Different Date/Time format in shell
Parameters#
| Format | Interpreted as |
|---|---|
%% |
literal percent sign (%) |
%A |
weekday name (e.g. Sunday) |
%a |
weekday name in short fomat (e.g. Sun) |
%B |
full month name (e.g. January) |
%b |
month name (e.g. Jan) |
%H |
hour (00..23) |
%I |
hour (01..12) |
%j |
day of year (001..366) |
%k |
hour ( 0..23) |
%l |
hour ( 1..12) |
%M |
minute (00..59) |
%m |
month (01..12) |
%p |
Define AM or PM; blank if not known |
%R |
24-hour hour and minute; same as %H:%M |
%r |
12-hour clock time (e.g. 11:11:04 PM) |
%S |
second (00..60) |
%s |
Unix epoch: seconds since 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (not available in older UNIXes) |
%T |
time, equivalent to %H:%M:%S |
%Z |
time zone name (e.g. PDT) |
%z |
time zone offset (direction, hours, minutes, e.g. -0700) |
Remarks#
Below are a few useful links for the date command in Unix shells:
- Linux: GNU man page for date, includes format codes, see also GNU man page for strftime
- FreeBSD: BSD man page for date, format codes live in BSD man page for strftime
- Apple: OS X man page for date, format codes live in OS X man page for strftime
- Epoch: Unix time, also known as POSIX time (
%s, seconds since 1970)
Sample Code & output
#!/bin/bash
#Print Date / Time in different Formats
date1=$(date +'%d-%m-%y')
date2=$(date +'%d-%m-%Y')
date3=$(date +'%d-%b-%Y')
date4=$(date +'%d-%B-%Y')
date5=$(date +'%a %d-%b-%Y')
date6=$(date +'%a %d-%b-%Y %Z')
date7=$(date +'%A %d-%b-%Y')
echo "Print Date in different format"
echo $date1
echo $date2
echo $date3
echo $date4
echo $date5
echo $date6
echo $date7
echo
#print Timestamp
time1=$(date '+%H:%M:%S')
time2=$(date '+%I:%M:%S')
time3=$(date '+%r')
time4=$(date '+%R')
echo "Print Time in different format"
echo "Time in 24h clock: $time1"
echo "Time in 12h clock: $time2"
echo "Time with AM/PM: $time3"
echo "Time in hour&minute: $time4"
exitOutput
Print Date in different format
01-08-16
01-08-2016
01-Aug-2016
01-August-2016
Mon 01-Aug-2016
Mon 01-Aug-2016 IST
Monday 01-Aug-2016
Print Time in different format
Time in 24h clock: 15:16:06
Time in 12h clock: 03:16:06
Time with AM/PM: 03:16:06 PM
Time in hour&minute: 15:16