# coyote: CGTIMESTAMP

- coyote/Utilities
- [Source code]

Description

      This is a utility program to obtain a time stamp string suitable
      for using in a filename or some other string.

Categories

      Utilities

Returns

      A string variable containing the time stamp is returned from the function.

Params

      format: in, optional, type=integer, default=0
         An integer value that selects the time stamp format. Default is 0. Possible values are::
            0: _sun_feb_07_10:56:37_2010
            1: _Sun_Feb_07_10:56:37_2010
            2: _07_02_2010_10:56:37
            3: _07022010_10:56:37
            4: _07022010
            5: _07Feb2010_10:56:37
            6: _07feb2010_10:56:37
            7: _07FEB2010_10:56:37
            8: _02_07_2010_10:56:37
            9: _02072010_10:56:37
            10: _02072010
            11: _20100207@10:56:37

Keywords

      no_prefix: in, optional, type=boolean, default=0
           Set this keyword to remove the underscore prefix normally present at the start of the time stamp.
      random_digits: in, optional, type=integer
           Set this keyword to the number of random digits you would like to append to the time stamp.
      utc: in, optional, type=boolean, default=0
           Set this keyword to use UTC time in the time stamp, rather than the local time.
      valid: in, optional, type=boolean, default=0
           If this keyword is set, the time stamp is passed through the IDL program IDL_VALIDNAME, and
           all characters that are not allowed in IDL variable names are replaced by ones that are allowed.
           In other words, a character like ":", which is not allowed, is turned into the character "_", which
           is allowed.

Examples

      Here is how to use this program::
         IDL> filename = 'mydatafile' + cgTimeStamp() + '.dat'

Author

      FANNING SOFTWARE CONSULTING::
         David W. Fanning
         1645 Sheely Drive
         Fort Collins, CO 80526 USA
         Phone: 970-221-0438
         E-mail: david@idlcoyote.com
         Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.idlcoyote.com

History

      Change History::
        Written by David W. Fanning, 7 February 2010.
        Added format number 11: YYYYMMDD@HH:MM:SS so that when files are created they
           will list in descending time order. Matt Savoie suggestion. DWF. 10 Sept 2010.
        Added NO_PREFIX keyword that, if set, will prevent an underscore character from being
           added to the time stamp. 10 Sept 2010. DWF.
        Discovered that Windows and UNIX computers report the UTC time differently, resulting
           in the day string being a one digit integer on UNIX and a two digit integer on
           Windows. Fixed so the day string is always forced to be two digits. 8 October 2010.
        Renamed from TimeStamp to cgTimeStamp to avoid conflict with IDL's own TimeStamp function
           introduced in IDL 8.2.2. 6 February 2013. DWF.

Copyright

      Copyright (c) 2010-2013, Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.