#Name

date - print or set the system date and time

#Synopsis

$ date [--set date] [--unix] [--iso-8601] [--rfc-3339] [--rfc-5322] [format-string]

#Description

date is a utility to set the system date and time or print the system date and time in various formats.

#Options

• -s, --set: Set system date and time
• -u, --unix: Print date as Unix timestamp
• -i, --iso-8601: Print date in ISO 8601 format
• -r, --rfc-3339: Print date in RFC 3339 format
• -R, --rfc-5322: Print date in RFC 5322 format

#Arguments

• format-string: Custom format to print the date in. Must start with a '+' character.

#Examples

# Print the current date and time in ISO 8601 format
$ date --iso-8601

# Print the current date in a custom format
$ date +%Y-%m-%d

# Set date to 1610017485 (UNIX time)
$ date -s 1610017485

#See Also

• ntpquery(1)