---
name: "date"
section: "1"
platform: "openbsd"
package: "man"
version: "8.0-current-20261101"
release: "OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/date"
---

# date(1)

display or set date and time

## NAME

**date** – display or set date and time

## SYNOPSIS

**date** \[**-aju**\] \[**-f** *pformat*\] \[**-r** *seconds*\] \[**-z** *output\_zone*\] \[**+***format*\]\[\[\[\[\[\[ *cc*\] *yy*\] *mm*\] *dd*\] *HH*\] *MM* \[.*SS*\]\]

## DESCRIPTION

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.

Changing the system date has some risks, as described in [settimeofday(2)](/settimeofday/2.md). Only the superuser may change the date.

The options are as follows:

- **-a**

  Use the [adjtime(2)](/adjtime/2.md) call to gradually skew the local time to the desired time rather than just hopping.

- **-f** *pformat*

  Parse the specified time using [strptime(3)](/strptime/3.md) with a format string of *pformat*.

- **-j**

  Parse the provided date and time and display the result without changing the clock.

- **-r** *seconds*

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

- **-u**

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

- **-z** *output\_zone*

  Just before printing the time, change to the specified timezone; see the description of TZ below. This can be used with **-j** to easily convert time specifications from one zone to another.

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)](/strftime/3.md) manual page, as well as any arbitrary text. A newline (‘\\n’) 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:

- *ccyy*

  Year. If yy is specified, but cc is not, a value for yy between 69 and 99 results in a cc value of 19. Otherwise, a cc value of 20 is used.

- *mm*

  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 60 (permitting a leap second), preceded by a period.

Everything but the minute is optional.

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

## ENVIRONMENT

- TZ

  The time zone to use when parsing or displaying dates. It is normally specified as a pathname relative to */usr/share/zoneinfo*, though see [tzset(3)](/tzset/3.md) for more information. If this variable is not set, the time zone is determined based on */etc/localtime*, which the administrator adjusts using the **-l** option of [zic(8)](/zic/8.md).

## FILES

- */var/log/wtmp*

  record of date resets and time changes

- */var/log/messages*

  record of the user setting the time

## EXIT STATUS

The **date** utility exits 0 on success, and \>0 if an error occurs.

## EXAMPLES

Display the date using the specified format string:

```
$ date "+DATE: %Y-%m-%d%nTIME: %H:%M:%S"
DATE: 1987-11-21
TIME: 13:36:16
```

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

```
# date 198506131627
```

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

```
# date 1432
```

If the mailing list server located in California is being taken offline at 5:45 AM, work out what time it will be locally, here in Tokyo:

```
$ TZ=America/Los_Angeles date -j -z Asia/Tokyo 0545
```

## SEE ALSO

[adjtime(2)](/adjtime/2.md), [gettimeofday(2)](/gettimeofday/2.md), [strftime(3)](/strftime/3.md), [utmp(5)](/utmp/5.md), [ntpd(8)](/ntpd/8.md), [rdate(8)](/rdate/8.md)

## STANDARDS

The **date** utility is compliant with the IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (“POSIX.1”) specification.

The flags \[**-afjrz**\], as well as the conversion specifiers ‘%F’, ‘%G’, ‘%g’, ‘%k’, ‘%l’, ‘%R’, ‘%s’, ‘%v’, and ‘%+’, are extensions to that specification.

This implementation requires the traditional BSD date format, \[\[\[\[\[cc\]yy\]mm\]dd\]HH\]MM\[.SS\], which differs from the X/Open System Interfaces option of the IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (“POSIX.1”) specification.

## HISTORY

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