# $EPIC: time_function.txt,v 1.4 2007/07/10 22:09:59 jnelson Exp $
======Synopsis:======
$__time__()

======Technical:======
   * All arguments, if any, are ignored.
   * This function calls your system's time(3) function, which typically returns the number of seconds since the epoch, 1970 Jan 1 00:00:00 GMT.
   * In theory, every unix host should have the same time as every other unix host, but getting everyone to agree on the time is like herding cats.
   * If you need sub-second resolution, use the $[[utime function|utime]]() function.

======Practical:======
You can convert the UTC value into human readable format using either the
$[[stime]]() function or the $[[strftime]]() function.  You can also use
the UTC value for tracking the elapsed time between two events.

======Returns:======
The number of seconds that have elapsed since the epoch.

======Examples:======
  $time()      might return "850381369"

======History:======
This function first appeared in ircII.