Re: [coreutils] Re: [PATCH 2/2] stat: print timestamps to full resolution

[Jim Meyering]

Eric Blake wrote:

> On 10/21/2010 08:09 AM, Andreas Schwab wrote:
>> Eric Blake<address@hidden>  writes:
>>
>>> On 10/21/2010 03:22 AM, Andreas Schwab wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Jim Meyering<address@hidden>   writes:
>>>>
>>>>> And besides, with coreutils-8.6 already released, reverting the
>>>>> change is no longer an option.
>>>>
>>>> Why?  I'm pretty sure more breakage will pop up over time.
>>>
>>> How would you propose 'fixing' it?
>>
>> Add a flag character, eg. %.X.
>
> %.X is no good, since we already support %.1X (that is, all printf()
> flags should keep their existing printf() meaning). But Jim's proposal
> of %:X for extended stat info, especially given how date already
> supports %:z for extended timezone formatting, makes sense to me.  In
> fact, %.3:X might be a nice way to request that the result be
> displayed in milliseconds, although Jim's proof of concept patch
> didn't cover that aspect.

An alternative would be to leave %X, %Y, etc. as the only
operators that print seconds-since-epoch, and let the new %:X
print the nanoseconds part of the associated time.

Then, to get full seconds.nanoseconds, you'd use a format like %X.%:X
and if you want only milliseconds, you'd use %X.%3.3:X