The TIME subroutine returns the current system time as an ASCII string. The call to TIME takes the following form:
CALL TIME (buf)
The time is returned as an 8-byte ASCII character string having the following form:
hh:mm:ss
The following is an example of a value returned from a call to TIME:
13:45:23
Note that a 24-hour clock is used.
If buf is numeric type and smaller than 8 bytes, data corruption can occur.
If buf is character type, its associated length is passed to the subroutine. If buf is smaller than 8 bytes, the subroutine truncates the date to fit in the specified length. Note that if a CHARACTER array is passed, the subroutine stores the time in the first array element, using the element length-not the length of the entire array. For example, consider the following:
CHARACTER*1 HOUR(8) . . . CALL TIME(HOUR)
The length of the first array element in CHARACTER array HOUR is passed to the TIME subroutine. The subroutine then truncates the time to fit into the one-character element, producing an incorrect result.