C Exercises: Convert a time_t object to a textual representation

Last update on August 06 2025 12:54:24 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

3. time_t to Textual Representation

Write a program in C to convert a time_t object to a textual representation.

Sample Solution:

C Code:

#define __STDC_WANT_LIB_EXT1__ 1 // Enable safer C library functions
#include <time.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    time_t result = time(NULL); // Get the current calendar time (in seconds since epoch) and store it in 'result'
    printf("\n%s\n", ctime(&result)); // Print the string representation of the calendar time 'result'

#ifdef __STDC_LIB_EXT1__
    char time_str[26]; // Declare an array of characters to hold the time string with space for null-terminator
    ctime_s(time_str, sizeof time_str, &result); // Safer version of ctime() to prevent buffer overflow
    printf("\n%s\n", time_str); // Print the safer time string 'time_str'
#endif
}

Output:

Thu Aug 03 13:44:49 2017

N.B.: The result may varry for your current system date and time.

Flowchart:

Flowchart: Convert a time_t object to a textual representation

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

Write a C program to convert a time_t object to a formatted string in ISO 8601 standard format.
Write a C program that takes a time_t object and outputs its textual representation including the time zone abbreviation.
Write a C program to convert a time_t object to a textual representation and also display the difference from the current time.
Write a C program to format a time_t object into a human-readable string that includes the full date and time details.

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