DT_TO_SEC Function

Standard Library function that converts a date/time variable to a double-precision variable containing the number of seconds elapsed from a base date.

result = DT_TO_SEC(dt_var)

dt_var A date/time variable.

result A double-precision variable containing the number of seconds elapsed between the base date and the date(s) contained in dt_var. The value of the base date is maintained in the system variable !DT_Base.

Base A string containing a date, such as "3-27-92". This is the base date from which the number of elapsed seconds is calculated. Base can be used to override the default value in the system variable !DT_Base.

Date_Fmt Specifies the format of the base date, if passed into the function. Possible values are 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, as summarized in the following table:

where the asterisk (*) represents one of the following separators: dash (-), slash (/), comma (,), period (.), or colon (:).

For a detailed description of these formats, see the PV-WAVE User's Guide.

This function is useful for converting date/time values to relative time. The default base date is September 14, 1752.

Assume that you have created the array date1 that contains the following date/time data:

date1=[{!dt, $ 1992,3,27,7,18,57.0000,87488.305,0},$
{!dt, 1993,3,27,7,18,57.0000,87853.305,0}, $
{!dt, 1994,3,27,7,18,57.0000,87218.305,0}]

To find out the number of seconds for each date from the default base, September 14, 1752, use:

seconds = DT_TO_SEC(date1)
PRINT, seconds

7.5589031e+09 7.5904391e+09 7.5355751e+09

Assume that you have created the array date1 that contains the following date/time data:

date1=[{!dt, $ 1992,4,15,7,29,19.0000,87507.312,0},$
{!dt, 1993,4,15,7,29,19.0000,87872.312,0}, $
{!dt, 1994,4,15,7,29,19.0000,88237.312,0}]

To find out the number of seconds for each date from January 1, 1970, use:

seconds = DT_TO_SEC(date1, $

Base='1-1-70', Date_Fmt=1)

PRINT, seconds

7.0332296e+08 7.3485896e+08 7.6639496e+08

DT_TO_STR, DT_TO_VAR, SEC_TO_DT

System Variables: !DT_Base

For more information, see the PV-WAVE User's Guide.