Linux Command date

Linux Command date

Date usage 1:

FORMAT: date [OPTION]... [+ FORMAT]

FORMAT controls the output. Interpreted sequences are:


% A literal %

% A locale's abbreviated weekday name (e.g., Sun)

% A locale's full weekday name (e.g., Sunday)

% B locale's abbreviated month name (e.g., Jan)

% B locale's full month name (e.g., January)

% C locale's date and time (e.g., Thu Mar 3 23:05:25 2005)

% C century; like % Y, percentage t omit last two digits (e.g., 20)

% 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, space padded (0 .. 23); same as % _ H

% L hour, space padded (1 .. 12); same as % _ I

% M month (01 .. 12)

% M minute (00 .. 59)

% N a newline

% N nanoseconds (000000000 .. 999999999)


% P locale's equivalent of either AM or PM; blank if not known


% P like % p, but lower case


% R locale's 12-hour clock time (e.g., 11:11:04)


% R 24-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 locale's date representation (e.g., 12/31/99)


% X locale's time representation (e.g., 23:13:48)


% Y last two digits of year (00 .. 99)


% Y year


% Z + hhmm numeric time zone (e.g.,-0400)


%: Z + hh: mm numeric time zone (e.g)


%: 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

For example:

1. year, month, and day

$ date +%Y%m%d20150107

2. year, month, and day. Only the last two digits of the year are retained.

~$ date +%y%m%d150107

3. hours, minutes, And seconds

~$ date +%H%M%S233045

4. year, month, day, hour, minute, and second

~$ date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S20150107233145

To be continued ......