date(1)

💖 date(1) — the manual page, but make it a group chat 💖

okay bestie, so this is date(1) from the General Commands Manual, and ngl it's one of those commands you think is boring until you realise it's literally the main character of every script you've ever written. it prints or sets the system date and time. that's the whole vibe. ✨

---

🌸 NAME 🌸

date — print or set the system date and time. yes, both. she's versatile. 💅

---

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

date [-d|--date] [-f|--file] [-I|--iso-8601] [--resolution]
[-R|--rfc-email] [--rfc-3339] [--debug] [-r|--reference] [-s|--set]
[-u|--universal] [-h|--help] [-V|--version] [format]

---

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

Print or set the system date and time. that's it. that's the whole description. the manpage is being mysterious and honestly? iconic behaviour. 🎀

---

👑 OPTIONS 👑

okay here comes the good part, the flags, the little levers you get to pull. every single one, no skips, no gatekeeping. 🫶

• -d, --date <STRING> — show the time that STRING describes, instead of just defaulting to 'now'. so like, you get to ask for a specific moment and she'll tell you what it is. lowkey magic. 🌈
• -f, --file <DATEFILE> — same energy as --date, except it runs once for every single line in DATEFILE. one file, many dates, zero complaints. 💜
• -I, --iso-8601 [<FMT>]** — output date/time in ISO 8601 format. FMT is 'date' for date only (and that's the **default btw), or 'hours', 'minutes', 'seconds', or 'ns' for date and time at the precision you asked for. example, look at her:

2006-08-14T02:34:56-06:00

possible values:

• date
• hours
• minutes
• seconds
• ns

• --resolution — spits out the available resolution of timestamps. example:

0.000000001

she's precise. she's giving nanosecond realness. ⭐

• -R, --rfc-email — output date and time in RFC 5322 format. example:

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 02:34:56 -0600

email-coded timestamps, we love to see it. 💌

• --rfc-3339 <FMT> — output date/time in RFC 3339 format. FMT is 'date', 'seconds', or 'ns' for date and time at the indicated precision. example:

2006-08-14 02:34:56-06:00

possible values:

• date
• seconds
• ns

• --debug — annotates the parsed date, and warns you about questionable usage over on stderr. basically a little bestie looking over your shoulder going "girl… are you sure about that one?" 🙈
• -r, --reference <FILE> — shows you the last modification time of FILE. perfect for when you need to know when a file was last touched. no cap. 📁
• -s, --set <STRING> — sets the time described by STRING. this one changes things, so be normal about it, okay? 🔥
• -u, --universal — prints or sets Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). timezone drama? not today. 🌍
• -h, --help — print help. she's helpful and she knows it. 🎀
• -V, --version — print version. the classic. 👑
• [format] — yeah that's it, just the format argument, sitting there at the end of the list, unbothered, moisturized, in her lane. 💅

---

🧚 VERSION 🧚

v(uutils coreutils) 0.7.0</purl>

---

and that's the whole page, bestie. you now know date better than most people know their own birthdays. go forth and timestamp things. 🦋💖

signed off with love from date (uutils coreutils) 0.7.0 — that's the source, that's the version, that's the whole footer, mwah. ✨🎀