The localtime and localtime_r functions convert the time (in seconds since the Epoch) pointed to by timer into a broken-down time, expressed as a local time, and store it in a tm structure. The difference between the localtime_r and localtime functions is that the former stores the result into a user-specified tm structure. The latter stores the result into thread-specific static memory allocated by the Compaq C RTL, and which is overwritten by subsequent calls to localtime; you must make a copy if you want to save it. On success, localtime returns a pointer to the tm structure; localtime_r returns its second argument. On failure, these functions return the NULL pointer. The tm structure is defined in the <time.h> header file and described in tm Structure. Table REF-4 tm Structure int tm_sec; Seconds after the minute (0-60) int tm_min; Minutes after the hour (0-59) int tm_hour; Hours since midnight (0-23) int tm_mday; Day of the month (1-31) int tm_mon; Months since January (1-11) int tm_year; Years since 1900 int tm_wday; Days since Sunday (0-6) int tm_yday; Days since January 1 (0-365) int tm_isdst; Daylight Savings Time flag o tm_isdst = 0 for Standard Time o tm_isdst = 1 for Daylight Time long tm_gmtoff; Seconds east of Greenwich (negative values indicate seconds west of Greenwich) char *tm_zone; Time zone string, for example "GMT" The type time_t is defined in the <time.h> header file as follows: typedef long int time_t NOTE Generally speaking, UTC-based time functions can affect in- memory time-zone information, which is processwide data. However, if the system time zone remains the same during the execution of the application (which is the common case) and the cache of timezone files is enabled (which is the default), then the _r variant of the time functions asctime_ r, ctime_r, gmtime_r and localtime_r, is both thread-safe and AST-reentrant. If, however, the system time zone can change during the execution of the application or the cache of timezone files is not enabled, then both variants of the UTC-based time functions belong to the third class of functions, which are neither thread-safe nor AST-reentrant.