curl_getdate(3) 						  libcurl Manual						   curl_getdate(3)

NAME

       curl_getdate - Convert an date in a ASCII string to number of seconds since January 1, 1970

SYNOPSIS

       #include <curl/curl.h>

       time_t curl_getdate(char *datestring, time_t *now");

DESCRIPTION

       This  function returns the number of seconds since January 1st 1970, for the date and time that the datestring parameter specifies. The now
       parameter is there and should hold the current time to allow the datestring to specify relative	dates/times.  Read  further  in  the  date
       string parser section below.

PARSING DATES AND TIMES

       A  "date"  is  a  string,  possibly  empty, containing many items separated by whitespace.  The whitespace may be omitted when no ambiguity
       arises.	The empty string means the beginning of today (i.e., midnight).  Order of the items is immaterial.  A date string may contain many
       flavors of items:

       calendar date items
	       This  can  be specified in a number of different ways. Including 1970-09-17, 70-9-17, 70-09-17, 9/17/72, 24 September 1972, 24 Sept
	       72, 24 Sep 72, Sep 24, 1972, 24-sep-72, 24sep72.  The year can also be omitted, for example: 9/17 or "sep 17".

       time of the day items
	       This string specifies the time on a given day. Syntax supported includes: 18:19:0, 18:19, 6:19pm, 18:19-0500  (for  specifying  the
	       time zone as well).

       time zone items
	       Specifies  international time zone. There are a few acronyms supported, but in general you should instead use the specific realtive
	       time compared to UTC. Supported formats include: -1200, MST, +0100.

       day of the week items
	       Specifies a day of the week. If this is mentioned alone it means that day of the week in the future.

	       Days of the week may be spelled out in full: `Sunday', `Monday', etc or they may be  abbreviated  to  their  first  three  letters,
	       optionally  followed  by  a period.  The special abbreviations `Tues' for `Tuesday', `Wednes' for `Wednesday' and `Thur' or `Thurs'
	       for `Thursday' are also allowed.

	       A number may precede a day of the week item to move forward supplementary weeks.  It is best used in expression	like  `third  mon-
	       day'.   In this context, `last DAY' or `next DAY' is also acceptable; they move one week before or after the day that DAY by itself
	       would represent.

       relative items
	       A relative item adjusts a date (or the current date if none) forward or backward. Example syntax includes: "1 year", "1 year  ago",
	       "2 days", "4 weeks".

	       The  string  `tomorrow'	is  worth one day in the future (equivalent to `day'), the string `yesterday' is worth one day in the past
	       (equivalent to `day ago').

       pure numbers
	       If the decimal number is of the form YYYYMMDD and no other calendar date item appears before it in the date string,  then  YYYY	is
	       read as the year, MM as the month number and DD as the day of the month, for the specified calendar date.

RETURN VALUE

       This function returns zero when it fails to parse the date string. Otherwise it returns the number of seconds as described.

AUTHORS

       Originally written by Steven M. Bellovin <smb@research.att.com> while at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Later tweaked by
       a couple of people on Usenet.  Completely overhauled by Rich $alz <rsalz@bbn.com> and Jim Berets <jberets@bbn.com> in August, 1990.

SEE ALSO


BUGS

       Surely there are some, you tell me!

libcurl 7.0							   5 March 2001 						   curl_getdate(3)