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<H2><A NAME="SECTION0402470000000000000000"></A>
<A NAME="commands_set_timefmt"></A><A NAME="commands_show_timefmt"></A><A NAME="set_timefmt"></A><A NAME="show_timefmt"></A><A NAME="timefmt"></A><A NAME="6626"></A>
<BR>
Timefmt
</H2>
This command applies to timeseries where data are composed of dates/times.
It has no meaning unless the command <B>set xdata time</B> is given also.
<P>
Syntax:
<BR>
<PRE>
set timefmt "<format string>"
show timefmt
</PRE>
<BR>
<P>
The string argument tells <B>gnuplot</B> how to read timedata from the datafile.
The valid formats are:
<P>
<DIV ALIGN="CENTER">
<TABLE CELLPADDING=3 BORDER="1">
<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER" COLSPAN=2>Time Series timedata Format Specifiers</TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER">Format</TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT">Explanation</TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER"><code>%d</code></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT">day of the month, 1-31</TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER"><code>%m</code></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT">month of the year, 1-12</TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER"><code>%y</code></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT">year, 0-99</TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER"><code>%Y</code></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT">year, 4-digit</TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER"><code>%j</code></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT">day of the year, 1-365</TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER"><code>%H</code></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT">hour, 0-24</TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER"><code>%M</code></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT">minute, 0-60</TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER"><code>%s</code></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT">seconds since the Unix epoch (1970-01-01 00:00 UTC)</TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER"><code>%S</code></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT">second, 0-60</TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER"><code>%b</code></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT">three-character abbreviation of the name of the month</TD>
</TR>
<TR><TD ALIGN="CENTER"><code>%B</code></TD>
<TD ALIGN="LEFT">name of the month</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
</DIV>
Any character is allowed in the string, but must match exactly. 2#2t (tab) is
recognized. Backslash-octals (2#2nnn) are converted to char. If there is no
separating character between the time/date elements, then %d, %m, %y, %H, %M
and %S read two digits each, %Y reads four digits and %j reads three digits.
%b requires three characters, and %B requires as many as it needs.
<P>
Spaces are treated slightly differently. A space in the string stands for
zero or more whitespace characters in the file. That is, <TT>"</TT>%H %M<TT>"</TT> can be used
to read <TT>"</TT>1220<TT>"</TT> and <TT>"</TT>12 20<TT>"</TT> as well as <TT>"</TT>12 20<TT>"</TT>.
<P>
Each set of non-blank characters in the timedata counts as one column in the
<B>using n:n</B> specification. Thus <B>11:11 25/12/76 21.0</B> consists of three
columns. To avoid confusion, <B>gnuplot</B> requires that you provide a complete
<B>using</B> specification if your file contains timedata.
<P>
Since <B>gnuplot</B> cannot read non-numerical text, if the date format includes
the day or month in words, the format string must exclude this text. But
it can still be printed with the <TT>"</TT>%a<TT>"</TT>, <TT>"</TT>%A<TT>"</TT>, <TT>"</TT>%b<TT>"</TT>, or <TT>"</TT>%B<TT>"</TT> specifier:
see <B>set format (p. <A HREF="node206.html#set_format"><IMG ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="1" ALT="[*]" SRC="crossref.png"></A>)<A NAME="6661"></A></B> for more details about these and other options for printing
timedata. (<B>gnuplot</B> will determine the proper month and weekday from the
numerical values.)
<P>
See also <B>set xdata (p. <A HREF="node295.html#set_xdata"><IMG ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="1" ALT="[*]" SRC="crossref.png"></A>)<A NAME="6664"></A></B> and <B>Time/date (p. <A HREF="node54.html#Time_date"><IMG ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="1" ALT="[*]" SRC="crossref.png"></A>)<A NAME="6666"></A></B> for more information.
<P>
Example:
<BR>
<PRE>
set timefmt "%d/%m/%Y\t%H:%M"
</PRE>
<BR>
tells <B>gnuplot</B> to read date and time separated by tab. (But look closely at
your data -- what began as a tab may have been converted to spaces somewhere
along the line; the format string must match what is actually in the file.)
See also
<P>
http://www.gnuplot.info/demo/timedat.html<TT>time data demo.
</TT>
<P>
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2010-08-17
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