.\" Copyright (c) 1980 Regents of the University of California. .\" All rights reserved. The Berkeley software License Agreement .\" specifies the terms and conditions for redistribution. .\" .\" @(#)@(#)ualarm.3 6.4 (Berkeley) %G% .\" .TH UALARM 3 "" .UC 6 .SH NAME ualarm \- schedule signal after specified time .SH SYNOPSIS .nf .B unsigned ualarm(value, interval) .B unsigned value; .B unsigned interval; .fi .SH DESCRIPTION .ft B This is a simplified interface to setitimer(2). .ft R .PP .I Ualarm causes signal SIGALRM, see .IR signal (3C), to be sent to the invoking process in a number of microseconds given by the .I value argument. Unless caught or ignored, the signal terminates the process. .PP If the .I interval argument is non-zero, the SIGALRM signal will be sent to the process every .I interval microseconds after the timer expires (e.g. after .I value microseconds have passed). .PP Because of scheduling delays, resumption of execution of when the signal is caught may be delayed an arbitrary amount. The longest specifiable delay time (on the vax) is 2147483647 microseconds. .PP The return value is the amount of time previously remaining in the alarm clock. .SH "SEE ALSO" getitimer(2), setitimer(2), sigpause(2), sigvec(2), signal(3C), sleep(3), alarm(3), usleep(3)