NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     date - display or set date and time

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     date  [-anu]  [-d  dst]  [-r  seconds]   [-t   minutes_west]
[+format]
          [[[[[[cc]yy]mm]dd]HH]MM[.SS]]

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     When  invoked  without  arguments, the date utility displays
the current
     date and time.  Otherwise, depending on the  options  specified, date will
     set the date and time or print it in a user-defined way.

     Only the superuser may set the date.

     The options are as follows:

     -a       Use the adjtime(2) call to gradually skew the local
time to the
             remote time rather than just hopping.

     -d dst  Set the system's value for Daylight Saving Time.  If
dst is nonzero,
  future calls to gettimeofday(2) will return a
non-zero value
 for tz_dsttime.

     -n      By default, if the timed(8) daemon is running,  date
sets the time
             on  all  of the machines in the local group.  The -n
option suppresses
 this behavior and causes the time to be  set
only on the
             current machine.

     -r seconds
             Print  out  (in  specified format) the date and time
represented by
             seconds from the Epoch.

     -t minutes_west
             Set the system's value  for  minutes  west  of  GMT.
minutes_west
             specifies   the   number   of  minutes  returned  in
tz_minuteswest by future
 calls to gettimeofday(2).

     -u      Display or set the date in UTC (Coordinated  Universal) time.

     An operand with a leading plus sign (`+') signals a user-defined format
     string which specifies the format in which  to  display  the
date and time.
     The format string may contain any of the conversion specifications described
 in the strftime(3) manual page, as well as any arbitrary text.  A
     newline (`0) character is always output after the characters
specified
     by the format string.  The format  string  for  the  default
display is:

           %a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Z %Y

     If  an  operand does not have a leading plus sign, it is interpreted as a
     value for setting the system's notion of  the  current  date
and time.  The
     canonical representation for setting the date and time is:

           yy        Year   in   abbreviated   form   (for  years
1969-2068).  The format
                   ccyymmddHHMM is also  permitted,  for  non-ambiguous years.
           mm      Numeric month, a number from 1 to 12.
           dd      Day, a number from 1 to 31.
           HH      Hour, a number from 0 to 23.
           MM      Minute, a number from 0 to 59.
           SS      Second, a number from 0 to 61 (59 plus a maximum of two
                   leap seconds).

     Everything but the minute is optional.

     Time changes for Daylight Saving Time, standard  time,  leap
seconds, and
     leap years are handled automatically.

ENVIRONMENT    [Toc]    [Back]

     TZ      The timezone to use when displaying dates.  See environ(7) for
             more information.  If this variable is not set,  the
timezone is
             determined based on /etc/localtime, which the administrator adjusts
 using the -l option of zic(8).

FILES    [Toc]    [Back]

     /var/log/wtmp      record of date resets and time changes
     /var/log/messages  record of the user setting the time

EXAMPLES    [Toc]    [Back]

     The following command:

           $ date "+DATE: %Y-%m-%d%nTIME: %H:%M:%S"

     displays:

           DATE: 1987-11-21
           TIME: 13:36:16

     Set the date to June 13, 1985, 4:27 PM:

           # date 8506131627

     Set the time to 2:32 PM, without modifying the date:

           # date 1432

DIAGNOSTICS    [Toc]    [Back]

     Exit status is 0 on success, 1 if unable to  set  the  date,
and 2 if able
     to set the local date, but unable to set it globally.

     Occasionally,  when  timed(8)  synchronizes the time on many
hosts, the setting
 of a new time value may require more than  a  few  seconds.  On these
     occasions,  date  prints:  ``Network  time being set''.  The
message
     ``Communication error with timed'' occurs when the  communication between
     date and timed(8) fails.

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     adjtime(2),  gettimeofday(2), strftime(3), utmp(5), ntpd(8),
rdate(8),
     timed(8)

     R. Gusella and  S.  Zatti,  TSP:  The  Time  Synchronization
Protocol for UNIX
     4.3BSD.

STANDARDS    [Toc]    [Back]

     The  date utility is expected to be compatible with IEEE Std
1003.2
     (``POSIX.2'').

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     A date command appeared in Version 1 AT&T UNIX.

OpenBSD     3.6                          April      28,      1995