---
name: "rtime"
section: "3"
platform: "freebsd"
package: "base"
version: "16.0-CURRENT-20261027-61c70dc16a79"
release: "FreeBSD 16.0-CURRENT (2026-10-27)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/rtime"
---

# rtime(3)

get remote time

## NAME

**rtime** – get remote time

## LIBRARY

Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

## SYNOPSIS

**#include \<sys/types.h\>**

**#include \<sys/time.h\>**

**#include \<netinet/in.h\>**

*int*\

**rtime**(*struct sockaddr\_in \*addrp*, *struct timeval \*timep*, *struct timeval \*timeout*);

## DESCRIPTION

The **rtime**() function consults the Internet Time Server at the address pointed to by *addrp* and returns the remote time in the *timeval* struct pointed to by *timep*. Normally, the UDP protocol is used when consulting the Time Server. The *timeout* argument specifies how long the routine should wait before giving up when waiting for a reply. If *timeout* is specified as NULL, however, the routine will instead use TCP and block until a reply is received from the time server.

## RETURN VALUES

The **rtime()** function returns the value 0 if successful; otherwise the value -1 is returned and the global variable errno is set to indicate the error.