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$TimeZone

gives the current time zone to assume for dates and times.

Details
Details and Options Details and Options
Examples  
Basic Examples  
Scope  
Properties & Relations  
Possible Issues  
See Also
Tech Notes
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$TimeZone

$TimeZone

gives the current time zone to assume for dates and times.

Details

  • $TimeZone gives the default time zone used by date functions.
  • Possible timezone specifications include:
  • nnumber of hours added to GMT
    "zone"named time zone
    Entity["TimeZone", "zone"]time zone specified by the "TimeZone" entity
    loctime zone associated with the given location
    Automaticautomatically determine the time zone
    Nonespecify no time zone information
  • For numeric values n, the value represents the number of hours that must be added to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) to obtain local time.
  • For string specifications "zone", the result will be returned in the associated named time zone.
  • Example time zone strings include "America/Chicago", "Europe/London", "Asia/Tokyo" and "Zulu".
  • A list of available time zone entities can be found using EntityList["TimeZone"].
  • For location specifications loc, the time zone associated with the specified location Entity or GeoPosition will be used.
  • $TimeZone defaults to $SystemTimeZone.
  • $TimeZone=z resets the current time zone for purposes of functions like DateString, DateList, and AbsoluteTime.

Examples

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Basic Examples  (3)

Show the number of hours that must be added to GMT to obtain local time:

Wolfram Language code: $TimeZone

Convert a DateObject from a different time zone to $TimeZone:

Wolfram Language code: TimeZoneConvert[DateObject[{2026, 6, 4, 21, 15, 46.505509}, "Instant", "Gregorian", "Africa/Lagos"], $TimeZone]

Find the TimeZoneOffset between $TimeZone and Berlin:

Wolfram Language code: TimeZoneOffset[$TimeZone, Entity["City", {"Berlin", "Berlin", "Germany"}]]

Scope  (2)

If $TimeZone may be set to a real-valued number, a "TimeZone" Entity or a named time zone string:

Wolfram Language code: $TimeZone = 3; DateObject[]
Wolfram Language code: $TimeZone = Entity["TimeZone", "Asia/Shanghai"]; DateObject[]
Wolfram Language code: $TimeZone = "America/Lima"; DateObject[]

$TimeZone may also be set to a GeoPosition or location Entity, which will return the corresponding time zone for the location:

Wolfram Language code: $TimeZone = Entity["City", {"Tokyo", "Tokyo", "Japan"}];
Wolfram Language code: $TimeZone
Wolfram Language code: $TimeZone = GeoPosition[{0, 0}]; $TimeZone

Properties & Relations  (3)

The value of $TimeZone is initialized to $SystemTimeZone when the kernel launches:

Wolfram Language code: $TimeZone == $SystemTimeZone

$TimeZone can have its value reset or blocked:

Wolfram Language code: $TimeZone = "America/Chicago"
Wolfram Language code: DateObject[]
Wolfram Language code: Block[{$TimeZone = 0}, Now]

Most date functions have a default TimeZone value of Automatic, which implies $TimeZone if no other information is available:

Wolfram Language code: Options[DateObject, TimeZone]

Possible Issues  (1)

If $TimeZone is set to a GeoPosition and internet access is not available, the value of $TimeZone will not be changed:

Wolfram Language code: $TimeZone Block[{$AllowInternet = False}, $TimeZone = GeoPosition[Entity["City", {"Paris", "IleDeFrance", "France"}]]]; $TimeZone
Wolfram Research (2007), $TimeZone, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/$TimeZone.html (updated 2022).

Text

Wolfram Research (2007), $TimeZone, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/$TimeZone.html (updated 2022).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2007. "$TimeZone." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2022. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/$TimeZone.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2007). $TimeZone. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/$TimeZone.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2026_$timezone, author="Wolfram Research", title="{$TimeZone}", year="2022", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/$TimeZone.html}", note=[Accessed: 16-June-2026]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2026_$timezone, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={$TimeZone}, year={2022}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/$TimeZone.html}, note=[Accessed: 16-June-2026]}