PS TEXT FORMAT Reference Manual

Introduction to TFORM
11387 Tandem Computers Incorporated 3–153
TIME The TIME command calls the TIME macro, which uses a system variable,
SYS_TIME, to assemble the current time in a standard format. You can use
SYS_TIME to include the current time anywhere in your document.
What to Enter
\TIME
How to Use TIME
When you use this command, TFORM completes several steps
Assembles the three system variables SYS_HOURS, SYS_MINUTES,
and SYS_SECONDS
Combines them into one entity
Adds leading zeroes if necessary
Places the result in the system variable SYS_TIME, which is undefined
until you use the TIME command
To use the command and the variable in your document, you need to first
enter the TIME command. At this point you are defining the variable. You
then place SYS_TIME in your input where you want the current time to
appear. Your input appears like this
\TIME
Happy New Year! The time is now \(SYS_TIME\).
If you printed your document at 12 01 a.m., TFORM defines the variable
with the system time at that moment, and inserts the value into your
printed output
Happy New Year! The time is now 00 01 00.
Value substitution (indirection) is described in more detail in Section 4; see
Section 5 for a discussion of system variables.