MOCKTIME(1)

NAME
Test::MockTime - Replaces actual time with simulated time

SYNOPSIS
  use Test::MockTime();
  Test::MockTime::set_relative_time(-600);
  # do some tests depending on time increasing from 600 seconds ago
  Test::MockTime::set_absolute_time(0);
  # do some more tests depending on time starting from the epoch
  # epoch may vary according to platform.  see perlport.
  Test::MockTime::set_fixed_time(CORE::time());
  # do some more tests depending on time staying at the current actual time
  Test::MockTime::restore();
  # resume normal service

DESCRIPTION
This module was created to enable test suites to test code at specific points in time. Specifically it overrides localtime, gmtime and time at compile time and then relies on the user supplying a mock time via set_relative_time, set_absolute_time or set_fixed_time to alter future calls to gmtime,time or localtime.

Functions
takes as an argument an absolute time (for example, if 0 is supplied, the absolute time will be the epoch), and calculates the offset to allow subsequent calls to time,gmtime and localtime to reflect this.

for example, in the following code

  Time::Mock::set_absolute_time(0);
  my ($start) = time;
  sleep 2;
  my ($end) = time;
The $end variable should contain 2 seconds past the epoch; takes as an argument an relative value from current time (for example, if -10 is supplied, current time be converted to actual machine time - 10 seconds) and calculates the offset to allow subsequent calls to time,gmtime and localtime to reflect this.

for example, in the following code

  my ($start) = time;
  Time::Mock::set_relative_time(-600);
  sleep 600;
  my ($end) = time;
The $end variable should contain either the same or very similar values to the $start variable. takes as an argument an absolute time (for example, if 0 is supplied, the absolute time will be the epoch). All subsequent calls to gmtime, localtime and time will return this value.

for example, in the following code

  Time::Mock::set_fixed_time(time)
  my ($start) = time;
  sleep 3;
  my ($end) = time;
the $end variable and the $start variable will contain the same results restore the default time handling values

AUTHOR
David Dick <ddick@cpan.org>

PREREQUISITES
None

BUGS
Probably.

COPYRIGHT
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to a use.perl.org journal entry <http://use.perl.org/~geoff/journal/20660> by Geoffrey Young.