--- name: "date" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "coreutils" version: "9.12-2" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd", "macos"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/date" --- # date(1) print or set the system date and time ## NAME date - print or set the system date and time ## SYNOPSIS **date** \[*OPTION*\]... \[**+***FORMAT*\]\ **date** \[*OPTION*\]... *MMDDhhmm*\[\[*CC*\]*YY*\]\[**.***ss*\] ## DESCRIPTION Display date and time in the given FORMAT. With **-s**, or with MMDDhhmm\[\[CC\]YY\]\[.ss\], set the date and time first. Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too. - **-d, --date=STRING** display time described by STRING, not 'now' - **--debug** annotate the parsed date, and warn about questionable usage to standard error - **-f, --file=DATEFILE** like **--date**; once for each line of DATEFILE; if DATEFILE is -, read names from standard input - **-I\[FMT\], --iso-8601\[=FMT\]** output date/time in ISO 8601 format. FMT='date' (default), 'hours', 'minutes', 'seconds', or 'ns' for date and time to the indicated precision. Example: 2006-08-14T02:34:56-06:00 - **--resolution** output the available resolution of timestamps. Example: 0.000000001 - **-R, --rfc-email** output date and time in RFC 5322 format. Example: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 02:34:56 +0000 - **--rfc-3339=FMT** output date/time in RFC 3339 format. FMT='date', 'seconds', or 'ns' for date and time to the indicated precision. Example: 2006-08-14 02:34:56-06:00 - **-r, --reference=FILE** display the last modification time of FILE - **-s, --set=STRING** set time described by STRING - **-u, --utc, --universal** print or set Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) - **--help** display this help and exit - **--version** output version information and exit All options that specify the date to display are mutually exclusive. I.e.: **--date**, **--file**, **--reference**, **--resolution**. FORMAT controls the output. Interpreted sequences are: FORMAT Example Description - %% % a literal % - %n \\n a newline - %t \\t a tab - %C 20 century; like %Y, except omit last two digits - %y 99 year (last two digits; 00..99) - %Y 1999 year - %g 99 year of ISO week number (last 2 digits; 00-99); see %G - %G 1999 year of ISO week number; normally useful only with %V - %a Sun locale's abbreviated weekday name - %A Sunday locale's full weekday name - %b Mar locale's abbreviated month name - %h Mar same as %b - %B March locale's full month name - %m 12 month (01..12) - %d 31 day of month (01..31) - %e 1 day of month, space padded; same as %\_d - %D 12/31/99 date (ambiguous); same as %m/%d/%y - %F 1999-12-31 full date; like %+4Y-%m-%d - %x 12/31/99 locale's date (can be ambiguous) - %c ... locale's date and time (e.g., Thu Mar 3 23:05 2005) - %H 23 hour (00..23) - %I 01 hour (01..12) - %k 8 hour, space padded ( 0..23); same as %\_H - %l 9 hour, space padded ( 1..12); same as %\_I - %M 59 minute (00..59) - %S 60 second (00..60) - %N 123456789 nanoseconds (000000000..999999999) - %s 1970010100 seconds since the Epoch (1970-01-01 00:00 UTC) - %p PM locale's equivalent of AM or PM; blank if not known - %P am like %p, but lower case - %r 1:11:04 PM locale's 12-hour clock time - %R 23:59 24-hour hour and minute; same as %H:%M - %T 23:59:59 time; same as %H:%M:%S - %X 23:59:59 locale's time representation - %j 365 day of year (001..366) - %q 4 quarter of year (1..4) - %u 7 day of week (1..7); 1 is Monday - %w 6 day of week (0..6); 0 is Sunday - %U 52 week of year; Sunday as first day of week (00..53) - %V 52 ISO week number; Monday as first day of week (01..53) - %W 52 week of year; Monday as first day of week (00..53) - %z \+0400 +hhmm numeric time zone - %:z \+04:00 +hh:mm numeric time zone - %::z \+04:00:00 +hh:mm:ss numeric time zone - %:::z \+04 numeric time zone to necessary precision; with : - %Z EDT alphabetic time zone abbreviation 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 - \+ pad with zeros, and put '+' before future years with \>4 digits - ^ use upper case if possible - \# use opposite case if possible After any flags comes an optional field width, as a decimal number; then an optional modifier, which is either E to use the locale's alternate representations if available, or O to use the locale's alternate numeric symbols if available. ## EXAMPLES Convert seconds since the Epoch (1970-01-01 UTC) to a date - $ date --date='@2147483647' **Show the time on the west coast of the US (use [tzselect(1)](/tzselect/1.md) to find TZ)** - **$ TZ='America/Los\_Angeles' date** **Show the local time for 9AM next Friday on the west coast of the US** - **$ date --date='TZ="America/Los\_Angeles" 09:00 next Fri'** ## DATE STRING **The --date=STRING is a mostly free format human readable date string** **such as "Sun, 29 Feb 2004 16:21:42 -0800" or "2004-02-29 16:21:42" or** **even "next Thursday". A date string may contain items indicating** **calendar date, time of day, time zone, day of week, relative time,** **relative date, and numbers. An empty string indicates the beginning** **of the day. The date string format is more complex than is easily** **documented here but is fully described in the info documentation.** ## AUTHOR **Written by David MacKenzie.** ## REPORTING BUGS **Report bugs to: \.**\ **Report any translation bugs to: \.**\ **GNU coreutils home page: \**\ **General help using GNU software: \** ## COPYRIGHT **Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.** **License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later \.**\ **This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.** **There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.** ## SEE ALSO **Full documentation \**\ **or available locally via: info '(coreutils) date invocation'**