# $EPIC: strftime,v 1.4 2001/07/16 18:57:15 jnelson Exp $
Synopsis:
   $strftime(<format>)
   $strftime(<time_t> <format>)

Technical:
   * If the <format> argument is omitted the empty string is returned.
   * If the <format> argument is invalid the empty string is returned.
   * The first argument is optional.  If provided it must be the number
     of seconds since the epoch (e.g. $time()).  If a time is not 
     provided, the current $time() is used.
   * The rest of the argument(s) are taken as a strftime(3) format string
     and are passed directly to strftime(3).
   * The return value of the function is the specified time converted into
     the human readable form described by your strftime(3) format.
   * Avoid using system-specific strftime(3) formats for portability reasons.

Practical:
   You should refer to your system's strftime man page (``man strftime'')
   for exact details of what a strftime format looks like, because describing
   them is beyond the scope of a help file. =)  But this function is very
   useful for creating timestamps that look just like how you want them.

Returns:
   A description of the specified <time_t> using the format string <format>,
   as processed by strftime(3).

Examples:
   $strftime(%d %B %Y)          might return "13 December 1996"
   $strftime(%x at %X)          might return "12/13/96 at 16:45:42"
   $strftime(%m/%d/%y)		might return "07/16/01"
   $strftime(%Y/%m/%d)		might return "2001/07/16"

History:
   This function first appeared in ircII-2.8.1, and was first included
   in EPIC3pre8.

See Also:
   stime(6); time(6)