Special variables -- $HOROLOG

$H[OROLOG]

Introduced in the 1977 ANSI M[UMPS] language standard.

The value of this variable is a code for the current date and time.

$HOROLOG="51281,44745" on Wednesday, May 27th, 1981 at 25 minutes and 45 seconds past 12 (noon).
$HOROLOG="53690,86401" on the last second of 1987 (but it is extremely unlikely that anybody actually implemented the concept of "leap-seconds".
$HOROLOG="1,1" on the first second of Friday, January 1st, 1841.
$HOROLOG="0,43200" at noon on Thursday, December 31st, 1840.
$HOROLOG="-30,44745" on Tuesday, December 1st, 1841 at 25 minutes and 45 seconds past 12 (noon).

Note that the sequence at the transition between two days is:
"n,86398" = 23:59:58 or 11:59:58 PM
"n,86399" = 23:59:59 or 11:59:58 PM
"n+1,0" = midnight, or 24:00:00 or 00:00:00 or 12:00:00 AM
"n+1,1" = 00:00:01 or 00:00:01 AM

Interesting values:

$HOROLOG Date and time
"50000,50000" 24 November 1977, 13:53:20
"51000,51000" 19 August 1980, 14:10:00
"52000,52000" 16 May 1983, 14:26:40
"53000,53000" 9 February 1986, 14:43:20
"54000,54000" 5 November 1988, 15:00:00
"55000,55000" 2 August 1991, 15:16:40
"56000,56000" 28 April 1994, 15:33:20
"57000,57000" 22 January 1997, 15:50:00
"58000,58000" 19 October 1999, 16:06:40
"59000,59000" 15 July 2002, 16:23:20
"60000,60000" 10 April 2005, 16:40:00
"54610,45296" 12:34:56, 7/8/90 (USA: 8 July 1990)
"54640,45296" 12:34:56, 7/8/90 (rest of the world: 7 August 1990)

Be careful with pattern matches: typically, the value of $HOROLOG will match 5N1P5N, but a really safe check should be 0.1"-"1.N1","1.5N.


This document is © Ed de Moel, 1995-2005.
It is part of a book by Ed de Moel that is published under the title "M[UMPS] by Example" (ISBN 0-918118-42-5).
Printed copies of the book are no longer available.

This document describes the various special variables that are defined in the M[UMPS] language standard (ANSI X11.1, ISO 11756).

The information in this document is NOT authoritative and subject to be modified at any moment.
Please consult the appropriate (draft) language standard for an authoritative definition.

In this document, information is included that will appear in future standards.
The MDC cannot guarantee that these 'next' standards will indeed appear.