timedated.service/8.md), [**systemd-firstboot**(1)](/systemd-firstboot/1.md)