DATE(1) User Commands DATE(1) NAME date - print or set the system date and time SYNOPSIS date [OPTION]... [+FORMAT] date [-u|--utc|--universal] [MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]] DESCRIPTION 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 locales abbreviated weekday name (e.g., Sun) %A locales full weekday name (e.g., Sunday) %b locales abbreviated month name (e.g., Jan) %B locales full month name (e.g., January) %c locales 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 locales equivalent of either AM or PM; blank if not known %P like %p, but lower case %r locales 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 locales date representation (e.g., 12/31/99) %X locales 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 locales alter nate representations if available, or O to use the locales alternate numeric symbols if available. AUTHOR Written by David MacKenzie. REPORTING BUGS Report bugs to . COPYRIGHT Copyright 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law. SEE ALSO 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-dirtJanuary 2008 DATE(1)