---
name: "r.timestamp"
section: "1grass"
platform: "linux"
package: "grass-doc"
version: "8.4.1-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/r.timestamp"
---

# r.timestamp(1grass)

Modifies a timestamp for a raster map. Print/add/remove a timestamp for a raster map.

## NAME

**r.timestamp**  - Modifies a timestamp for a raster map.\
 Print/add/remove a timestamp for a raster map.

## KEYWORDS

raster, metadata, timestamp, time

## SYNOPSIS

**r.timestamp**\
 **r.timestamp --help**\
 **r.timestamp** **map**=*name*  \[**date**=*timestamp*\]   \[--**help**\]  \[--**verbose**\]  \[--**quiet**\]  \[--**ui**\]

### Flags:

- **--help**

  Print usage summary

- **--verbose**

  Verbose module output

- **--quiet**

  Quiet module output

- **--ui**

  Force launching GUI dialog

### Parameters:

- **map**=*name* **\[required\]**

  Name of raster map

- **date**=*timestamp*

  Datetime, datetime1/datetime2, or ’none’ to remove\
   Format: ’15 jan 1994’ (absolute) or ’2 years’ (relative)

## DESCRIPTION

*r.timestamp* has two modes of operation. If no **date** argument is supplied, then the current timestamp for the raster map is printed. If a date argument is specified, then the timestamp for the raster map is set to the specified date(s). See examples below.

## NOTES

Strings containing spaces should be quoted. For specifying a range of time, the two timestamps should be separated by a forward slash. To remove the timestamp from a raster map, use **date=none**.

## TIMESTAMP FORMAT

The timestamp values must use the format as described in the *GRASS* *Datetime Library*. The source tree for this library should have a description of the format. For convenience, the formats are reproduced here:

There are two types of datetime values:

- •

  *absolute* and

- •

  *relative*.

Absolute values specify exact dates and/or times. Relative values specify a span of time.

### Absolute

The general format for absolute values is:\

```
  day month year [bc] hour:minute:seconds timezone
         day is 1-31
         month is jan,feb,...,dec
         year is 4 digit year
         [bc] if present, indicates dates is BC
         hour is 0-23 (24 hour clock)
         minute is 0-59
         second is 0-59.9999 (fractions of second allowed)
         timezone is +hhmm or -hhmm (eg, -0600)
```

Some parts can be missing, for example\

```
         1994 [bc]
         Jan 1994 [bc]
         15 jan 1000 [bc]
         15 jan 1994 [bc] 10 [+0000]
         15 jan 1994 [bc] 10:00 [+0100]
         15 jan 1994 [bc] 10:00:23.34 [-0500]
```

### Relative

There are two types of relative datetime values, year-month and day-second. The formats are:\

```
         [-] # years # months
         [-] # days # hours # minutes # seconds
```

The words years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds are literal words, and the # are the numeric values. Examples:\

```
         2 years
         5 months
         2 years 5 months
         100 days
         15 hours 25 minutes 35.34 seconds
         100 days 25 minutes
         1000 hours 35.34 seconds
```

The following are *illegal* because it mixes year-month and day-second (because the number of days in a month or in a year vary):\

```
         3 months 15 days
         3 years 10 days
```

## EXAMPLES

Prints the timestamp for the "soils" raster map. If there is no timestamp for "soils", nothing is printed. If there is a timestamp, one or two time strings are printed, depending on if the timestamp for the map consists of a single date or two dates (ie start and end dates).\

```
r.timestamp map=soils
```

Sets the timestamp for "soils" to the single date "15 sep 1987".\

```
r.timestamp map=soils date=’15 sep 1987’
```

Sets the timestamp for "soils" to have the start date "15 sep 1987" and the end date "20 feb 1988".\

```
r.timestamp map=soils date=’15 sep 1987/20 feb 1988’
```

Sets the timestamp for "soils" to have the start date "18 feb 2005 10:30:00" and the end date "20 jul 2007 20:30:00".\

```
r.timestamp map=soils date=’18 feb 2005 10:30:00/20 jul 2007 20:30:00’
```

Removes the timestamp for the "soils" raster map.\

```
r.timestamp map=soils date=none
```

## KNOWN ISSUES

Spaces in the timestamp value are required.

## SEE ALSO

*r.info,* *r3.timestamp,* *v.timestamp*

## AUTHOR

Michael Shapiro, U.S.Army Construction Engineering Research Laboratory

## SOURCE CODE

Available at: r.timestamp source code (history)

Accessed: Monday Feb 24 17:50:54 2025

Main index \| Raster index \| Topics index \| Keywords index \| Graphical index \| Full index

© 2003-2025 GRASS Development Team, GRASS GIS 8.4.1 Reference Manual