(coreutils.info)date invocation

21.1 `date': Print or set system date and time
==============================================

Synopses:

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

   Invoking `date' with no FORMAT argument is equivalent to invoking
`date '+%a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Z %Y''.

   If given an argument that starts with a `+', `date' prints the
current time and date (or the time and date specified by the `--date'
option, see below) in the format defined by that argument, which is the
same as in the `strftime' function.  Except for directives, which start
with `%', characters in the format string are printed unchanged.  The
directives are described below.

   An exit status of zero indicates success, and a nonzero value
indicates failure.

Time directives

%[HIklMprsSTXzZ]

Date directives

%[aAbBcdDhjmUwWxyY]

Literal directives

%[%nt]

Padding

Pad with zeroes, spaces (%_), or nothing (%-).

Setting the time

Changing the system clock.

Options for date

Instead of the current time.

Examples of date

Examples.