STRPTIME Section: Linux Programmer's Manual (3) Updated: 26 September 2025 Index   NAME strptime - convert a string representation of time to a time tm structure   SYNOPSIS #include <time.h> char *strptime(char *buf, const char *format, const struct tm *tm);   DESCRIPTION strptime() is the complementary function to strftime() and converts the character string pointed to by buf to a time value, which is stored in the tm structure pointed to by tm, using the format specified by format. format is a character string that consists of field descriptors and text characters, reminiscent of Each field descriptor consists of a % character followd by another character that specifies the replacement for the field descriptor. All other characters are copied from format into the result. The following field descriptors are supported: %% same as % %a %A day of week, using locale's weekday names; either the abbreviated or full name may be specified %b %B %h month, using locale's month names; either the abbreviated or full name may be specified %c date and time as %x %X %C date and time, in locale's long-format date and time representation %d %e day of month (1-31; leading zeroes are permitted but not required) %D date as %m/%d/%y %H %k hour (0-23; leading zeroes are permitted but not required) %I %l hour (0-12; leading zeroes are permitted but not required) %j day number of year (001-366) %m month number (1-12; leading zeroes are permitted but not required) %M minute (0-59; leading zeroes are permitted but not required) %p locale's equivalent of AM or PM %r time as %I:%M:%S %p %R time as %H:%M %S seconds (0-61; leading zeroes are permitted but not required. Extra second allowed for leap years) %T time as %H:%M:%S %w weekday number (0-6) with Sunday as the first day of the week %x date, using locale's date format %X time, using locale's time format %y year within century (0-99; leading zeroes are permitted but not required. Unfortunately this makes the assumption that we are stuck in the 20th century as 1900 is automatically added onto this number for the tm_year field) %Y year, including century (for example, 1988) Case is ignored when matching items such as month or weekday names. The broken-down time structure tm is defined in <time.h> as follows: struct tm { int tm_sec; /* seconds */ int tm_min; /* minutes */ int tm_hour; /* hours */ int tm_mday; /* day of the month */ int tm_mon; /* month */ int tm_year; /* year */ int tm_wday; /* day of the week */ int tm_yday; /* day in the year */ int tm_isdst; /* daylight saving time */ };   RETURN VALUE The strptime() function returns a pointer to the character following the last character in the string pointed to by buf .   SEE ALSO   BUGS The return values point to static data, whose contents are overwritten by each call.   NOTES This function is only available in libraries newer than version 4.6.5 The function supports only those locales specified in   Index NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION RETURN VALUE SEE ALSO BUGS NOTES This document was created by using the manual pages. Time: 11:58:06 GMT, March 24, 2025