---
name: "time"
section: "3"
platform: "macos"
package: "Libc"
version: "1752.120.2"
release: "macOS 26.5"
platforms: ["freebsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/time/3"
---

# time(3)

get time of day

## NAME

**time** – get time of day

## LIBRARY

Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

## SYNOPSIS

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

*time\_t*\

**time**(*time\_t \*tloc*);

## DESCRIPTION

The **time**() function returns the value of time in seconds since 0 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds, January 1, 1970, Coordinated Universal Time, without including leap seconds. If an error occurs, **time**() returns the value (*time\_t*)-1.

The return value is also stored in \**tloc*, provided that *tloc* is non-null.

## ERRORS

The **time**() function may fail for any of the reasons described in [gettimeofday(2)](/gettimeofday/2.md).

## SEE ALSO

[gettimeofday(2)](/gettimeofday/2.md), [ctime(3)](/ctime/3.md)

## STANDARDS

The **time** function conforms to IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (“POSIX.1”).

## HISTORY

A **time**() function appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.

## BUGS

Neither ISO/IEC 9899:1999 (“ISO C99”) nor IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (“POSIX.1”) requires **time**() to set *errno* on failure; thus, it is impossible for an application to distinguish the valid time value -1 (representing the last UTC second of 1969) from the error return value.

Systems conforming to earlier versions of the C and POSIX standards (including older versions of FreeBSD) did not set \**tloc* in the error case.