timestructtime

Timestructtime is a programming concept used to represent a point in time by combining a numeric timestamp with a human-readable calendar decomposition. It is not a formal standard but a pattern found in many systems and libraries to facilitate both machine-friendly storage and human-friendly presentation of time values.

Typically, a timestructtime includes two parts: a unified epoch-based value, such as seconds since the Unix epoch, and a structured record similar to a broken-down time (year, month, day, hour, minute, second). Depending on the implementation, it may also expose auxiliary fields such as day of week, day of year, and a daylight saving time flag. Some variants may store the component data in a separate structure or as an ISO 8601 string for interoperability.

Common operations include converting between the epoch value and the structured components, performing arithmetic (adding or subtracting seconds or durations), and formatting or parsing using locale-aware or ISO formats. Timezone handling is a central concern, as the same epoch value can correspond to different calendar representations in different zones; many implementations provide normalization and DST rules.

Timestructtime is used in logging, scheduling, data exchange, and anywhere both precise machine storage and human readability are needed. It is related to concepts such as time_t, struct_time, and ISO 8601, and is implemented under various names across languages and frameworks.