Date Command in Unix and Linux Examples

Date command is used to print the date and time in unix. By default the date command displays the date in the time zone that the unix operating system is configured.

Now let see the date command usage in unix

Date Command Examples:

1. Write a unix/linux date command to print the date on the terminal?

>date
Mon Jan 23 01:37:51 PST 2012

This is the default format in which the date command print the date and time. Here the unix server is configured in pacific standard time.

2. Write a unix/linux date command to print the date in GMT/UTC time zone?

>date -u
Mon Jan 23 09:40:21 UTC 2012

The -u option to the date command tells it to display the time in Greenwich Mean Time.

3. Write a unix/linux date command to sett the date in unix?

You can change the date and time by using the -s option to the date command.

>date -s "01/01/2000 12:12:12"

4. Write a unix/linux date command to display only the date part and ignore the time part?

>date '+%m-%d-%Y'
01-23-2012

You can format the output of date command by using the %. Here %m for month, %d for day and %Y for year.

5. Write a unix/linux date command to display only the time part and ignore the date part?

>date '+%H-%M-%S'
01-48-45

Here %H is for hours in 24 hour format, %M is for minutes and %S for seconds

6. Write a unix/linux date command to format both the date and time part.

>date '+%m-%d-%Y %H-%M-%S'
01-23-2012 01-49-59

7. Write a unix/linux date command to find the number of seconds from unix epoch.

>date '+%s'
1327312228

Unix epoch is the date on January 1st, 1970. The %s option is used to find the number of seconds between the current date and unix epoch.