# parse_time()

## Purpose

parse_time(timestamp)

Converts an RFC 3164 or RFC 3339 formatted date/time string to a UNIX timestamp (an integer value representing the number of seconds since the UNIX epoch: 1970-01-01T00:00:0Z).

If the input to the function is not a properly formatted RFC 3164 or RFC 3339 date/time string, or cannot be parsed, `0` is returned and `script_error()` will be set to error state.

Note

This function does not support unusual RFC 3164 dates/times that contain year or time zone information.

Note

Fractional seconds (if present) in RFC 3339 date/time strings will be discarded.

## Example

In the following example a timestamp is parsed into an integer.

    parse_time("Oct 5 01:10:11") # Assumes the current year (2017, in this example)

produces

    1507165811

See also

Help with configuring/using `Rsyslog`:

- Mailing list - best route for general questions

- GitHub: rsyslog source project - detailed questions, reporting issues that are believed to be bugs with `Rsyslog`

- Stack Exchange (View, Ask) - experimental support from rsyslog community

See also

Contributing to `Rsyslog`:

- Source project: rsyslog project README.

- Documentation: rsyslog-doc project README

Copyright 2008-2020 Rainer Gerhards (Großrinderfeld), and Others.