Make the 'time' argument to the timemodule functions strftime, asctime,

ctime, gmtime and localtime optional, defaulting to 'the current time' in
all cases. Adjust docs, add news item. Also convert all argument-handling to
METH_VARARGS. Closes SF patch #103265.

1 files changed, 17 insertions, 12 deletions

diff --git a/Doc/lib/libtime.tex b/Doc/lib/libtime.tex
index 28771e9..68166d2 100644
--- a/Doc/lib/libtime.tex
+++ b/Doc/lib/libtime.tex
@@ -116,11 +116,12 @@ is defined.  This is negative if the local DST timezone is east of UTC
 \code{daylight} is nonzero.
 \end{datadesc}
 
-\begin{funcdesc}{asctime}{tuple}
+\begin{funcdesc}{asctime}{\optional{tuple}}
 Convert a tuple representing a time as returned by \function{gmtime()}
 or \function{localtime()} to a 24-character string of the following form:
-\code{'Sun Jun 20 23:21:05 1993'}.  Note: unlike the C function of
-the same name, there is no trailing newline.
+\code{'Sun Jun 20 23:21:05 1993'}.  If \var{tuple} is not provided, the
+current time as returned by \function{localtime()} is used.  Note: unlike
+the C function of the same name, there is no trailing newline.
 \end{funcdesc}
 
 \begin{funcdesc}{clock}{}
@@ -131,23 +132,26 @@ of the same name, but in any case, this is the function to use for
 benchmarking\index{benchmarking} Python or timing algorithms.
 \end{funcdesc}
 
-\begin{funcdesc}{ctime}{secs}
+\begin{funcdesc}{ctime}{\optional{secs}}
 Convert a time expressed in seconds since the epoch to a string
-representing local time.  \code{ctime(\var{secs})} is equivalent to
-\code{asctime(localtime(\var{secs}))}.
+representing local time. If \var{secs} is not provided, the current time
+as returned by \function{time()} is used.  \code{ctime(\var{secs})}
+is equivalent to \code{asctime(localtime(\var{secs}))}.
 \end{funcdesc}
 
 \begin{datadesc}{daylight}
 Nonzero if a DST timezone is defined.
 \end{datadesc}
 
-\begin{funcdesc}{gmtime}{secs}
+\begin{funcdesc}{gmtime}{\optional{secs}}
 Convert a time expressed in seconds since the epoch to a time tuple
-in UTC in which the dst flag is always zero.  Fractions of a second are
-ignored.  See above for a description of the tuple lay-out.
+in UTC in which the dst flag is always zero.  If \var{secs} is not
+provided, the current time as returned by \function{time()} is used.
+Fractions of a second are ignored.  See above for a description of the
+tuple lay-out.
 \end{funcdesc}
 
-\begin{funcdesc}{localtime}{secs}
+\begin{funcdesc}{localtime}{\optional{secs}}
 Like \function{gmtime()} but converts to local time.  The dst flag is
 set to \code{1} when DST applies to the given time.
 \end{funcdesc}
@@ -171,10 +175,11 @@ time may be longer than requested by an arbitrary amount because of
 the scheduling of other activity in the system.
 \end{funcdesc}
 
-\begin{funcdesc}{strftime}{format, tuple}
+\begin{funcdesc}{strftime}{format\optional{, tuple}}
 Convert a tuple representing a time as returned by \function{gmtime()}
 or \function{localtime()} to a string as specified by the \var{format}
-argument.  \var{format} must be a string.
+argument.  If \var{tuple} is not provided, the current time as returned by
+\function{localtime()} is used.  \var{format} must be a string.
 
 The following directives can be embedded in the \var{format} string.
 They are shown without the optional field width and precision