ALARM(2)                         System Calls                         ALARM(2)

NAME

       alarm - set signal timer alarm

SYNOPSIS

       #include <unistd.h>

       long alarm (long seconds);
       long alarm10 (long tenths);

DESCRIPTION

       The alarm function waits a count of seconds before asserting the termi‐
       nating signal SIGALRM.  When the signal has successfully  been  caught,
       alarm returns the amount of time left on the clock.

       If  an alarm has been set with alarm, another call to alarm will super‐
       sede the prior call.  If seconds is zero, the alarm timer is disabled.

       alarm10 is identical to alarm,  except  that  values  are  measured  in
       tenths of seconds.

ERRORS

       No errors are possible.

STANDARDS

       alarm  is  not  quite  POSIX  conformant  in that it uses types of long
       rather than unsigned int.  alarm10 is a non-standard function.

SEE ALSO

       setitimer(2), sigpause(2), sigvec(2), signal(2),  sleep(3),  ualarm(3),
       usleep(3)

HISTORY

       An alarm function appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.



GNO                             16 January 1997                       ALARM(2)