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Convert System Time Number To Human Readable Date

By Will Bontrager

As a programmer, I frequently, depending on the project I'm working on, need to convert an operating system time number into a readable date and time.

The system time number is a sequence of numbers that represent a data and time. For current dates on Unix/Linux operating systems, the time number is 10 digits long.

Below is the script I made to do the conversions for me.

Type in any system time number. It will be converted into the day of week, calendar date, and clock time, accurate to the second, represented by that number.

(If using numbers generated with JavaScript, those number include milliseconds. Therefore, remove the last three digits before processing the number with this software.)

#!/usr/bin/perl
# Copyright 2005 Bontrager Connection, LLC
# Agree to Software License Agreement linked from one 
# or more pages on one or more of the following domains 
# http://www.willmaster.com/ 
# http://bontragercgi.com/ 
# http://bontragerconnection.com/ 
# and currently published at 
# http://www.willmaster.com/master/LicenseAgreement.html
# before using this software.
use strict;
my $datetime = $ENV{QUERY_STRING};
unless($datetime > 0)
{
   read(STDIN,$datetime,$ENV{CONTENT_LENGTH});
   (undef,$datetime) = split /=/,$datetime,2;
}
print "Content-type: text/html\n\n<html><body>";
if($datetime > 2147483647)
{
   print '<p>Maximum system time number that ';
   print 'can be processed is 2147483647.<br>Your ';
   print "number $datetime has been reduced to ";
   print '2147483647.</p>';
   $datetime = 2147483647;
}
my $me = $0;
$me =~ m!([^/\\]+)$!;
$me = $1;
if($datetime)
{
   my @dt = localtime $datetime;
   my @weekday = qw(
      Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday 
      Thursday Friday Saturday);
   my @month = qw(
      January February March April 
      May June July August 
      September October November December);
   $dt[5] += 1900;
   $datetime = "$weekday[$dt[6]], ";
   $datetime .= "$month[$dt[4]] $dt[3], $dt[5] ";
   $dt[2] = $dt[2] < 10 ? "0$dt[2]" : $dt[2];
   $dt[1] = $dt[1] < 10 ? "0$dt[1]" : $dt[1];
   $dt[0] = $dt[0] < 10 ? "0$dt[0]" : $dt[0];
   $datetime .= "at $dt[2]:$dt[1]:$dt[0]";
   print "<h3>$datetime</h3>";
}
print <<FORM;
<form action="$me" method="POST">
<input type="text" name="timestring" size="15">
<input type="submit" value="Convert digits to time">
</form>
</body>
</html>
FORM
# end of script

The above was created for use on Unix/Linux servers.

Viewing, editing, and transporting of Perl scripts should always be as plain text files, not as binary files.

To install and use the script:

Verify the first line of the program points to the installation of perl on your server.
Upload the script to a directory that can run Perl CGI programs, giving it a file name that makes sense to you.
Give the script 755 permissions.
Type the URL of the script into your browser.

When the script is launched, you'll see a form for providing the system time number. When the form is submitted, it will present the converted system time number and another form to use.

In addition to using the form presented whenever the script is run, the script can also be launched with the system time number in the URL, following a question mark character. Example:
http://example.com/cgi-bin/system2date.pl?1234567890
When a URL with a parameter is used to launch the script, it will provide a form for next use below the converted system time number.

July 16, 2005

Please note: Articles on this website are presented "as is". However -

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Convert System Time Number To Human Readable Date

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Convert System Time Number To Human Readable Date

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