1CONVDATE(1)               InterNetNews Documentation               CONVDATE(1)
2
3
4

NAME

6       convdate - Convert time/date strings and numbers
7

SYNOPSIS

9       convdate [-dhl] [-c ⎪ -n ⎪ -s] [date ...]
10

DESCRIPTION

12       convdate translates the date/time strings given on the command line,
13       outputting the results one to a line.  The input can either be a date
14       in some format that parsedate(3) can parse or the number of seconds
15       since epoch (if -c is given).  The output is either ctime(3) results,
16       the number of seconds since epoch, or a Usenet Date: header, depending
17       on the options given.
18

OPTIONS

20       -c  Each argument is taken to be the number of seconds since epoch (a
21           time_t) rather than a date.
22
23       -d  Output a valid Usenet Date: header instead of the results of
24           ctime(3) for each date given on the command line.  This is useful
25           for testing the algorithm used to generate Date: headers for local
26           posts.  Normally, the date will be in UTC, but see the -l option.
27
28       -h  Print usage information and exit.
29
30       -l  Only makes sense in combination with -d.  If given, Date: headers
31           generated will use the local time zone instead of UTC.
32
33       -n  Rather than outputting the results of ctime(3) or a Date: header,
34           output each date given as the number of seconds since epoch (a
35           time_t).  This option doesn't make sense in combination with -d.
36
37       -s  Pass each given date to parsedate(3) and print the results of
38           ctime(3) (or a Date: header if -d is given).  This is the default
39           behavior.
40

EXAMPLES

42       Note that relative times or times with partial information use the cur‐
43       rent time to fill in the rest of the date, so dates like "12pm" are
44       taken to be 12pm of the day when convdate is run.  This is a property
45       of parsedate(3); see the man page for more information.  Most of these
46       examples are from the original man page dating from 1991 and were run
47       in the -0400 time zone.
48
49           % convdate 'feb 10 10am'
50           Sun Feb 10 10:00:00 1991
51
52           % convdate 12pm 5/4/90
53           Fri Dec 13 00:00:00 1991
54           Fri May  4 00:00:00 1990
55
56       Note that 12pm and 5/4/90 are two *separate* arguments and therefore
57       result in two results.  Note also that a date with no time is taken to
58       be at midnight.
59
60           % convdate -n 'feb 10 10am' '12pm 5/4/90'
61           666198000
62           641880000
63
64           % convdate -c 666198000
65           Sun Feb 10 10:00:00 1991
66
67       ctime(3) results are in the local time zone.  Compare to:
68
69           % convdate -dc 666198000
70           Sun, 10 Feb 1991 15:00:00 +0000 (UTC)
71
72           % env TZ=PST8PDT convdate -dlc 666198000
73           Sun, 10 Feb 1991 07:00:00 -0800 (PST)
74
75           % env TZ=EST5EDT convdate -dlc 666198000
76           Sun, 10 Feb 1991 10:00:00 -0500 (EST)
77
78       The system library functions generally use the environment variable TZ
79       to determine (or at least override) the local time zone.
80

HISTORY

82       Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net>, rewritten and updated by
83       Russ Allbery <rra@stanford.edu> for the -d and -l flags.
84
85       $Id: convdate.1 5132 2002-02-22 20:39:19Z vinocur $
86

SEE ALSO

88       parsedate(3).
89
90
91
92INN 2.4.0                         2002-02-02                       CONVDATE(1)