ATOTIME C-3





Copyright (C) 1994-95 Conetic Software Systems, Inc. All names, products, and services mentioned are the trademarks of their respective organizations.



NAME


atotime - convert ASCII to time value

SYNOPSIS


#include 

TIME atotime (sptr)
char *sptr;

DESCRIPTION


Atotime converts a string pointed to by sptr to a TIME value that
is the number of seconds from midnight. Midnight has a value of
1. This format allows comparison of two time values and time
arithmetic.

Atotime first tries to convert sptr with the format returned by
getftime(C-3). If this fails, atotime applies a set of standard
input rules. These rules allow leading blanks or tabs and then a
time value of the form hh[:]mm[:]ss[cycle]. The [:] character can
be any punctuation character or none at all. Minutes, mm, are
required only if seconds, ss, are entered. In addition, the time
cycle, [cycle], can also be entered. If entered, cycle is
compared against the values returned by getfcycle(C-3) case
insensitive . The hours range from 1am to 12am and 1pm to 12pm.
Noon is 12pm, and midnight is 12am. If the time cycle is not
entered, the string sptr is assumed to be in 24 hour time, i.e.,
the hours go from 0 to 23.

SEE ALSO


fcountry(C-3), getftime(C-3), getfcycle(C-3), fatotime(C-3)
C/Base Reference Manual Chapter 13, "Formatting Data Values"

DIAGNOSTICS

If the input string does not contain a valid time formats or if
the string contains an invalid time (such as 02:78:00), a zero
value is returned which is always an invalid TIME value. Atotime
returns a zero value when the seconds, minutes or hours are
invalid.

NOTES


When seconds or minutes are not entered in the standard input
rules, they are assumed to be zero (and valid).