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DATE(1)				 User Commands			       DATE(1)

NAME
       date - print or set the system date and time

SYNOPSIS
       date [OPTION]...	[+FORMAT]
       date [-u|--utc|--universal] [MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]]

DESCRIPTION
       Display	date  and  time	 in  the given FORMAT.	With -s, or with [MMD-
       Dhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]], set	the date and time.

       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
	      stderr

       -f, --file=DATEFILE
	      like --date; once	for each line of DATEFILE

       -I[FMT],	--iso-8601[=FMT]
	      output date/time in ISO 8601 format.  FMT='date' for  date  only
	      (the  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 -0600

       --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:

       %%     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., 20)

       %d     day of month (e.g., 01)

       %D     date (ambiguous);	same as	%m/%d/%y

       %e     day of month, space padded; same as %_d

       %F     full date; like %+4Y-%m-%d

       %g     last two digits of year of ISO week number  (ambiguous;  00-99);
	      see %G

       %G     year of ISO week number; 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

       %q     quarter of year (1..4)

       %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 the	Epoch (1970-01-01 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 (can be ambiguous; e.g., 12/31/99)

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

       %y     last two digits of year (ambiguous; 00..99)

       %Y     year

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

       %:z    +hh:mm numeric time zone (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)

       By default, date	pads numeric fields with zeroes.   The	following  op-
       tional 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	alter-
       nate 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) 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 cal-
       endar date, time	of day,	time zone, day of week,	relative  time,	 rela-
       tive 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
       GNU coreutils online help: <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/>
       Report any translation bugs to <https://translationproject.org/team/>

COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (C) 2025 Free Software	Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+:  GNU
       GPL version 3 or	later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
       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 <https://www.gnu.org/software/coreutils/date>
       or available locally via: info '(coreutils) date	invocation'

GNU coreutils 9.6		 January 2025			       DATE(1)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=gdate&sektion=1&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+14.3.quarterly>

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