Timestrptime

Timestrptime is a term used to describe a time parsing routine found in various programming libraries that extend or imitate the POSIX strptime function. Its purpose is to convert human-readable time representations into machine time structures, such as struct tm or equivalent, depending on the platform. It is not a part of the C standard or POSIX, and availability and signatures vary by language and library.

Typical behavior and variations: a timestrptime‑like function accepts an input string and a format string describing the expected layout, and writes the parsed components into a time structure. Return values differ among implementations: some return a pointer to the first unconsumed character, others return a boolean success flag, and others return an error code. Timezone handling, fractional seconds, and ISO week or extended calendar components are common extensions. Locales may affect parsing of month names and other language-sensitive elements.

Common interface patterns: in a C‑like environment, a timestrptime‑style function may resemble timestrptime(const char* s, const char* fmt, struct tm* tm_out) with a return value indicating success or a pointer to the next character after the parsed portion. The exact fields populated depend on the format specifiers provided in fmt.

Portability and usage: because timestrptime is not standardized, code relying on it should be written with awareness of platform differences. Developers often convert the resulting tm structure to time_t or other epoch-based representations using functions such as mktime or platform equivalents, and compare times after normalization.

See also strptime, time.h, time_t, tm.