# Reproducing an analog clock similar to the one provided by the ifsym package

## Situation

I was browsing The Comprehensive LATEX Symbol List looking for a simple analog clock in which I could use in a pamphlet. At some moment, I found an interesting entry (page 91):

I tried to use the \showclock macro in my document, but unfortunately a pdflatex run showed me the following error:

! Undefined control sequence.
l.10 \showclock{4}{50}


In my Linux box with TL2011, the very same attempt to call \showclock{4}{50} gets even worse, with no ifsym package available.

## Documentation

I tried to read the documentation, but texdoc ifsym lists only a German document, of which I only understand a few words - sadly. (Ich spreche kein Deutsch.) :( Anyway, the icon table in the end of the documentation gives me the idea of a possible font problem, like a missing indexing or reference.

## MWE

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{ifsym}

\begin{document}

\showclock{4}{50}

\end{document}


## Question

Is there any package with a similar command, say \clock{<hours>}{<minutes>}?

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I'm surprised you linked to the documentation on ctan, and not texdoc.net :) –  cmhughes Mar 26 '12 at 2:59
@cmhughes: Oops, my bad. :) –  Paulo Cereda Mar 26 '12 at 16:35
only because I know you co-created texdoc.net :) –  cmhughes Mar 26 '12 at 17:45

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[clock]{ifsym}

\begin{document}
Il est minuit 45 : \showclock{0}{45}
\end{document}


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Wow. I feel so silly, I had no idea about providing a package option. Merci. :) –  Paulo Cereda Mar 25 '12 at 21:00

It seems the \showclock command becomes available if you activate it with a clock package option:

\usepackage[clock]{ifsym}

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Thanks Stephan! I was really unaware of this option. I tried to figure out how to solve it, but it was in vain. :) –  Paulo Cereda Mar 25 '12 at 21:02

For completeness sake, I'll add a honorable mention to a similar package I found when trying to find a solution to my original question: the clock package. According to the documentation:

• The basic command available is \clock{<hours>}{<minutes>} which takes two arguments: hours and minutes. It does not matter whether the hours are given in a 12h or a 24h range; the TeX clock understands both.

• When saying \clocktime (without any argument) then the TeX clock will output the current system time at time of compilation.

• \ClockFrame: a boolean parameter and can be true or false. Saying \ClockFramefalse lets the border disappear, saying \ClockFrametrue lets the border appear.

• The parameter \ClockStyle takes a number between 0 and 3 where 0 stands for a clock with invisible dial.

A full MWE:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{clock}
\usepackage[clock]{ifsym}

\begin{document}

\ClockFramefalse\ClockStyle=0\clock{13}{10}
\ClockFramefalse\ClockStyle=1\clock{14}{22}
\ClockFramefalse\ClockStyle=2\clock{15}{48}
\ClockFramefalse\ClockStyle=3\clock{7}{50}

\ClockFrametrue\ClockStyle=0\clock{11}{32}
\ClockFrametrue\ClockStyle=1\clock{12}{0}
\ClockFrametrue\ClockStyle=2\clock{8}{9}
\ClockFrametrue\ClockStyle=3\clock{1}{15}

\end{document}


The previous code creates the following output:

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