The seconds and time zones

[Sarah Reichelt]

On Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 2:53 PM, Bill Vlahos <bvlahos at mac.com> wrote:
> I want to represent time snapshot independently of format and time zone so that I can compare the modification times of two items. The "seconds" looks like the way to go but I thought that it would get thrown off depending upon which time zone the computer was in.
>
> I just saw this in the Rev dictionary:
> Note: The convert command assumes all dates / times are in local time except for 'the seconds', which is taken to be universal time.
>
> Does this mean that if I "get the seconds" simultaneously anywhere in the world it will result in the same number or would I have to account for the time zone offset. This definition makes it sound like it already takes into account the time zone offset.


Correct. The seconds taken at an instant in time will give the same
result no matter where you are and what time zone you are in.
Converting it to any other format then applies the time zone of the
computer doing the conversions.

As an example, my time zone is +1000 and at the moment, using this
line of script,  I get:

put the seconds & cr & the long time && the long date

1264484095
3:34:55 PM Tuesday, January 26, 2010

If you take that value of seconds and convert it, you will get
whatever time it was in your zone when it was 3:34 for me.

Cheers,
Sarah