date(1)

NAME

date - show and set date and time

SYNOPSIS

date [ -u ] [ -c ] [ -n ] [ -d dsttype ] [ -t minutes-west ] [ -a [+|-]sss. fff ] [ + format ] [ [yyyy]mmddhhmm[yy][. ss] ]

DESCRIPTION

Date without arguments writes the date and time to the standard output in the form

Wed Mar 8 14:54:40 EST 1989

with EST replaced by the local time zone's abbreviation (or by the abbreviation for the time zone specified in the TZ environment variable if set). The exact output format depends on the locale.

If a command-line argument starts with a plus sign (` + '), the rest of the argument is used as a format that controls what appears in the output. In the format, when a percent sign (` % ') appears, it and the character after it are not output, but rather identify part of the date or time to be output in a particular way (or identify a special character to output):

     Sample output       Explanation
%a   Wed                 Abbreviated weekday name*
%A   Wednesday           Full weekday name*
%b   Mar                 Abbreviated month name*
%B   March               Full month name*
%c   Wed Mar 08 14:54:40 1989
                         Date and time*
%C   19                  Century
%d   08                  Day of month (always two digits)
%D   03/08/89            Month/day/year (eight characters)
%e    8                  Day of month (leading zero blanked)
%h   Mar                 Abbreviated month name*
%H   14                  24-hour-clock hour (two digits)
%I   02                  12-hour-clock hour (two digits)
%j   067                 Julian day number (three digits)
%k    2                  12-hour-clock hour (leading zero blanked)
%l   14                  24-hour-clock hour (leading zero blanked)
%m   03                  Month number (two digits)
%M   54                  Minute (two digits)
%n   \n                  newline character
%p   PM                  AM/PM designation
%r   02:54:40 PM         Hour:minute:second AM/PM designation
%R   14:54               Hour:minute
%S   40                  Second (two digits)
%t   \t                  tab character
%T   14:54:40            Hour:minute:second
%U   10                  Sunday-based week number (two digits)
%w   3                   Day number (one digit, Sunday is 0)
%W   10                  Monday-based week number (two digits)
%x   03/08/89            Date*
%X   14:54:40            Time*
%y   89                  Last two digits of year
%Y   1989                Year in full
%Z   EST                 Time zone abbreviation
%+   Wed Mar 8 14:54:40 EST 1989
                         Default output format*
* The exact output depends on the locale.

If a character other than one of those shown above appears after a percent sign in the format, that following character is output. All other characters in the format are copied unchanged to the output; a newline character is always added at the end of the output.

In Sunday-based week numbering, the first Sunday of the year begins week 1; days preceding it are part of ``week 0.'' In Monday-based week numbering, the first Monday of the year begins week 1.

To set the date, use a command line argument with one of the following forms:

1454          24-hour-clock hours (first two digits) and minutes
081454        Month day (first two digits), hours, and minutes
03081454      Month (two digits, January is 01), month day,
              hours, minutes
8903081454    Year, month, month day, hours, minutes
0308145489    Month, month day, hours, minutes, year
              (on System V-compatible systems)
030814541989  Month, month day, hours, minutes, four-digit year
198903081454  Four-digit year, month, month day, hours, minutes

If the century, year, month, or month day is not given, the current value is used. Any of the above forms may be followed by a period and two digits that give the seconds part of the new time; if no seconds are given, zero is assumed.

These options are available:

-u or -c

Use GMT when setting and showing the date and time.

-n

Do not notify other networked systems of the time change.

-d dsttype

Set the kernel-stored Daylight Saving Time type to the given value. (The kernel-stored DST type is used mostly by ``old'' binaries.)

-t minutes-west

Set the kernel-stored ``minutes west of GMT'' value to the one given on the command line. (The kernel-stored DST type is used mostly by ``old'' binaries.)

-a adjustment

Change the time forward (or backward) by the number of seconds (and fractions thereof) specified in the adjustment argument. Either the seconds part or the fractions part of the argument (but not both) may be omitted. On BSD-based systems, the adjustment is made by changing the rate at which time advances; on System-V-based systems, the adjustment is made by changing the time.

FILES

/usr/lib/locale/f2L/LC_TIME description of time locale f2L
/usr/local/etc/zoneinfo time zone information directory
/usr/local/etc/zoneinfo/localtime local time zone file
/usr/local/etc/zoneinfo/posixrules used with POSIX-style TZ's
/usr/local/etc/zoneinfo/GMT for UTC leap seconds

If /usr/local/etc/zoneinfo/GMT is absent, UTC leap seconds are loaded from /usr/local/etc/zoneinfo/posixrules .