Still having trouble with the time

It seems times and dates are tough in arduino as they are in HTML, CF and SQL.

Let me try to ask the question like this: The the following example code, i would like to add a variable called current time. Then i would like to store the time in the variable and then print it.

The code below is the timeNTP example from the arduino web site. I added what i would like to do in commented sections but I don't have the code correct. Maybe someone could help:)

/*
 * Time_NTP.pde
 * Example showing time sync to NTP time source
 *
 * This sketch uses the Ethernet library
 */
 
#include <Time.h> 
#include <Ethernet.h>
#include <EthernetUdp.h>
#include <SPI.h>




byte mac[] = { 0xDE, 0xAD, 0xBE, 0xEF, 0xFE, 0xED }; 
// NTP Servers:
IPAddress timeServer(132, 163, 4, 101); // time-a.timefreq.bldrdoc.gov
// IPAddress timeServer(132, 163, 4, 102); // time-b.timefreq.bldrdoc.gov
// IPAddress timeServer(132, 163, 4, 103); // time-c.timefreq.bldrdoc.gov


const int timeZone = 1;     // Central European Time
//const int timeZone = -5;  // Eastern Standard Time (USA)
//const int timeZone = -4;  // Eastern Daylight Time (USA)
//const int timeZone = -8;  // Pacific Standard Time (USA)
//const int timeZone = -7;  // Pacific Daylight Time (USA)


EthernetUDP Udp;
unsigned int localPort = 8888;  // local port to listen for UDP packets

//===========================================================

I would like to declare a variable here called curTIme:

ie:  
curTime = (hour(), min())

//============================================================



void setup() 
{
  

  

  Serial.begin(9600);
  while (!Serial) ; // Needed for Leonardo only
  delay(250);
  Serial.println("TimeNTP Example");
  if (Ethernet.begin(mac) == 0) {
    // no point in carrying on, so do nothing forevermore:
    while (1) {
      Serial.println("Failed to configure Ethernet using DHCP");
      delay(10000);
    }
  }
  Serial.print("IP number assigned by DHCP is ");
  Serial.println(Ethernet.localIP());
  Udp.begin(localPort);
  Serial.println("waiting for sync");
  setSyncProvider(getNtpTime);
  Serial.println();

//=========================================================

I would like to then print "curTime"

Serial.println(curTime);

//=========================================================
}

time_t prevDisplay = 0; // when the digital clock was displayed


void loop()
{  
  if (timeStatus() != timeNotSet) {
    if (now() != prevDisplay) { //update the display only if time has changed
      prevDisplay = now();
      digitalClockDisplay();  
    }
  }
}

void digitalClockDisplay(){
  // digital clock display of the time
  Serial.print(hour());
  printDigits(minute());
  printDigits(second());
  Serial.print(" ");
  Serial.print(day());
  Serial.print(" ");
  Serial.print(month());
  Serial.print(" ");
  Serial.print(year()); 
  Serial.println(); 
}

void printDigits(int digits){
  // utility for digital clock display: prints preceding colon and leading 0
  Serial.print(":");
  if(digits < 10)
    Serial.print('0');
  Serial.print(digits);
}

/*-------- NTP code ----------*/

const int NTP_PACKET_SIZE = 48; // NTP time is in the first 48 bytes of message
byte packetBuffer[NTP_PACKET_SIZE]; //buffer to hold incoming & outgoing packets

time_t getNtpTime()
{
  while (Udp.parsePacket() > 0) ; // discard any previously received packets
  Serial.println("Transmit NTP Request");
  sendNTPpacket(timeServer);
  uint32_t beginWait = millis();
  while (millis() - beginWait < 1500) {
    int size = Udp.parsePacket();
    if (size >= NTP_PACKET_SIZE) {
      Serial.println("Receive NTP Response");
      Udp.read(packetBuffer, NTP_PACKET_SIZE);  // read packet into the buffer
      unsigned long secsSince1900;
      // convert four bytes starting at location 40 to a long integer
      secsSince1900 =  (unsigned long)packetBuffer[40] << 24;
      secsSince1900 |= (unsigned long)packetBuffer[41] << 16;
      secsSince1900 |= (unsigned long)packetBuffer[42] << 8;
      secsSince1900 |= (unsigned long)packetBuffer[43];
      return secsSince1900 - 2208988800UL + timeZone * SECS_PER_HOUR;
    }
  }
  Serial.println("No NTP Response :-(");
  return 0; // return 0 if unable to get the time
}

// send an NTP request to the time server at the given address
void sendNTPpacket(IPAddress &address)
{
  // set all bytes in the buffer to 0
  memset(packetBuffer, 0, NTP_PACKET_SIZE);
  // Initialize values needed to form NTP request
  // (see URL above for details on the packets)
  packetBuffer[0] = 0b11100011;   // LI, Version, Mode
  packetBuffer[1] = 0;     // Stratum, or type of clock
  packetBuffer[2] = 6;     // Polling Interval
  packetBuffer[3] = 0xEC;  // Peer Clock Precision
  // 8 bytes of zero for Root Delay & Root Dispersion
  packetBuffer[12]  = 49;
  packetBuffer[13]  = 0x4E;
  packetBuffer[14]  = 49;
  packetBuffer[15]  = 52;
  // all NTP fields have been given values, now
  // you can send a packet requesting a timestamp:                 
  Udp.beginPacket(address, 123); //NTP requests are to port 123
  Udp.write(packetBuffer, NTP_PACKET_SIZE);
  Udp.endPacket();
}

You can use the sprintf() function to store the time in a string(char array) and print it out as one.

char buffer[10]; // this needs to be big enough to fit everything

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(115200);
  
  sprintf(buffer, " %d:%d:%d", 11, 33, 55); // replace 11,33,55 with hour(), min(), second()
  Serial.print(buffer);
}

void loop() {}

Output:
11:33:55

You can change buffer to curTime if you want.

HazardsMind,
Thank you so much for your help. That was just what i needed to get me over this hurdle.
I did quite a bit of back and forth with someone on this but i suspect i was not clear in exactly what i wanted to do.

HazardsMind:
You can use the sprintf() function to store the time in a string(char array) and print it out as one.

char buffer[10]; // this needs to be big enough to fit everything

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(115200);
 
  sprintf(buffer, " %d:%d:%d", 11, 33, 55); // replace 11,33,55 with hour(), min(), second()
  Serial.print(buffer);
}

void loop() {}




Output:
**11:33:55**

You can change buffer to curTime if you want.

Better yet would be...

sprintf(buffer, " %d:%02d:%02d", ...

Ok, that works, this way if its a single digit, it gets printed as 11:05:09 instead of 11:5:9