clock

Current date and time as date vector

Syntax

c = clock

[c tf] = clock

Description

c = clock returns a six-element date vector containing the current date and time in decimal form:

[year month day hour minute seconds]

The clock function calculates the current date and time from the system time.

[c tf] = clock returns a second output argument that is 1 (true) if the current date and time occur during Daylight Saving Time (DST) in your system's time zone, and 0 (false) otherwise.

Examples

Round clock Output to Integer Display

To return the current date and time, use the clock function. Set the output format so that floating-point values display with up to five digits.

format shortg
c = clock

c = 1×6

         2023            2           21           14           42       40.939

The sixth element of the date vector output (seconds) is accurate to several digits beyond the decimal point.

To round to integer display format, use the fix function.

fix(c)

ans = 1×6

        2023           2          21          14          42          40

Test Whether Current Time Occurs During DST

To test whether the current date and time occur during Daylight Saving Time (DST), use the second output of the clock function. tf is 1 (true) if c occurs during DST, and 0 (false) otherwise.

format shortg
[c tf] = clock

c = 1×6

         2023            2           21           13           45       46.968

tf = logical
   0

Limitations

• MATLAB^® Online™ returns current Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) rather than local time.

Tips

• To time the duration of an event, use the timeit or tic and toc functions instead of clock and etime. The clock function is based on the system time, which can be adjusted periodically by the operating system, and thus might not be reliable in time comparison operations.

• To return a datetime scalar representing the current date and time, type:

  t = datetime('now')