DATE(1) User Commands DATE(1)
date - print or set the system date and time
date [OPTION]... [+FORMAT]
date [-u|--utc|--universal] [MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]]
Display the current time in the given FORMAT, or set the system date.
-d, --date=STRING
display time described by STRING, not `now'
-f, --file=DATEFILE
like --date once for each line of DATEFILE
-r, --reference=FILE
display the last modification time of FILE
-R, --rfc-2822
output date and time in RFC 2822 format. Example: Mon, 07 Aug
2006 12:34:56 -0600
--rfc-3339=TIMESPEC
output date and time in RFC 3339 format. TIMESPEC=`date', `sec-
onds', or `ns' for date and time to the indicated precision.
Date and time components are separated by a single space:
2006-08-07 12:34:56-06:00
-s, --set=STRING
set time described by STRING
-u, --utc, --universal
print or set Coordinated Universal Time
--help display this help and exit
--version
output version information and exit
FORMAT controls the output. The only valid option for the second form
specifies Coordinated Universal Time. Interpreted sequences are:
%% a literal %
%a locale's abbreviated weekday name (e.g., Sun)
%A locale's full weekday name (e.g., Sunday)
%b locale's abbreviated month name (e.g., Jan)
%B locale's full month name (e.g., January)
%c locale's date and time (e.g., Thu Mar 3 23:05:25 2005)
%C century; like %Y, except omit last two digits (e.g., 21)
%d day of month (e.g, 01)
%D date; same as %m/%d/%y
%e day of month, space padded; same as %_d
%F full date; same as %Y-%m-%d
%g last two digits of year of ISO week number (see %G)
%G year of ISO week number (see %V); normally useful only with %V
%h same as %b
%H hour (00..23)
%I hour (01..12)
%j day of year (001..366)
%k hour ( 0..23)
%l hour ( 1..12)
%m month (01..12)
%M minute (00..59)
%n a newline
%N nanoseconds (000000000..999999999)
%p locale's equivalent of either AM or PM; blank if not known
%P like %p, but lower case
%r locale's 12-hour clock time (e.g., 11:11:04 PM)
%R 24-hour hour and minute; same as %H:%M
%s seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
%S second (00..60)
%t a tab
%T time; same as %H:%M:%S
%u day of week (1..7); 1 is Monday
%U week number of year, with Sunday as first day of week (00..53)
%V ISO week number, with Monday as first day of week (01..53)
%w day of week (0..6); 0 is Sunday
%W week number of year, with Monday as first day of week (00..53)
%x locale's date representation (e.g., 12/31/99)
%X locale's time representation (e.g., 23:13:48)
%y last two digits of year (00..99)
%Y year
%z +hhmm numeric timezone (e.g., -0400)
%:z +hh:mm numeric timezone (e.g., -04:00)
%::z +hh:mm:ss numeric time zone (e.g., -04:00:00)
%:::z numeric time zone with : to necessary precision (e.g., -04,
+05:30)
%Z alphabetic time zone abbreviation (e.g., EDT)
By default, date pads numeric fields with zeroes. The following
optional flags may follow `%':
- (hyphen) do not pad the field
_ (underscore) pad with spaces
0 (zero) pad with zeros
^ use upper case if possible
# use opposite case if possible
After any flags comes an optional field width, as a decimal number;
then an optional modifier, which is either E to use the locale's alter-
nate representations if available, or O to use the locale's alternate
numeric symbols if available.
Written by David MacKenzie.
Report bugs to <bug-coreutils [AT] gnu.org>.
Copyright (C) 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU
GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>;
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
The full documentation for date is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If
the info and date programs are properly installed at your site, the
command
info date
should give you access to the complete manual.
GNU coreutils 6.9.92.4-f088d-dirtyJanuary 2008 DATE(1)