SYNOPSIS

       date [-u] [+format]
       date [-u] [-b] HHMM | mmddHHMM[[cc]yy]
       date -a [-]sss.fff

DESCRIPTION

       Date  displays  the current date if invoked without arguments or with a
       +format argument.

       If the first argument does not start with +, date sets the system  time
       to the given value, which may consist of


              lfB  l.   mm   month  of  year (01-12) dd   day of month (01-31)
              HH   hour (00-23) MM   minute (00-59) cc   first two  digits  of
              year yy   second two digits of year

       The following options alter the behavior of date:

       -a [-]sss.fff
              Adjust  the  system  clock  by sss seconds and fff milliseconds,
              speeding up or, with -, slowing down.

       -u     Use UTC values for printing and setting the date.

       The following option is an extension:

       -b     Causes date not to alter the `wtmp' file  for  the  system  time
              change.

       An argument starting with + specifies a format string to print the cur-
       rent date.  A percent character % introduces a  field  descriptor  with
       one or two following characters which is replaced by a part of the cur-
       rent date, as shown in the table below.  Other characters  are  printed
       literally.  A newline character is printed at the end of the output.

       Field descriptors:

              l3  l.   a    T{  locale-specific abbreviated weekday name (Sys-
              tem III)  T}  A    locale-specific  full  weekday  name  (SVID3,
              POSIX.2)  b    T{ locale-specific abbreviated month name (SVID3,
              POSIX.2) T} B    T{  locale-specific  full  month  name  (SVID3,
              POSIX.2)  T}  c    T{  locale-specific  date  and  time  (SVID3,
              POSIX.2)   T}   C    T{   century   -   19   or   20   (POSIX.2)
              (/usr/5bin/s42/date,                       /usr/5bin/posix/date,
              /usr/5bin/posix2001/date)
              default output format (/usr/5bin/date) T} d    T{ day of month -
              01  to  31 (System III) T} D    T{ date as mm/dd/yy (System III)
              T} e    T{ day of month - 1 to 31 (SVID3,  POSIX.2)  T}  F    T{
              date  as  yyyy-mm-dd T} g    T{ week-based year within century -
              00 to 99 T} G    T{ week-based year including century - 0000  to
              9999  T} h    T{ same as %b (System III) T} H    T{ hour - 00 to
              (SVID3, POSIX.2) T} x    T{ locale-specific  date  (POSIX.2)  T}
              X    T{  locale-specific  time  (SVID3, POSIX.2) T} y    T{ last
              two digits of year - 00 to 99 (System III) T} Y    T{ four-digit
              year - 1970 to 2037 (SVID3, POSIX.2) T} z    T{ numeric timezone
              T} Z    T{ timezone name (SVID3,  POSIX.2)  T}  %    T{  percent
              sign (System III) T} Ec   T{ alternative date and time (POSIX.2)
              T} EC   T{ alternative base year (period) (POSIX.2)  T}  Ex   T{
              alternative  date  (POSIX.2) T} EX   T{ alternative time (SUSv2)
              T} Ey   T{ offset from %EC in years (POSIX.2)  T}  EY   T{  full
              alternative  year  (POSIX.2) T} Od   T{ day of month filled with
              leading zero using alternative numerals (POSIX.2) T} Oe   T{ day
              of  month  filled  with leading space using alternative numerals
              (POSIX.2) T} OH   T{ 24-hour  clok  using  alternative  numerals
              (POSIX.2)  T}  OI   T{  12-hour clock using alternative numerals
              (POSIX.2) T} Om   T{ month of year  using  alternative  numerals
              (POSIX.2) T} OM   T{ minute using alternative numerals (POSIX.2)
              T}  OS   T{  second  using  alternative  numerals  (POSIX.2)  T}
              Ou   T{   weekday   (Monday  =  1)  using  alternative  numerals
              (POSIX.2) T} OU   T{ week of year  (cf.  %U)  using  alternative
              numerals (POSIX.2) T} OV   T{ week of year (cf. %V) using alter-
              native numerals (POSIX.2) T} Ow   T{ weekday (Sunday = 0)  using
              alternative  numerals (POSIX.2) T} OW   T{ week of year (cf. %W)
              using alternative numerals (POSIX.2)  T}  Oy   T{  year  (offset
              from %C) using alternative numerals (POSIX.2) T}

       Compatibility references:

              l  l.  System III     AT&T System III manual page date(1).
              SVID3     T{ AT&T System V Interface Definition, Third  Edition,
              Volume  II,  1992,  date(BU_CMD). Includes all field descriptors
              present in System III.  T} POSIX.2   T{ ISO/IEC  9945-2:1993(E),
              4.15.4.1-4.15.4.2,  pp. 241-242.  Includes all field descriptors
              present in System III.  T} SUSv2     T{ The Open  Group,  Single
              UNIX  Specification,  Version  2, (C) 1997, date(XCU).  Includes
              all field descriptors present in POSIX.2.  T}

       When no arguments are given, the format defaults to

              %a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Z %Y

       in the C or POSIX locale, resulting in an output like

              Wed Feb 26 17:48:54 CET 2003

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       LANG, LC_ALL
              See locale(7).

       LC_TIME
              Alters the strings printed when format arguments are given.