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From: siemsen@sol.usc.edu (Pete Siemsen)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: LaTeX guru question: \timestamp macro that sometimes fails
Message-ID: <32345@usc>
Date: 27 Apr 91 00:48:10 GMT
Sender: news@usc
Distribution: comp
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A user here asked for a way to insert the current time and date into
his LaTeX files.  I found a macro in "TeX for the Impatient" that does
the job nicely, and the user went away happy.  Then he tried using the
macro in his page headings, where it only works partially.

Here's a sample file the demonstrates the problem.  In the heading,
the date is fine but the time comes out as "0:0".  I'm by no means
experienced enough to understand why.  Help!

\documentstyle[11pt]{article}
%----------------------------------------------------------------------------
\def\monthname{%
  \ifcase\month
     \or January  \or February \or March   \or April%
     \or May      \or June     \or July    \or August%
     \or September\or October  \or November\or December%
  \fi}%
\def\timestring{\begingroup
  \count0 = \time \divide\count0 by 60
  \count2 = \count0                            % The hour.
  \count4 = \time \multiply\count0 by 60
  \advance\count4 by -\count0                  % The minute.
  \ifnum\count4<10 \toks1 = {0}                % Get a leading zero.
  \else            \toks1 = {}%
  \fi
  \ifnum\count2<12 \toks0 = {a.m.}%
  \else            \toks0 = {p.m.}%
    \advance\count2 by -12
  \fi
  \ifnum\count2=0 \count2 = 12 \fi             % Make midnight '12'.
  \number\count2:\the\toks1 \number\count4
  \thinspace \the\toks0
\endgroup}%
\def\timestamp{\number\day\space\monthname\space
  \number\year\quad\timestring}%
%----------------------------------------------------------------------------
\pagestyle{myheadings}
\markright{test heading: the time is \timestamp}
\begin{document}
test line, page one,  the time is \timestamp \pagebreak

test line, page two,  the time is \timestamp \pagebreak
\end{document}

-- 
Pete Siemsen                         Pete Siemsen            siemsen@usc.edu
University of Southern California    645 Ohio Ave. #302      (213) 740-7391 (w)
1020 West Jefferson Blvd.            Long Beach, CA 90814    (213) 433-3059 (h)
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