DATE(1)                      BSD Reference Manual                      DATE(1)

NAME
     date - display or set date and time

SYNOPSIS
     date [-d dst] [-r seconds] [-t minuteswest] [-nu] [+format]
          [[yy[mm[dd[hh]]]]mm[.ss]]

DESCRIPTION
     Date displays the current date and time when invoked without arguments.
     Providing arguments will format the date and time in a user-defined way
     or set the date.  Only the superuser may set the date.

     The options are as follows:

     -d      Set the kernel's values for daylight savings time.  If dst is
             non-zero, future calls to gettimeofday(2) will return a non-zero
             `tz_dsttime'.

     -n      The utility timed(8) is used to synchronize the clocks of groups
             of machines.  By default, if timed is running, date will set the
             time on all of the machines in the local group.  The -n option
             stops date from setting the time for other than the current ma-
             chine.

     -r      Print out the date and time for seconds from the Epoch.

     -t      Set the kernel's values for minutes west of GMT. Minuteswest
             specifies the number of minutes returned in `tz_minuteswest' by
             future calls to gettimeofday(2).

     -u      Display or set the date in UCT (universal) time.

     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 de-
     scribed in the strftime(3) manual page, as well as any arbitrary text.
     The format string for the default display is:

           +"%a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Z %Y%n"

     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:

           yy      Year in abbreviated form (e.g. 89 for 1989).
           mm      Numeric month.  A number from 1 to 12.
           dd      Day, a number from 1 to 31.
           hh      Hour, a number from 0 to 23.
           mm      Minutes, a number from 0 to 59.
           .ss     Seconds, a number from 0 to 59.

     Everything but the minutes are optional.

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

EXAMPLES
     The command:

           date +"DATE: %m/%d/%y%nTIME: %H:%M:%S%n"

     will display:

           DATE: 11/21/87

           TIME: 13:36:16

     The command:

           date 8506131627

     sets the date to ``June 13 1985, 4:27 PM''.

     The command:

           date 1432

     sets the time to 2:32 PM, without modifying the date.

FILES
     /var/log/wtmp      A record of date resets and time changes.
     /var/log/messages  A record of the user setting the time.

SEE ALSO
     gettimeofday(2),  ntpd(8),  strftime(3),  utmp(5),  timed(8)

DIAGNOSTICS
     Exit status is 0 on success, 1 if unable to set the date, and 2 if able
     to set the local date but failing to set it globally.

     Occasionally, when timed synchronizes the time on many hosts, the setting
     of a new time value may require more than a few seconds.  On these occa-
     sions, date prints: `Network time being set'. The message `Communication
     error with timed' occurs when the communication between date and timed
     fails.

HISTORY
     The date command is expected to be compatible with IEEE Std1003.2
     (``POSIX'').

BSDI BSD/386                    March 26, 1993                               2