tec::Timestamp Struct Reference

A point in time. More...

#include <tec_timestamp.hpp>

Public Types
Type aliases
using	count_t = int64_t
	Underlying integer type used to store nanosecond count.
using	duration_t = std::chrono::nanoseconds
	Duration unit used by this timestamp (nanoseconds)
using	system_clock_t = std::chrono::system_clock
	Clock type used as the basis for time_point conversion.
using	time_point_t = std::chrono::time_point< system_clock_t, duration_t >
	std::chrono time_point type with nanosecond precision

Public Member Functions
	Timestamp ()
	Default constructor — creates timestamp at epoch (count = 0)
	Timestamp (count_t _count)
	Construct from raw nanosecond count since epoch.
	Timestamp (duration_t d)
	Construct from std::chrono::nanoseconds duration.
	Timestamp (const Timestamp &)=default
	Timestamp (Timestamp &&)=default
duration_t	dur () const
	Returns the duration since epoch as std::chrono::nanoseconds.
std::tm	utc_time () const
	Returns broken-down UTC time as std::tm.
std::tm	local_time () const
	Returns broken-down local time as std::tm.
std::string	utc_time_str () const
	Returns ISO 8601 string in UTC (with Z suffix)
std::string	local_time_str () const
	Returns ISO 8601 string in local time (with timezone offset)

Static Public Member Functions
static Timestamp	now ()
	Returns current time as Timestamp (UTC-based, nanosecond precision)

Public Attributes
count_t	count
	Nanoseconds since Unix epoch (1970-01-01T00:00:00Z).

Detailed Description

A point in time.

Timestamp represents a point in time independent of any time zone or local calendar, encoded as a count of nanoseconds. The count is relative to an epoch at UTC midnight on January 1, 1970.

Example

#include <ctime>
#include <iostream>
 
#include "tec/tec_timestamp.hpp"
 
int main() {
    using namespace std::literals;
 
    std::cout << "Epoch:\n";
    tec::Timestamp ts0;
    std::cout
        << "Count: "<< ts0.count << "\n"
        << "UTC  : "<< ts0.utc_time_str() << "\n"
        << "Local: "<< ts0.local_time_str() << "\n"
        ;
    std::cout << "\nNow:\n";
    tec::Timestamp ts1{tec::Timestamp::now()};
    std::cout
        << "Count: "<< ts1.count << "\n"
        << "UTC  : "<< ts1.utc_time_str() << "\n"
        << "Local: "<< ts1.local_time_str() << "\n"
        ;
    std::cout << "\nOne day and five minutes ago:\n";
    tec::Timestamp ts2{ts1.dur() - 24h - 5min};
    std::cout
        << "Count: "<< ts2.count << "\n"
        << "UTC  : "<< ts2.utc_time_str() << "\n"
        << "Local: "<< ts2.local_time_str() << "\n"
        ;
    std::cout << "\nOne week forward:\n";
    tec::Timestamp ts3{(ts1.dur() + 7 * 24h).count()};
    std::cout
        << "Count: "<< ts3.count << "\n"
        << "UTC  : "<< ts3.utc_time_str() << "\n"
        << "Local: "<< ts3.local_time_str() << "\n"
        ;
 
    return 0;
}
 

Output

// Epoch:
// Count: 0
// UTC  : 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z
// Local: 1970-01-01T03:00:00+0300
 
// Now:
// Count: 1768992601096852237
// UTC  : 2026-01-21T10:50:01Z
// Local: 2026-01-21T13:50:01+0300
 
// One day and five minutes ago:
// Count: 1768905901096852237
// UTC  : 2026-01-20T10:45:01Z
// Local: 2026-01-20T13:45:01+0300
 
// One week forward:
// Count: 1769597401096852237
// UTC  : 2026-01-28T10:50:01Z
// Local: 2026-01-28T13:50:01+0300

See also

https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/blob/main/src/google/protobuf/timestamp.proto

Member Function Documentation

dur()

duration_t tec::Timestamp::dur ( ) const

inline

Returns the duration since epoch as std::chrono::nanoseconds.

Returns

duration_t nanoseconds since 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z

local_time()

std::tm tec::Timestamp::local_time ( ) const

inline

Returns broken-down local time as std::tm.

Uses thread-safe wrapper around std::localtime

Returns

std::tm structure with local time components

local_time_str()

std::string tec::Timestamp::local_time_str ( ) const

inline

Returns ISO 8601 string in local time (with timezone offset)

Returns

std::string formatted as "YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss±hhmm"

now()

static Timestamp tec::Timestamp::now ( )

inlinestatic

Returns current time as Timestamp (UTC-based, nanosecond precision)

Uses std::chrono::system_clock::now() and converts to nanoseconds. This is the recommended way to obtain "current time" in this system.

Note

It is not monotonic — subject to system clock adjustments.

Returns

Timestamp representing current UTC time

utc_time()

std::tm tec::Timestamp::utc_time ( ) const

inline

Returns broken-down UTC time as std::tm.

Uses thread-safe wrapper around std::gmtime

Returns

std::tm structure with UTC time components

utc_time_str()

std::string tec::Timestamp::utc_time_str ( ) const

inline

Returns ISO 8601 string in UTC (with Z suffix)

Returns

std::string formatted as "YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssZ"

Member Data Documentation

count

count_t tec::Timestamp::count

Nanoseconds since Unix epoch (1970-01-01T00:00:00Z).

Represents the number of nanoseconds elapsed since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC. The valid range is approximately 1970-01-01 to 2262-04-11 (due to 64-bit signed integer limits).

Negative values represent times before the Unix epoch.

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The documentation for this struct was generated from the following file:

• tec_timestamp.hpp