1TZFILE(5) Linux Programmer's Manual TZFILE(5)
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6 tzfile - timezone information
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9 The timezone information files used by tzset(3) are typically found
10 under a directory with a name like /usr/share/zoneinfo. These files
11 begin with a 44-byte header containing the following fields:
12 * The magic four-byte ASCII sequence “TZif” identifies the file as a
14 timezone information file.
15 * A byte identifying the version of the file's format (as of 2017,
17 either an ASCII NUL, or “2”, or “3”).
18 * Fifteen bytes containing zeros reserved for future use.
20 * Six four-byte integer values written in a standard byte order (the
22 high-order byte of the value is written first). These values are, in
23 order:
24 tzh_ttisgmtcnt
26 The number of UT/local indicators stored in the file.
27 tzh_ttisstdcnt
29 The number of standard/wall indicators stored in the file.
30 tzh_leapcnt
32 The number of leap seconds for which data entries are stored
33 in the file.
34 tzh_timecnt
36 The number of transition times for which data entries are
37 stored in the file.
38 tzh_typecnt
40 The number of local time types for which data entries are
41 stored in the file (must not be zero).
42 tzh_charcnt
44 The number of bytes of time zone abbreviation strings stored
45 in the file.
46 The above header is followed by the following fields, whose lengths
48 depend on the contents of the header:
49 * tzh_timecnt four-byte signed integer values sorted in ascending
51 order. These values are written in standard byte order. Each is
52 used as a transition time (as returned by time(2)) at which the rules
53 for computing local time change.
54 * tzh_timecnt one-byte unsigned integer values; each one but the last
56 tells which of the different types of local time types described in
57 the file is associated with the time period starting with the same-
58 indexed transition time and continuing up to but not including the
59 next transition time. (The last time type is present only for con‐
60 sistency checking with the POSIX-style TZ string described below.)
61 These values serve as indices into the next field.
62 * tzh_typecnt ttinfo entries, each defined as follows:
64 struct ttinfo {
66 int32_t tt_gmtoff;
67 unsigned char tt_isdst;
68 unsigned char tt_abbrind;
69 };
70 Each structure is written as a four-byte signed integer value for
72 tt_gmtoff, in a standard byte order, followed by a one-byte value for
73 tt_isdst and a one-byte value for tt_abbrind. In each structure,
74 tt_gmtoff gives the number of seconds to be added to UT, tt_isdst
75 tells whether tm_isdst should be set by localtime(3) and tt_abbrind
76 serves as an index into the array of time zone abbreviation bytes
77 that follow the ttinfo structure(s) in the file.
78 * tzh_leapcnt pairs of four-byte values, written in standard byte
80 order; the first value of each pair gives the nonnegative time (as
81 returned by time(2)) at which a leap second occurs; the second gives
82 the total number of leap seconds to be applied during the time period
83 starting at the given time. The pairs of values are sorted in
84 ascending order by time. Each transition is for one leap second,
85 either positive or negative; transitions always separated by at least
86 28 days minus 1 second.
87 * tzh_ttisstdcnt standard/wall indicators, each stored as a one-byte
89 value; they tell whether the transition times associated with local
90 time types were specified as standard time or wall clock time, and
91 are used when a timezone file is used in handling POSIX-style time‐
92 zone environment variables.
93 * tzh_ttisgmtcnt UT/local indicators, each stored as a one-byte value;
95 they tell whether the transition times associated with local time
96 types were specified as UT or local time, and are used when a time‐
97 zone file is used in handling POSIX-style timezone environment vari‐
98 ables.
99 The localtime(3) function uses the first standard-time ttinfo structure
101 in the file (or simply the first ttinfo structure in the absence of a
102 standard-time structure) if either tzh_timecnt is zero or the time
103 argument is less than the first transition time recorded in the file.
104 Version 2 format
106 For version-2-format timezone files, the above header and data are fol‐
107 lowed by a second header and data, identical in format except that
108 eight bytes are used for each transition time or leap second time.
109 (Leap second counts remain four bytes.) After the second header and
110 data comes a newline-enclosed, POSIX-TZ-environment-variable-style
111 string for use in handling instants after the last transition time
112 stored in the file or for all instants if the file has no transitions.
113 The POSIX-style TZ string is empty (i.e., nothing between the newlines)
114 if there is no POSIX representation for such instants. If nonempty,
115 the POSIX-style TZ string must agree with the local time type after the
116 last transition time if present in the eight-byte data; for example,
117 given the string “WET0WEST,M3.5.0,M10.5.0/3” then if a last transition
118 time is in July, the transition's local time type must specify a day‐
119 light-saving time abbreviated “WEST” that is one hour east of UT.
120 Also, if there is at least one transition, time type 0 is associated
121 with the time period from the indefinite past up to but not including
122 the earliest transition time.
123 Version 3 format
125 For version-3-format timezone files, the POSIX-TZ-style string may use
126 two minor extensions to the POSIX TZ format, as described in
127 newtzset(3). First, the hours part of its transition times may be
128 signed and range from -167 through 167 instead of the POSIX-required
129 unsigned values from 0 through 24. Second, DST is in effect all year
130 if it starts January 1 at 00:00 and ends December 31 at 24:00 plus the
131 difference between daylight saving and standard time.
132 Future changes to the format may append more data.
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136 time(2), localtime(3), tzset(3), tzselect(8), zdump(8), zic(8)
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139 This page is part of release 5.04 of the Linux man-pages project. A
140 description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
141 latest version of this page, can be found at
142 https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
143 2019-03-06 TZFILE(5)