Digital Clock using C

Introduction

On average, people who wear digital watches check their watches 4 to 5 times per hour, which means they wake up their digital watches 60 to 80 times per day. 
 

Source: https://gifer.com/en/ARMM

Since we check our digital watches frequently throughout the day, why not learn how to build them?
 

In this blog, we will learn how to draw a digital clock using C along with the steps and code.

Digital Clock using C 

In this section, we will learn how to draw a digital clock using C. Before we start learning how to draw a digital clock using C, be sure that you know the C basics like data types, looping statements, etc.

In this C program, the digital clock will start with the time 00:00:00. Then it will work like a digital clock where it will show the time with hours, minutes, and second.

Steps

The following steps have to be followed to draw a digital clock using C are:

• Import the required header files.
• Initialize the variables hour, minute, and seconds with 0.
• Run an infinite while loop.
• Increase second and check if it equals 60, then increase minute and reset second to 0.
• Increase minute and check if it equals 60, then increase hour and reset minute to 0.
• Increase hour and check if it equals 24, then reset hour to 0.

Digital Clock using C

Our digital clock will look like the above image. Now let's look at the code to draw a digital clock using C and implement it on Online editor.

Code

// A digital clock using C

// Import the header files
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main() {
   int hour = 0;
   int minute = 0;
   int second = 0;
   while(1) {
       // Clear the output on screen
       // for windows use system("cls")
       system("clear"); 
       
       // Print the time in HH : MM : SS format
       printf("%02d : %02d : %02d ",hour,minute,second);
       
       // Clear the output buffer in gcc
       fflush(stdout);
       
       // Increment second
       second++;

       // Update hour, minute and second
       if(second == 60) {
           minute += 1;
           second = 0;
       }
    
       if(minute == 60) {
           hour += 1;
           minute = 0;
       }
    
       if(hour == 24) {
           hour = 0;
           minute = 0;
           second = 0;
       }

       // Wait for 1 second
       sleep(1);  
   }
   return 0;
}

You can also try this code with Online C Compiler

Run Code

Output

You can practice by yourself with the help of online c compiler.