date
date - Print or set the system date and time
Description:
Same as the UNIX date command. Display the current time in the given FORMAT or set the system date.
Syntax:
date {option}... {MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss]} { '+format' }
Parameters:
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| d | Print the specified date. |
| R | Output RFC-2822 compliant date string. |
| s | Set the current date to the specified date. |
| u | Print or set Coordinated Universal Time. |
Format:
| Format | Description |
|---|---|
| %% | A literal %. |
| %a | Locale's abbreviated weekday name (Sun..Sat). |
| %A | Locale's full weekday name, variable length (Sunday..Saturday). |
| %b | Locale's abbreviated month name (Jan..Dec). |
| %B | Locale's full month name, variable length (January..December). |
| %c | Locale's date and time (Sat Nov 04 12:02:33 EST 1989). |
| %C | Century (year divided by 100 and truncated to an integer) [00-99]. |
| %d | Day of month (01..31). |
| %D | Date (mm/dd/yy). |
| %e | Day of month, blank padded ( 1..31). |
| %F | Same as %Y-%m-%d. |
| %g | The 2-digit year corresponding to the %V week number. |
| %G | The 4-digit year corresponding to the %V week number. |
| %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 upper case AM or PM indicator (blank in many locales). |
| %P | Locale's lower case am or pm indicator (blank in many locales). |
| %r | Time, 12-hour (hh:mm:ss [AP]M). |
| %R | Time, 24-hour (hh:mm). |
| %s | Seconds since 00:00:00 1970-01-01 UTC (a GNU extension). |
| %S | Second (00..60); the 60 is necessary to accommodate a leap second. |
| %t | A horizontal tab. |
| %T | Time, 24-hour (hh:mm:ss). |
| %u | Day of week (1..7); 1 represents Monday. |
| %U | Week number of year with Sunday as first day of week (00..53). |
| %V | Week number of year with Monday as first day of week (01..53). |
| %w | Day of week (0..6); 0 represents Sunday. |
| %W | Week number of year with Monday as first day of week (00..53). |
| %x | Locale's date representation (mm/dd/yy). |
| %X | Locale's time representation (%H:%M:%S). |
| %y | Last two digits of year (00..99). |
| %Y | Year (1970...). |
| %z | RFC-2822 style numeric timezone (-0500) (a nonstandard extension). |
| %Z | Time zone (e.g., EDT), or nothing if no time zone is determinable. |
Example:
set the date to December 1st 2006,15:48PM : date -s 120115482006
show the current day only : date '+%d'
© 2025 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
For more information about trademarks, please visit: Cisco trademarks
For more information about legal terms, please visit: Cisco legal terms
For legal information about Accedian Skylight products, please visit: Accedian legal terms and tradmarks