同Matlab一样，IDL同样包含了日期和时间函数，通过这些函数可以实现特定的需求。

 函数名称                                                 功能描述

BIN_DATE - Converts ASCII date/time string to binary string.-标准日期时间字符串转换成6元素日期数组

CALDAT - Converts Julian date to month, day, year.-儒略日转为年月日

CALL_EXTERNAL - Displays a calendar for a given month or year.-根据输入日期显示日历 同CALENDAR

JULDAY - Returns Julian Day Number for given month, day, and year.-年月日转为儒略日

SYSTIME - Returns the current system time as either a string, the number of seconds, or as a Julian date.-返回当前系统时间

TIC - Start the tick/tock clock for measuring elapsed time.-计算花费时间

TOC - Stop the tick/tock clock for measuring elapsed time.

TIMEGEN - Returns an array of Julian date/time values.-获取儒略日格式的数组

TIMESTAMP - Returns a date/time string in ISO-8601 format.-获得ISO-8601格式时间

1 timestamp_string = TIMESTAMP(YEAR = 2012, MONTH = 9, $2    DAY = 4, HOUR = 11, MINUTE = 25, SECOND = 15)3 PRINT, timestamp_string4 5 >2012-09-04T11:25:15Z

TIMESTAMPTOVALUES - Returns the date and time, given a date/time string in ISO-8601 format.-根据ISO-8601格式时间获得日期和时间

1 timestamp_string = ‘2012-09-04T11:25:15-06:00‘2  3 TIMESTAMPTOVALUES, timestamp_string, $4    YEAR=year, MONTH=month, DAY=day, $5    HOUR=hour, MINUTE=minute, $6    SECOND=second, OFFSET=offset7 PRINT, month, day, year, hour, minute, second, offset8 9 >9     4      2012     11     25     15.000000     -6.000000

IDL 日期时间函数整理