Question

Running dateon my server results in the correct time. But using localtime() in C(++) I’m getting the wrong time.

Running date: Fr 30. Nov 12:15:36 CET 2012

Using localtime(): Fr 30 Nov 2012 11:15:36 CET

What’s wrong here?

OS: Debian 5.0.10

Some code:

struct tm* today;
today = localtime(...);
strftime(timeBuffer,50,myConnection.getMetaData().getDateFormat().c_str(),today);

Answer 1

disclaimer : This answer was written before any mention of strftime was added, and was a gut reaction to the 1 hour difference in the timestamps. Looking back at it now, that 1 hour difference couldn’t have been due to DST (because the dates are not in summer), but is likely showing a UTC timestamp (1 hour difference between UTC and CET).

Unfortunately, the answer was accepted, and so I can’t delete it. Even more unfortunate, is that the question as it stands is not answerable without additional information.

Leaving the original answer here for full transparency, but know that it does not address the question as asked :

The struct tm returned by localtime has a tm_isdst field that indicates whether daylight saving time (DST) is in effect. You need to take that field into account when formatting the time.

Try using asctime to format the time eg. :

puts(asctime(today));