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ALARM(3)		     Library Functions Manual			ALARM(3)

NAME
     alarm -- set signal timer alarm

LIBRARY
     Standard C Library (libc, -lc)

SYNOPSIS
     #include <unistd.h>

     unsigned int
     alarm(unsigned int seconds);

DESCRIPTION
     This interface is made obsolete by setitimer(2).

     The  alarm()  function  sets  a  timer to deliver the signal SIGALRM to the
     calling process after the specified number of seconds.  If an alarm has al-
     ready been set with alarm() but has not been  delivered,  another	call  to
     alarm() will supersede the prior call.  The request alarm(0) voids the cur-
     rent alarm and the signal SIGALRM will not be delivered.

     Due  to  setitimer(2)  restriction the maximum number of seconds allowed is
     100,000,000.

RETURN VALUES
     The return value of alarm() is the amount of time left on the timer from  a
     previous  call  to alarm().  If no alarm is currently set, the return value
     is 0.

SEE ALSO
     setitimer(2), sigaction(2), sigsuspend(2), signal(3), sleep(3),  ualarm(3),
     usleep(3)

HISTORY
     An  alarm()  system  call appeared in the Programmer's Workbench (PWB/UNIX)
     and was ported to Version 7 AT&T UNIX.  For 4.1cBSD, it  was  reimplemented
     as a wrapper around the setitimer(2) system call.

FreeBSD ports 15.1		  April 2, 2022 			ALARM(3)

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