You need to use the standard date command to format date or time. You can use
the same command with the shell script.
Syntax
The syntax is
date +FORMAT
OR
date +"%FORMAT"
OR
date +"%FORMAT%FORMAT"
OR
date +"%FORMAT-%FORMAT"
Task: Display date in
mm-dd-yy format
Open a terminal and
type the following date command:
$ date +"%m-%d-%y"
Sample output:
$ date +"%m-%d-%y"
Sample output:
02-27-07
To turn on 4 digit
year display:
$ date +"%m-%d-%Y"
Just display date as mm/dd/yy format:
$ date +"%D"
$ date +"%m-%d-%Y"
Just display date as mm/dd/yy format:
$ date +"%D"
Task: Display time
only
Type the following
command:
$ date +"%T"
Outputs:
$ date +"%T"
Outputs:
19:55:04
To display locale's
12-hour clock time, enter:
$ date +"%r"
Outputs:
$ date +"%r"
Outputs:
07:56:05 PM
To display time in
HH:MM format, type:
$ date +"%H-%M"
Sample outputs:
$ date +"%H-%M"
Sample outputs:
00-50
How do I save
time/date format to the shell variable?
Simply type the
following command at the shell prompt:
$ NOW=$(date +"%m-%d-%Y")
To display a variable use echo / printf command:
$ echo $NOW
$ NOW=$(date +"%m-%d-%Y")
To display a variable use echo / printf command:
$ echo $NOW
A sample shell script
#!/bin/bash
NOW=$(date +"%m-%d-%Y")
FILE="backup.$NOW.tar.gz"
echo "Backing up data to /nas42/backup.$NOW.tar.gz file, please
wait..."
# rest of script
# tar xcvf /nas42/backup.$NOW.tar.gz /home/ /etc/ /var
A complete list of
FORMAT control characters supported by the date command
FORMAT controls the
output. It can be the combination of any one of the following:
|
%FORMAT
String
|
Description
|
|
%%
|
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, except omit last
two digits (e.g., 21)
|
|
%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 ( 0..23)
|
|
%l
|
hour ( 1..12)
|
|
%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 PM)
|
|
%R
|
24-hour 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 timezone (e.g., -0400)
|
|
%:z
|
+hh:mm numeric timezone (e.g., -04:00)
|
|
%::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)
|
