---
name: "pmNewZone"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "pcp"
version: "7.2.2-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://carta.tech/man/pmNewZone"
---

# pmNewZone(3)

establish a reporting timezone

## NAME

**pmNewZone** - establish a reporting timezone

## C SYNOPSIS

**#include \<pcp/pmapi.h\>**

**int pmNewZone(const char \****tz***);**

**cc ... -lpcp**

## DESCRIPTION

The current reporting timezone affects the timezone used by [**pmCtime**(3)](/man/pmCtime/3.md) and [**pmLocaltime**(3)](/man/pmLocaltime/3.md).

The argument *tz* defines a timezone string, in the format described for the **TZ** environment variable, see [**environ**(7)](/man/environ/7.md).

**pmNewZone** sets the current reporting timezone, and returns a value that may be used in a subsequent call to [**pmUseZone**(3)](/man/pmUseZone/3.md) to restore this reporting timezone.

## DIAGNOSTICS

A return value less than zero indicates a fatal error from a system call, most likely [**malloc**(3)](/man/malloc/3.md).

## SEE ALSO

[**PMAPI**(3)](/man/PMAPI/3.md), [**pmCtime**(3)](/man/pmCtime/3.md), [**pmGetConfig**(3)](/man/pmGetConfig/3.md), [**pmLocaltime**(3)](/man/pmLocaltime/3.md), [**pmNewContextZone**(3)](/man/pmNewContextZone/3.md), [**pmUseZone**(3)](/man/pmUseZone/3.md), [**pmWhichZone**(3)](/man/pmWhichZone/3.md), [**pcp.conf**(5)](/man/pcp.conf/5.md), [**pcp.env**(5)](/man/pcp.env/5.md) and [**environ**(7)](/man/environ/7.md).