C++ RFC3339 timestamp with milliseconds using std::chrono - c++

I'm creating an RFC3339 timestamp, including milliseconds and in UTC, in C++ using std::chrono like so:
#include <chrono>
#include <ctime>
#include <iomanip>
using namespace std;
using namespace std::chrono;
string now_rfc3339() {
const auto now = system_clock::now();
const auto millis = duration_cast<milliseconds>(now.time_since_epoch()).count() % 1000;
const auto c_now = system_clock::to_time_t(now);
stringstream ss;
ss << put_time(gmtime(&c_now), "%FT%T") <<
'.' << setfill('0') << setw(3) << millis << 'Z';
return ss.str();
}
// output like 2019-01-23T10:18:32.079Z
(forgive the usings)
Is there a more straight forward way of getting the milliseconds of now? It seems somewhat cumbersome to %1000 the now in milliseconds to get there. Or any other comments on how to do this more idiomatic?

You could also do this with subtraction:
string
now_rfc3339()
{
const auto now_ms = time_point_cast<milliseconds>(system_clock::now());
const auto now_s = time_point_cast<seconds>(now_ms);
const auto millis = now_ms - now_s;
const auto c_now = system_clock::to_time_t(now_s);
stringstream ss;
ss << put_time(gmtime(&c_now), "%FT%T")
<< '.' << setfill('0') << setw(3) << millis.count() << 'Z';
return ss.str();
}
This avoids the "magic number" 1000.
Also, there is Howard Hinnant's free, open source, single-header, header-only datetime library:
string
now_rfc3339()
{
return date::format("%FT%TZ", time_point_cast<milliseconds>(system_clock::now()));
}
This does the same thing but with easier syntax.

Related

Advice on converting timestamp string in "HH:MM:SS.microseconds" format

I'm given a list of timestamps (suppose we have a ready-made std::vector<std::string>) in a string format of a kind std::vector<std::string> = {"12:27:37.740002", "19:37:17.314002", "20:00:07.140902",...}. No dates, no timezones. What would be a preferable way to parse these strings to some kind of C++ type (std::chrono::time_point ?) to be able to perform some comparisons and sorting later.
For example: compare value, which was parsed from "20:00:07.140902" and value, was parsed from "20:00:07.000000".
C++17 is ok, but I can't use any third-party library (Boost, Date etc).
Keeping microseconds precision essential.
You can build this functionality completly with C++ standard library functionality.
For parsing the string use std::regex.
For time related datatypes use std::chrono
Example :
#include <stdexcept>
#include <regex>
#include <chrono>
#include <iostream>
auto parse_to_timepoint(const std::string& input)
{
// setup a regular expression to parse the input string
// https://regex101.com/
// each part between () is a group and will end up in the match
// [0-2] will match any character from 0 to 2 etc..
// [0-9]{6} will match exactly 6 digits
static const std::regex rx{ "([0-2][0-9]):([0-5][0-9]):([0-5][0-9])\\.([0-9]{6})" };
std::smatch match;
if (!std::regex_search(input, match, rx))
{
throw std::invalid_argument("input string is not a valid time string");
}
// convert each matched group to the corresponding value
// note match[0] is the complete matched string by the regular expression
// we only need the groups which start at index 1
const auto& hours = std::stoul(match[1]);
const auto& minutes = std::stoul(match[2]);
const auto& seconds = std::stoul(match[3]);
const auto& microseconds = std::stoul(match[4]);
// build up a duration
std::chrono::high_resolution_clock::duration duration{};
duration += std::chrono::hours(hours);
duration += std::chrono::minutes(minutes);
duration += std::chrono::seconds(seconds);
duration += std::chrono::microseconds(microseconds);
// then return a time_point (note this will not help you with correctly handling day boundaries)
// since there is no date in the input string
return std::chrono::high_resolution_clock::time_point{ duration };
}
int main()
{
std::string input1{ "20:00:07.140902" };
std::string input2{ "20:00:07.000000" };
auto tp1 = parse_to_timepoint(input1);
auto tp2 = parse_to_timepoint(input2);
std::cout << "start time = " << ((tp1 < tp2) ? input1 : input2) << "\n";
std::cout << "end time = " << ((tp1 >= tp2) ? input1 : input2) << "\n";
return 0;
}
I don't see why this shouldn't work. Using std::chrono::from_stream to parse the string into a time point, then just compare the two time points.
However, I've been trying it now with Visual Studio 2022 17.0.2 (Community Edition) and it fails to parse the string into a tp.
There is this answer from Ted Lyngmo's talking about a bug (fixed in VS2022 17.0.3) when parsing seconds with subseconds. I have to say though that his solution didn't work for me either in my VS2022.
Anyway, you may want to give it a try.
#include <chrono>
#include <iomanip> // boolalpha
#include <iostream> // cout
#include <sstream> // istringstream
#include <string>
auto parse_string_to_tp(const std::string& str)
{
std::istringstream iss{ str };
std::chrono::sys_time<std::chrono::microseconds> tp{};
std::chrono::from_stream(iss, "%H:%M:%S", tp); // or simply "%T"
return tp;
}
int main()
{
const std::string str1{ "12:27:37.740002" };
const std::string str2{ "13:00:00.500000" };
auto tp1{ parse_string_to_tp(str1) };
auto tp2{ parse_string_to_tp(str2) };
std::cout << "tp1 < tp2: " << std::boolalpha << (tp1 < tp2) << "\n";
std::cout << "tp2 < tp1: " << std::boolalpha << (tp2 < tp1) << "\n";
}
EDIT: it works if you just use durations instead of time points:
#include <chrono>
#include <iomanip> // boolalpha
#include <iostream> // cout
#include <sstream> // istringstream
#include <string>
auto parse_string_to_duration(const std::string& str)
{
std::istringstream iss{ str };
std::chrono::microseconds d{};
std::chrono::from_stream(iss, "%T", d);
return d;
}
int main()
{
const std::string str1{ "12:27:37.740002" };
const std::string str2{ "23:39:48.500000" };
auto d1{ parse_string_to_duration(str1) };
auto d2{ parse_string_to_duration(str2) };
std::cout << "d1 < d2: " << std::boolalpha << (d1 < d2) << "\n";
std::cout << "d2 < d1: " << std::boolalpha << (d2 < d1) << "\n";
}

Date and Time with high precision in Windows using C++

I am new to C++ programming in Windows environment.
I want to get the current system date and time in the below format:
DD-MM-YYYY HH:MM:SS.Milliseconds using Windows C++ API.I need to capture is up to microseconds. Could you please share a sample code on how to achieve this in Windows.
Using the draft C++20 spec:
#include <chrono>
#include <iostream>
int
main()
{
using namespace std;
using namespace std::chrono;
cout << format("%d-%m-%Y %T", floor<microseconds>(system_clock::now())) << '\n';
}
Currently VS does not implement this, but you can get a preview by using Howard Hinnant's date/time library. Just include it and add a using directive:
#include "date/date.h"
#include <chrono>
#include <iostream>
int
main()
{
using namespace date;
using namespace std;
using namespace std::chrono;
cout << format("%d-%m-%Y %T", floor<microseconds>(system_clock::now())) << '\n';
}
As you asked for "system time", this delivers a UTC time stamp, as that is what your system time measures. If you instead want local time, that is also available, but requires some installation.
Sample output:
29-11-2018 14:45:03.679098
I recommend to use std::chrono library. Look at this example:
#include <chrono>
#include <ctime>
#include <sstream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <string>
std::string current_datetime()
{
using namespace std::chrono;
// get current time
auto now = high_resolution_clock::now();
// get duration in milliseconds
auto msec = duration_cast<milliseconds>(now.time_since_epoch()).count();
msec %= 1000;
// get printable result:
auto now_time_t = high_resolution_clock::to_time_t(now);
std::stringstream ss;
ss << std::put_time(std::gmtime(&now_time_t), "%d-%m-%Y %X:") << msec;
return ss.str();
}
int main()
{
for(auto i = 0U;i < 1000;i++)
std::cout << current_datetime() << std::endl;
}
Also it's possible to get microseconds:
auto mksec = duration_cast<microseconds>(now.time_since_epoch()).count();
mksec %= 1000;
If you need WinAPI-specific version that's it:
std::string current_datetime2()
{
FILETIME ft;
GetSystemTimeAsFileTime(&ft);
unsigned long long mks = static_cast<unsigned long long>(ft.dwHighDateTime) << 32 | ft.dwLowDateTime;
mks /= 10; // interval in microsecond
mks %= 1000;
SYSTEMTIME st;
FileTimeToSystemTime(&ft, &st);
std::stringstream ss;
ss << st.wDay << "-" << st.wMonth << "-" << st.wYear << " " <<
st.wHour << ":" << st.wMinute << ":" << st.wSecond << ":" << st.wMilliseconds << ":" << mks << std::endl;
return ss.str();
}
or another very simple WinAPI-version, but without microseconds:
std::string current_datetime3()
{
SYSTEMTIME st;
GetSystemTime(&st);
std::stringstream ss;
ss << st.wDay << "-" << st.wMonth << "-" << st.wYear << " " <<
st.wHour << ":" << st.wMinute << ":" << st.wSecond << ":" << st.wMilliseconds;
return ss.str();
}
on windows platform:
SYSTEMTIME st;
GetLocalTime(&st);
TCHAR buf[128];
_stprintf_s(buf, _ARRAYSIZE(buf),
_T("%04u-%02u%-%02u %02u:%02u:%02u.%03u"),
st.wYear, st.wMonth, st.wDay,
st.wHour, st.wMinute, st.wSecond, st.wMilliseconds);
will fulfill most cases. If you want to get more accurate timespan, use
QueryPerformanceFrequency,
QueryPerformanceCounter;

Parse RFC3339/ISO 8601 timestamp in Boost

How do I parse a RFC3339 timestamp ("1985-04-12T23:20:50.52Z") (i.e. a subset of ISO8601) in C++03? I'm using Boost, but none of the Boost datetime libraries seem to include a function to do this.
The type of the actual time object doesn't matter, as long as I can easily compare it to 'now'. I only care about timestamps in the UTC timezone.
Have limitation of parsing timezone.
#include <sstream>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <iomanip>
int main() {
std::tm t = {};
std::string s = "2016-01-02T15:04:05+09:00";
int tz_offset = 0;
auto pos = s.find_last_of("+-Z");
if (pos != s.npos) {
std::string zone = s.substr(pos);
tz_offset = std::atoi(zone.c_str());
s.resize(pos);
}
std::stringstream ss(s);
ss >> std::get_time(&t, "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S");
if (ss.fail()) {
std::cout << "Parse failed\n";
} else {
std::time_t l = std::mktime(&t);
std::tm tm_utc(*std::gmtime(&l));
std::time_t utc = std::mktime(&tm_utc);
tz_offset += (utc - l);
l = std::mktime(&t) - tz_offset;
t = *std::gmtime(&l);
std::cout << std::put_time(&t, "%c") << std::endl;
}
}
Without using Boost, just strptime you can.
Assuming the same _adaptive_parser_ helper posted here: Using boost parse datetime string: With single digit hour format
Note: the samples taken from the RFC link
#include "adaptive_parser.h"
#include <string>
#include <iostream>
int main() {
using namespace mylib::datetime;
adaptive_parser parser;
for (std::string const input : {
"1985-04-12T23:20:50.52Z",
"1996-12-19T16:39:57-08:00",
"1990-12-31T23:59:60Z",
"1990-12-31T15:59:60-08:00",
"1937-01-01T12:00:27.87+00:20",
})
try {
std::cout << "Parsing '" << input << "'\n";
std::cout << " -> epoch " << parser(input).count() << "\n";
} catch(std::exception const& e) {
std::cout << "Exception: " << e.what() << "\n";
}
}
Prints
Parsing '1985-04-12T23:20:50.52Z'
-> epoch 482196050
Parsing '1996-12-19T16:39:57-08:00'
-> epoch 851042397
Parsing '1990-12-31T23:59:60Z'
-> epoch 662688000
Parsing '1990-12-31T15:59:60-08:00'
-> epoch 662688000
Parsing '1937-01-01T12:00:27.87+00:20'
-> epoch -1041335973
Of course, you can limit the number of accepted patterns for the subset you require.

Timestamps for embedded system

I would like to add timestamps to sensor measurements on an embedded system (Raspberry Pi A+ running ArchLinux). I've found time from time.h but it gives me "second" resolution and I would need at least "milliseconds".
The system would run for a few hours, I'm not concerned about long duration drifts.
How could I get that in C++?
If you have C++11 you can use the <chrono> and <ctime> library like this:
#include <ctime>
#include <string>
#include <chrono>
#include <sstream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <iostream>
// use strftime to format time_t into a "date time"
std::string date_time(std::time_t posix)
{
char buf[20]; // big enough for 2015-07-08 10:06:51\0
std::tm tp = *std::localtime(&posix);
return {buf, std::strftime(buf, sizeof(buf), "%F %T", &tp)};
}
std::string stamp()
{
using namespace std;
using namespace std::chrono;
// get absolute wall time
auto now = system_clock::now();
// find the number of milliseconds
auto ms = duration_cast<milliseconds>(now.time_since_epoch()) % 1000;
// build output string
std::ostringstream oss;
oss.fill('0');
// convert absolute time to time_t seconds
// and convert to "date time"
oss << date_time(system_clock::to_time_t(now));
oss << '.' << setw(3) << ms.count();
return oss.str();
}
int main()
{
std::cout << stamp() << '\n';
}
Output:
2015-07-08 10:13:29.930
Note:
If you want higher resolution you can use microseconds like this:
std::string stamp()
{
using namespace std;
using namespace std::chrono;
auto now = system_clock::now();
// use microseconds % 1000000 now
auto us = duration_cast<microseconds>(now.time_since_epoch()) % 1000000;
std::ostringstream oss;
oss.fill('0');
oss << date_time(system_clock::to_time_t(now));
oss << '.' << setw(6) << us.count();
return oss.str();
}
Output:
2015-07-08 10:20:39.454163
There are a bunch of features available in C++11 chrono header file, please refer this given link

How to convert std::chrono::time_point to calendar datetime string with fractional seconds?

How to convert std::chrono::time_point to calendar datetime string with fractional seconds?
For example:
"10-10-2012 12:38:40.123456"
If system_clock, this class have time_t conversion.
#include <iostream>
#include <chrono>
#include <ctime>
using namespace std::chrono;
int main()
{
system_clock::time_point p = system_clock::now();
std::time_t t = system_clock::to_time_t(p);
std::cout << std::ctime(&t) << std::endl; // for example : Tue Sep 27 14:21:13 2011
}
example result:
Thu Oct 11 19:10:24 2012
EDIT:
But, time_t does not contain fractional seconds.
Alternative way is to use time_point::time_since_epoch() function. This function returns duration from epoch.
Follow example is milli second resolution's fractional.
#include <iostream>
#include <chrono>
#include <ctime>
using namespace std::chrono;
int main()
{
high_resolution_clock::time_point p = high_resolution_clock::now();
milliseconds ms = duration_cast<milliseconds>(p.time_since_epoch());
seconds s = duration_cast<seconds>(ms);
std::time_t t = s.count();
std::size_t fractional_seconds = ms.count() % 1000;
std::cout << std::ctime(&t) << std::endl;
std::cout << fractional_seconds << std::endl;
}
example result:
Thu Oct 11 19:10:24 2012
925
Self-explanatory code follows which first creates a std::tm corresponding to 10-10-2012 12:38:40, converts that to a std::chrono::system_clock::time_point, adds 0.123456 seconds, and then prints that out by converting back to a std::tm. How to handle the fractional seconds is in the very last step.
#include <iostream>
#include <chrono>
#include <ctime>
int main()
{
// Create 10-10-2012 12:38:40 UTC as a std::tm
std::tm tm = {0};
tm.tm_sec = 40;
tm.tm_min = 38;
tm.tm_hour = 12;
tm.tm_mday = 10;
tm.tm_mon = 9;
tm.tm_year = 112;
tm.tm_isdst = -1;
// Convert std::tm to std::time_t (popular extension)
std::time_t tt = timegm(&tm);
// Convert std::time_t to std::chrono::system_clock::time_point
std::chrono::system_clock::time_point tp =
std::chrono::system_clock::from_time_t(tt);
// Add 0.123456 seconds
// This will not compile if std::chrono::system_clock::time_point has
// courser resolution than microseconds
tp += std::chrono::microseconds(123456);
// Now output tp
// Convert std::chrono::system_clock::time_point to std::time_t
tt = std::chrono::system_clock::to_time_t(tp);
// Convert std::time_t to std::tm (popular extension)
tm = std::tm{0};
gmtime_r(&tt, &tm);
// Output month
std::cout << tm.tm_mon + 1 << '-';
// Output day
std::cout << tm.tm_mday << '-';
// Output year
std::cout << tm.tm_year+1900 << ' ';
// Output hour
if (tm.tm_hour <= 9)
std::cout << '0';
std::cout << tm.tm_hour << ':';
// Output minute
if (tm.tm_min <= 9)
std::cout << '0';
std::cout << tm.tm_min << ':';
// Output seconds with fraction
// This is the heart of the question/answer.
// First create a double-based second
std::chrono::duration<double> sec = tp -
std::chrono::system_clock::from_time_t(tt) +
std::chrono::seconds(tm.tm_sec);
// Then print out that double using whatever format you prefer.
if (sec.count() < 10)
std::cout << '0';
std::cout << std::fixed << sec.count() << '\n';
}
For me this outputs:
10-10-2012 12:38:40.123456
Your std::chrono::system_clock::time_point may or may not be precise enough to hold microseconds.
Update
An easier way is to just use this date library. The code simplifies down to (using C++14 duration literals):
#include "date.h"
#include <iostream>
#include <type_traits>
int
main()
{
using namespace date;
using namespace std::chrono;
auto t = sys_days{10_d/10/2012} + 12h + 38min + 40s + 123456us;
static_assert(std::is_same<decltype(t),
time_point<system_clock, microseconds>>{}, "");
std::cout << t << '\n';
}
which outputs:
2012-10-10 12:38:40.123456
You can skip the static_assert if you don't need to prove that the type of t is a std::chrono::time_point.
If the output isn't to your liking, for example you would really like dd-mm-yyyy ordering, you could:
#include "date.h"
#include <iomanip>
#include <iostream>
int
main()
{
using namespace date;
using namespace std::chrono;
using namespace std;
auto t = sys_days{10_d/10/2012} + 12h + 38min + 40s + 123456us;
auto dp = floor<days>(t);
auto time = make_time(t-dp);
auto ymd = year_month_day{dp};
cout.fill('0');
cout << ymd.day() << '-' << setw(2) << static_cast<unsigned>(ymd.month())
<< '-' << ymd.year() << ' ' << time << '\n';
}
which gives exactly the requested output:
10-10-2012 12:38:40.123456
Update
Here is how to neatly format the current time UTC with milliseconds precision:
#include "date.h"
#include <iostream>
int
main()
{
using namespace std::chrono;
std::cout << date::format("%F %T\n", time_point_cast<milliseconds>(system_clock::now()));
}
which just output for me:
2016-10-17 16:36:02.975
C++17 will allow you to replace time_point_cast<milliseconds> with floor<milliseconds>. Until then date::floor is available in "date.h".
std::cout << date::format("%F %T\n", date::floor<milliseconds>(system_clock::now()));
Update C++20
In C++20 this is now simply:
#include <chrono>
#include <iostream>
int
main()
{
using namespace std::chrono;
auto t = sys_days{10d/10/2012} + 12h + 38min + 40s + 123456us;
std::cout << t << '\n';
}
Or just:
std::cout << std::chrono::system_clock::now() << '\n';
std::format will be available to customize the output.
In general, you can't do this in any straightforward fashion. time_point is essentially just a duration from a clock-specific epoch.
If you have a std::chrono::system_clock::time_point, then you can use std::chrono::system_clock::to_time_t to convert the time_point to a time_t, and then use the normal C functions such as ctime or strftime to format it.
Example code:
std::chrono::system_clock::time_point tp = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
std::time_t time = std::chrono::system_clock::to_time_t(tp);
std::tm timetm = *std::localtime(&time);
std::cout << "output : " << std::put_time(&timetm, "%c %Z") << "+"
<< std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::milliseconds>(tp.time_since_epoch()).count() % 1000 << std::endl;
This worked for me for a format like YYYY.MM.DD-HH.MM.SS.fff. Attempting to make this code capable of accepting any string format will be like reinventing the wheel (i.e. there are functions for all this in Boost.
std::chrono::system_clock::time_point string_to_time_point(const std::string &str)
{
using namespace std;
using namespace std::chrono;
int yyyy, mm, dd, HH, MM, SS, fff;
char scanf_format[] = "%4d.%2d.%2d-%2d.%2d.%2d.%3d";
sscanf(str.c_str(), scanf_format, &yyyy, &mm, &dd, &HH, &MM, &SS, &fff);
tm ttm = tm();
ttm.tm_year = yyyy - 1900; // Year since 1900
ttm.tm_mon = mm - 1; // Month since January
ttm.tm_mday = dd; // Day of the month [1-31]
ttm.tm_hour = HH; // Hour of the day [00-23]
ttm.tm_min = MM;
ttm.tm_sec = SS;
time_t ttime_t = mktime(&ttm);
system_clock::time_point time_point_result = std::chrono::system_clock::from_time_t(ttime_t);
time_point_result += std::chrono::milliseconds(fff);
return time_point_result;
}
std::string time_point_to_string(std::chrono::system_clock::time_point &tp)
{
using namespace std;
using namespace std::chrono;
auto ttime_t = system_clock::to_time_t(tp);
auto tp_sec = system_clock::from_time_t(ttime_t);
milliseconds ms = duration_cast<milliseconds>(tp - tp_sec);
std::tm * ttm = localtime(&ttime_t);
char date_time_format[] = "%Y.%m.%d-%H.%M.%S";
char time_str[] = "yyyy.mm.dd.HH-MM.SS.fff";
strftime(time_str, strlen(time_str), date_time_format, ttm);
string result(time_str);
result.append(".");
result.append(to_string(ms.count()));
return result;
}
I would have put this in a comment on the accepted answer, since that's where it belongs, but I can't. So, just in case anyone gets unreliable results, this could be why.
Be careful of the accepted answer, it fails if the time_point is before the epoch.
This line of code:
std::size_t fractional_seconds = ms.count() % 1000;
will yield unexpected values if ms.count() is negative (since size_t is not meant to hold negative values).
In my case I use chrono and c function localtime_r which is thread-safe (in opposition to std::localtime).
#include <iostream>
#include <chrono>
#include <ctime>
#include <time.h>
#include <iomanip>
int main() {
std::chrono::system_clock::time_point now = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
std::time_t currentTime = std::chrono::system_clock::to_time_t(now);
std::chrono::milliseconds now2 = std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::milliseconds>(now.time_since_epoch());
struct tm currentLocalTime;
localtime_r(&currentTime, &currentLocalTime);
char timeBuffer[80];
std::size_t charCount { std::strftime( timeBuffer, 80,
"%b %d %T",
&currentLocalTime)
};
if (charCount == 0) return -1;
std::cout << timeBuffer << "." << std::setfill('0') << std::setw(3) << now2.count() % 1000 << std::endl;
return 0;
}
If you are to format a system_clock::time_point in the format of numpy datetime64, you could use:
std::string format_time_point(system_clock::time_point point)
{
static_assert(system_clock::time_point::period::den == 1000000000 && system_clock::time_point::period::num == 1);
std::string out(29, '0');
char* buf = &out[0];
std::time_t now_c = system_clock::to_time_t(point);
std::strftime(buf, 21, "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.", std::localtime(&now_c));
sprintf(buf+20, "%09ld", point.time_since_epoch().count() % 1000000000);
return out;
}
sample output: 2019-11-19T17:59:58.425802666