| ALARM(3) | Library Functions Manual | ALARM(3) | 
alarm — set signal
    timer alarm
Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
#include
    <unistd.h>
unsigned
  
  alarm(unsigned
    seconds);
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 already been set with
    alarm() but has not been delivered, another call to
    alarm() will supersede the prior call. The request
    alarm(0) voids the current
    alarm and the signal SIGALRM will not be delivered.
Due to setitimer(2) restriction the maximum number of seconds allowed is 100000000.
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.
setitimer(2), sigaction(2), sigpause(2), sigvec(2), signal(3), sleep(3), ualarm(3), usleep(3)
An alarm() function appeared in
    Version 7 AT&T UNIX.
| April 19, 1994 | macOS 15.6 |