timezone(F)

timezone -- set default system time zone

Synopsis

   /etc/TIMEZONE

Description

This file sets and exports the time zone environment variable TZ.

This file is executed by rc2(ADM) to set the default local time zone on system startup. The TZ variable can also be set by a user process to override the default time zone.

The rules for interpreting the contents of the TZ variable are given on environ(M).

Examples

The default /etc/TIMEZONE for the United States east coast:

   TZ=:US/Eastern
   export TZ

Compatibility Notes

Some applications may expect a TZ string other than the default, and so may exhibit unexpected behavior when reporting the time. Setting the TZ variable before executing the program to the value expected by the program can sometimes correct any such problems. From the shell, this can be done for a single execution of a shell script or binary as in the following example (using the United States east coast time zone as an example):

   TZ=EST5EDT program

References

ctime(S), environ(M), profile(F), rc2(ADM)