---
name: "pmtimevalNow"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "pcp"
version: "7.2.2-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pmtimevalNow"
---

# pmtimevalNow(3)

helper routines for time stored as a struct timeval

## NAME

**pmtimevalNow**, **pmtimevalInc**, **pmtimevalDec**, **pmtimevalAdd**, **pmtimevalSub**, **pmtimevalToReal**, **pmtimevalFromReal**, **pmtimevalTotimespec**, **pmtimevalPrint** - helper routines for time stored as a struct timeval

## C SYNOPSIS

**#include \<pcp/pmapi.h\>**

**void pmtimevalNow(struct timeval \****tv***);**\
 **void pmtimevalInc(struct timeval \****ap***, const struct timeval \****bp***);**\
 **void pmtimevalDec(struct timeval \****ap***, const struct timeval \****bp***);**\
 **double pmtimevalAdd(const struct timeval \****ap***,** **const struct timeval \****bp***);**\
 **double pmtimevalSub(const struct timeval \****ap***,** **const struct timeval \****bp***);**\
 **double pmtimevalToReal(const struct timeval \****val***);**\
 **void pmtimevalFromReal(double** *secs***, struct timeval \****val***);**\
 **void pmtimevalTotimespec(struct timeval \****tvp***, struct timespec \****tsp***);**\
 **void pmtimevalPrint(FILE \****f***, const struct timeval \****tp***);**

**cc ... -lpcp**

## DESCRIPTION

**pmtimevalNow** is a platform-independent method that returns the current system time since the Epoch in *tv*.

**pmtimevalInc** adds the time in *ap* to the time in *bp* and stores the result in *ap*. Similarly **pmtimevalDec** subtracts the time in *bp* from the time in *ap* and stores the result in *ap*.

**pmtimevalAdd** (and **pmtimevalSub**) add (and subtract) times and return the result as a double value. The time in the *ap* argument is not changed.

**pmtimevalToReal** converts the time in *tp* to an equivalent double value. **pmtimevalFromReal** provides the reverse conversion, taking the time in *secs* and returning the equivalent time in *val*.

**pmtimevalTotimespec** converts the struct timeval *tvp* into an equivalent struct timespec *tsp* (modulo rounding microseconds up to nanoseconds).

**pmtimevalPrint** prints the timestamp from *tp* on the stream *f* in the local time (as returned by [**pmLocaltime**(3)](/pmLocaltime/3.md)) in the format HH:MM:SS.XXX.

## NOTES

For variants of these interfaces using nanosecond precision and the timespec structure, refer to [**pmtimespecNow**(3)](/pmtimespecNow/3.md).

## COMPATIBILITY

Prior to PCP 7.0 the routine **pmtimevalPrint** was called **pmPrintStamp**. To support PMAPI transition, the old routine can still be used if applications are recompiled with **-DPMAPI\_VERSION=2**.

**pmPrintStamp** is now deprecated and compile-time support for this routine name will be removed in a future release.

## SEE ALSO

[**gettimeofday**(2)](/gettimeofday/2.md), [**time**(2)](/time/2.md), [**PMAPI**(3)](/PMAPI/3.md), [**pmLocaltime**(3)](/pmLocaltime/3.md) and [**pmtimespecNow**(3)](/pmtimespecNow/3.md).