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## time

The time(x) function returns the current system time. This value can be converted to a date string with the strftime function, or it can be used in conjunction with timecolumn to generate relative time/date plots. The type of the argument determines what is returned. If the argument is an integer, time() returns the current time as an integer, in seconds from the epoch date, 1 Jan 1970. If the argument is real (or complex), the result is real as well. If the argument is a string, it is assumed to be a format and it is passed to strftime to provide a formatted time string. See also time_specifiers and timefmt.