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.Dd October 31, 2004
.Dt PARSE_TIME 3
.Os HEIMDAL
.Sh NAME
.Nm parse_time ,
.Nm print_time_table ,
.Nm unparse_time ,
.Nm unparse_time_approx ,
.Nd parse and unparse time intervals
.Sh LIBRARY
The roken library (libroken, -lroken)
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Fd #include <parse_time.h>
.Ft int
.Fn parse_time "const char *timespec" "const char *def_unit"
.Ft void
.Fn print_time_table "FILE *f"
.Ft size_t
.Fn unparse_time "int seconds" "char *buf" "size_t len"
.Ft size_t
.Fn unparse_time_approx "int seconds" "char *buf" "size_t len"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Fn parse_time
function converts a the period of time specified in
into a number of seconds.
The
.Fa timespec
can be any number of
.Aq number unit
pairs separated by comma and whitespace. The number can be
negative. Number without explicit units are taken as being
.Fa def_unit .
.Pp
The
.Fn unparse_time
and
.Fn unparse_time_approx
does the opposite of
.Fn parse_time ,
that is they take a number of seconds and express that as human
readable string.
.Fa unparse_time
produces an exact time, while
.Fa unparse_time_approx
restricts the result to only include one units.
.Pp
.Fn print_time_table
prints a descriptive list of available units on the passed file
descriptor.
.Pp
The possible units include:
.Bl -tag -width "month" -compact -offset indent
.It Li second , s
.It Li minute , m
.It Li hour , h
.It day
.It week
seven days
.It month
30 days
.It year
365 days
.El
.Pp
Units names can be arbitrarily abbreviated (as long as they are
unique).
.Sh RETURN VALUES
.Fn parse_time
returns the number of seconds that represents the expression in
.Fa timespec
or -1 on error.
.Fn unparse_time
and
.Fn unparse_time_approx
return the number of characters written to
.Fa buf .
if the return value is greater than or equal to the
.Fa len
argument, the string was too short and some of the printed characters
were discarded.
.Sh EXAMPLES
.Bd -literal
#include <stdio.h>
#include <parse_time.h>

int
main(int argc, char **argv)
{
    int i;
    int result;
    char buf[128];
    print_time_table(stdout);
    for (i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
	result = parse_time(argv[i], "second");
	if(result == -1) {
	    fprintf(stderr, "%s: parse error\\n", argv[i]);
	    continue;
	}
	printf("--\\n");
	printf("parse_time = %d\\n", result);
	unparse_time(result, buf, sizeof(buf));
	printf("unparse_time = %s\\n", buf);
	unparse_time_approx(result, buf, sizeof(buf));
	printf("unparse_time_approx = %s\\n", buf);
    }
    return 0;
}
.Ed
.Bd -literal
$ ./a.out "1 minute 30 seconds" "90 s" "1 y -1 s"
1   year = 365 days
1  month = 30 days
1   week = 7 days
1    day = 24 hours
1   hour = 60 minutes
1 minute = 60 seconds
1 second
--
parse_time = 90
unparse_time = 1 minute 30 seconds
unparse_time_approx = 1 minute
--
parse_time = 90
unparse_time = 1 minute 30 seconds
unparse_time_approx = 1 minute
--
parse_time = 31535999
unparse_time = 12 months 4 days 23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds
unparse_time_approx = 12 months
.Ed
.Sh BUGS
Since
.Fn parse_time
returns -1 on error there is no way to parse "minus one second".
Currently "s" at the end of units is ignored. This is a hack for
English plural forms. If these functions are ever localised, this
scheme will have to change.
.\".Sh SEE ALSO
.\".Xr parse_bytes 3
.\".Xr parse_units 3