TZFILE(5) | File Formats Manual | TZFILE(5)

# NAME

`tzfile` — time zone information

# DESCRIPTION

The time zone information files used by tzset(3) begin with the magic characters "TZif" to identify themselves as time zone information files, followed by a character identifying the version of the file's format (as of 2013, either an ASCII NUL, a '2', or a '3') followed by fifteen bytes containing zeroes reserved for future use, followed by six four-byte integer values written in “big endian” byte order (the most significant byte of the value is written first). These values are, in order:

tzh_ttisgmtcnt
  The number of UT/local indicators stored in the file.
tzh_ttisstdcnt
  The number of standard/wall indicators stored in the file.
tzh_leapcnt
  The number of leap seconds for which data is stored in the file.
tzh_timecnt
  The number of "transition times" for which data is stored in the file.
tzh_typecnt
  The number of "local time types" for which data is stored in the file (must not be zero).
tzh_charcnt
  The number of characters of "time zone abbreviation strings" stored in the file.

The above header is followed by tzh_timecnt four-byte signed integer values sorted in ascending order. These values are written in “big endian” byte order. Each is used as a transition time (as returned by time(3)) at which the rules for computing local time change. Next come tzh_timecnt one-byte unsigned integer values; each one tells which of the different types of “local time” types described in the file is associated with the same-indexed transition time. These values serve as indices into an array of ttinfo structures (with tzh_typecnt entries) that appears next in the file; these structures are defined as follows:

    struct ttinfo {
    	int32_t	tt_gmtoff;	/* UTC offset in seconds */
    	unsigned char tt_isdst;	/* used to set tm_isdst */
    	unsigned char tt_abbrind; /* abbreviation list index */
    };

Each structure is written as a four-byte signed integer value for tt_gmtoff in “big endian” byte order, followed by a one-byte value for tt_isdst and a one-byte value for tt_abbrind. In each structure, tt_gmtoff gives the number of seconds to be added to UT, tt_isdst tells whether tm_isdst should be set by localtime(3) and tt_abbrind serves as an index into the array of time zone abbreviation characters that follow the ttinfo structure(s) in the file.

Then there are tzh_leapcnt pairs of four-byte values, written in “big endian” byte order; the first value of each pair gives the time (as returned by time(3)) at which a leap second occurs; the second gives the total number of leap seconds to be applied after the given time. The pairs of values are sorted in ascending order by time.

Then there are tzh_ttisstdcnt standard/wall indicators, each stored as a one-byte value; they tell whether the transition times associated with local time types were specified as standard time or wall clock time, and are used when a time zone file is used in handling POSIX-style time zone environment variables.

Finally there are tzh_ttisgmtcnt UT/local indicators, each stored as a one-byte value; they tell whether the transition times associated with local time types were specified as UT or local time, and are used when a time zone file is used in handling POSIX-style time zone environment variables.

localtime(3) uses the first standard-time ttinfo structure in the file, or simply the first ttinfo structure in the absence of a standard-time structure, if either tzh_timecnt is zero or the time argument is less than the first transition time recorded in the file.

For version-2-format time zone files, the above header and data are followed by a second header and data, identical in format except that eight bytes are used for each transition time or leap second time. After the second header and data comes a newline-enclosed, POSIX-TZ-environment-variable-style string for use in handling instants after the last transition time stored in the file (with nothing between the newlines if there is no POSIX representation for such instants).

For version-3-format time zone files, the POSIX-TZ-style string may use two minor extensions to the POSIX TZ format, as described in tzset(3). First, the hours part of its transition times may be signed and range from -167 through 167 instead of the POSIX-required unsigned values from 0 through 24. Second, DST is in effect all year if it starts January 1 at 00:00 and ends December 31 at 24:00 plus the difference between daylight saving and standard time.

Future changes to the format may append additional data.

# SEE ALSO

ctime(3), tzset(3), zic(8), zdump(8)

June 23, 2025 | Debian