date(1) - c6

1DATE(1)                          User Commands                         DATE(1)
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NAME

6       date - print or set the system date and time
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SYNOPSIS

9       date [OPTION]... [+FORMAT]
10       date [-u|--utc|--universal] [MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]]
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DESCRIPTION

13       Display the current time in the given FORMAT, or set the system date.
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15       -d, --date=STRING
16              display time described by STRING, not `now'
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18       -f, --file=DATEFILE
19              like --date once for each line of DATEFILE
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21       -r, --reference=FILE
22              display the last modification time of FILE
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24       -R, --rfc-2822
25              output  date  and time in RFC 2822 format.  Example: Mon, 07 Aug
26              2006 12:34:56 -0600
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28       --rfc-3339=TIMESPEC
29              output date and time in RFC 3339 format.  TIMESPEC=`date', `sec‐
30              onds',  or  `ns'  for  date and time to the indicated precision.
31              Date and time  components  are  separated  by  a  single  space:
32              2006-08-07 12:34:56-06:00
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34       -s, --set=STRING
35              set time described by STRING
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37       -u, --utc, --universal
38              print or set Coordinated Universal Time
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40       --help display this help and exit
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42       --version
43              output version information and exit
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45       FORMAT controls the output.  Interpreted sequences are:
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47       %%     a literal %
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49       %a     locale's abbreviated weekday name (e.g., Sun)
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51       %A     locale's full weekday name (e.g., Sunday)
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53       %b     locale's abbreviated month name (e.g., Jan)
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55       %B     locale's full month name (e.g., January)
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57       %c     locale's date and time (e.g., Thu Mar  3 23:05:25 2005)
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59       %C     century; like %Y, except omit last two digits (e.g., 20)
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61       %d     day of month (e.g, 01)
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63       %D     date; same as %m/%d/%y
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65       %e     day of month, space padded; same as %_d
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67       %F     full date; same as %Y-%m-%d
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69       %g     last two digits of year of ISO week number (see %G)
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71       %G     year of ISO week number (see %V); normally useful only with %V
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73       %h     same as %b
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75       %H     hour (00..23)
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77       %I     hour (01..12)
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79       %j     day of year (001..366)
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81       %k     hour ( 0..23)
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83       %l     hour ( 1..12)
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85       %m     month (01..12)
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87       %M     minute (00..59)
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89       %n     a newline
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91       %N     nanoseconds (000000000..999999999)
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93       %p     locale's equivalent of either AM or PM; blank if not known
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95       %P     like %p, but lower case
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97       %r     locale's 12-hour clock time (e.g., 11:11:04 PM)
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99       %R     24-hour hour and minute; same as %H:%M
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101       %s     seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
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103       %S     second (00..60)
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105       %t     a tab
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107       %T     time; same as %H:%M:%S
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109       %u     day of week (1..7); 1 is Monday
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111       %U     week number of year, with Sunday as first day of week (00..53)
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113       %V     ISO week number, with Monday as first day of week (01..53)
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115       %w     day of week (0..6); 0 is Sunday
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117       %W     week number of year, with Monday as first day of week (00..53)
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119       %x     locale's date representation (e.g., 12/31/99)
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121       %X     locale's time representation (e.g., 23:13:48)
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123       %y     last two digits of year (00..99)
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125       %Y     year
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127       %z     +hhmm numeric timezone (e.g., -0400)
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129       %:z    +hh:mm numeric timezone (e.g., -04:00)
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131       %::z   +hh:mm:ss numeric time zone (e.g., -04:00:00)
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133       %:::z  numeric  time  zone  with  :  to necessary precision (e.g., -04,
134              +05:30)
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136       %Z     alphabetic time zone abbreviation (e.g., EDT)
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138       By default, date  pads  numeric  fields  with  zeroes.   The  following
139       optional flags may follow `%':
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141       -      (hyphen) do not pad the field
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143       _      (underscore) pad with spaces
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145       0      (zero) pad with zeros
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147       ^      use upper case if possible
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149       #      use opposite case if possible
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151       After  any  flags  comes  an optional field width, as a decimal number;
152       then an optional modifier, which is either E to use the locale's alter‐
153       nate  representations  if available, or O to use the locale's alternate
154       numeric symbols if available.
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DATE STRING

157       The --date=STRING is a mostly free format human  readable  date  string
158       such  as  "Sun, 29 Feb 2004 16:21:42 -0800" or "2004-02-29 16:21:42" or
159       even "next Thursday".  A date string may contain items indicating  cal‐
160       endar  date,  time of day, time zone, day of week, relative time, rela‐
161       tive date, and numbers.  An empty string indicates the beginning of the
162       day.   The date string format is more complex than is easily documented
163       here but is fully described in the info documentation.
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ENVIRONMENT

166       TZ     Specifies the timezone, unless overridden by command line param‐
167              eters.  If neither is specified, the setting from /etc/localtime
168              is used.
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AUTHOR

171       Written by David MacKenzie.
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REPORTING BUGS

174       Report date bugs to bug-coreutils@gnu.org
175       GNU coreutils home page: <http://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
176       General help using GNU software: <http://www.gnu.org/gethelp/>
177       Report date translation bugs to <http://translationproject.org/team/>
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COPYRIGHT

180       Copyright © 2010 Free Software Foundation, Inc.   License  GPLv3+:  GNU
181       GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
182       This  is  free  software:  you  are free to change and redistribute it.
183       There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
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