date linux command

date

date [options] [+format] [date]

Print the current date and time. You may specify a display format. format can consist of literal text strings (blanks must be quoted) as well as field descriptors, whose values will appear as described in the following entries (the listing shows some logical groupings). A privileged user can change the system's date and time.

Options

format

Display current date in a nonstandard format. For example:

The default is %a %b %e %T %Z %Y -- e.g., Tue Sep 5 14:59:37 EDT 2000.

-d date, --date date

Display date, which should be in quotes and may be in the format d days or m months d days to print a date in the future. Specify ago to print a date in the past. You may include formatting (see the 'Format' section that follows).

-f datefile, --file=datefile

Like -d but printed once for each line of datefile.

-I [timespec], --iso-8601[=timespec

Display in ISO-8601 format. If specified, timespec can have one of the values date (for date only), hours, minutes, or seconds to get the indicated precision.

-r file, --reference=file

Display the time file was last modified.

-R, --rfc-822

Display the date in RFC 822 format.

--help

Print help message and exit.

--version

Print version information and exit.

-s date, --set date

Set the date.

-u, --universal

Set the date to Greenwich Mean Time, not local time.

Format

Literal %.

Do not pad fields (default: pad fields with zeros).

Pad fields with space (default: zeros).

%a

Abbreviated weekday.

%b

Abbreviated month name.

%c

Country-specific date and time format.

%d

Day of month (01-31).

%h

Same as %b.

%j

Julian day of year (001-366).

%k

Hour in 24-hour format, without leading zeros (0-23).

%l

Hour in 12-hour format, without leading zeros (1-12).

%m

Month of year (01-12).

%n

Insert a new line.

%p

String to indicate AM or PM.

%r

Time in %I:%M:%S %p (12-hour) format.

%s

Seconds since 'The Epoch,' 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (a nonstandard extension).

%t

Insert a tab.

%w

Day of week (Sunday = 0).

%x

Country-specific date format.

%y

Last two digits of year (00-99).

%z

RFC 822-style numeric time zone.

%A

Full weekday.

%B

Full month name.

%D

Date in %m/%d/%y format.

%H

Hour in 24-hour format (00-23).

%I

Hour in 12-hour format (01-12).

%M

Minutes (00-59).

%S

Seconds (00-59).

%T

Time in %H:%M:%S format.

%U

Week number in year (00-53); start week on Sunday.

%V

Week number in year (01-52); start week on Monday.

%W

Week number in year (00-53); start week on Monday.

%X

Country-specific time format.

%Y

Four-digit year (e.g., 1996).

%Z

Time zone name.

Strings for setting date

Strings for setting the date may be numeric or nonnumeric. Numeric strings consist of time, day, and year in the format MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]. Nonnumeric strings may include month strings, time zones, a.m., and p.m.

time

A two-digit hour and two-digit minute (hhmm); hh uses 24-hour format.

day

A two-digit month and two-digit day of month (MMDD); default is current day and month.

year

The year specified as either the full four-digit century and year or just the two-digit year; the default is the current year.

Examples

Set the date to July 1 (0701), 4 a.m. (0400), 1995 (95):

The command:

produces a formatted date as follows: