SAYTIME(1)

📦 version 1.0, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

✨ SAYTIME(1) — the cutest little time-teller in the General Commands Manual ✨

okay bestie, gather round, because this one is adorable and also genuinely useful 💖

🌸 NAME 🌸

saytime — audio time check 🔥

like, it literally speaks the time out loud. no cap.

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

saytime [ -ch ] [ -d dir ] [ -f fmt ] [ -o dev ] [ -t output-type ]

she's a lil gal but she's got options 💅

💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

saytime speaks the current time through the computer's sound device.

that's it. that's the whole vibe. she talks, you listen, you know what time it is. main character energy fr fr 👑

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • -v factor — Increase volume level by factor. This gets directly passed on to sox. so if you want her LOUDER, this is your girl 🔊
  • -r sec — Repeat at the specified interval in background mode. she'll just. keep going. every sec seconds. iconic tbh
  • -c — Output to stdout. no sound, just text, for the terminal girlies 🖥️
  • -d dir — Use sounds from alternate directory (default /usr/share/saytime). pick your own sound stash 🎧
  • -f fmt — Specify format of time message. (see FORMAT STRING below). this is how you customise what she actually says ✨
  • -h — Display simple help. she'll tell you about herself 🫶
  • -o dev — Output to alternate file. Heads up tho: If -t is not specified with -o, -t defaults to ossdsp. noted 📝
  • -t output-type — Specify the output type (oss, alsa, etc.); this is passed directly to sox. And listen: If neither -t nor -o is specified, saytime will pick a default destination via sox -d. she chooses for you, queen behaviour 💅

🌈 FORMAT STRING 🌈

A format string can be specified to control the time message. Valid format characters are:

  • %k — hour, 24-hour clock (00..23) 🕛
  • %l — hour, 12-hour clock (01..12) 🕐
  • %M — minutes ⏱️
  • %P — Introductory phrase ('The time is') 🗣️
  • %S — seconds ⌛

The default format string is %P%l%M%S.

so by default she says the intro phrase, then the 12-hour hour, then the minutes, then the seconds. periodt 💖

😭 BUGS 😭

Likely a few. It doesn't handle errors gracefully.

not me exposing my flaws in the manpage but okay, we love honesty 💀 she is trying her best. she is simply not graceful about errors. that's the tea.

👑 CONTRIBUTORS 👑

  • Jef Poskanzer (original author),
  • Patrick J. Edwards <pje120@mail.usask.ca>
  • Charles Briscoe-Smith <cpbs@debian.org>
  • David C Dawson <beagle7@pacificcoast.net> (the -v and -r options)

give it up for the girlies and guys who built her 🫶✨

and that's the whole page bestie!! this one's from 14 Sep 2004, part of the SAYTIME(1) era of the General Commands Manual, and she's still out here telling the time out loud like the absolute legend she is. slay 💅🎀🌸

📦 where this page comes from