2.11BSD/man/cat1/date.0
DATE(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual DATE(1)
NAME
date - print and set the date
SYNOPSIS
date [-nu] [-d dst] [-t timezone] [yymmddhhmm [.ss] ]
DESCRIPTION
If no arguments are given, the current date and time are
printed. Providing an argument will set the desired date;
only the superuser can set the date. The -_d and -_t flags
set the kernel's values for daylight savings time and
minutes west of GMT. If _d_s_t is non-zero, future calls to
_g_e_t_t_i_m_e_o_f_d_a_y(2) will return a non-zero _t_z__d_s_t_t_i_m_e. _T_i_m_e_z_o_n_e
provides the number of minutes returned by future calls to
_g_e_t_t_i_m_e_o_f_d_a_y(2) in _t_z__m_i_n_u_t_e_s_w_e_s_t. The -_u flag is used to
display or set the date in GMT (universal) time. _y_y
represents the last two digits of the year; the first _m_m is
the month number; _d_d is the day number; _h_h is the hour
number (24 hour system); the second _m_m is the minute number;
._s_s is optional and represents the seconds. For example:
date 8506131627
sets the date to June 13 1985, 4:27 PM. The year, month and
day may be omitted; the default values will be the current
ones. The system operates in GMT. _D_a_t_e takes care of the
conversion to and from local standard and daylight-saving
time.
If _t_i_m_e_d(_8) is running to synchronize the clocks of machines
in a local area network, _d_a_t_e sets the time globally on all
those machines unless the -n option is given.
FILES
/usr/adm/wtmp to record time-setting. In /usr/adm/messages,
_d_a_t_e records the name of the user setting the time.
SEE ALSO
gettimeofday(2), utmp(5), timed(8),
_T_S_P: _T_h_e _T_i_m_e _S_y_n_c_h_r_o_n_i_z_a_t_i_o_n _P_r_o_t_o_c_o_l _f_o_r _U_N_I_X _4._3_B_S_D, R.
Gusella and S. Zatti
DIAGNOSTICS
Exit status is 0 on success, 1 on complete failure to set
the date, and 2 on successfully setting the local date but
failing globally.
Occasionally, when _t_i_m_e_d synchronizes the time on many
hosts, the setting of a new time value may require more than
a few seconds. On these occasions, _d_a_t_e prints: `Network
time being set'. The message `Communication error with
timed' occurs when the communication between _d_a_t_e and _t_i_m_e_d
Printed 11/26/99 March 24, 1987 1
DATE(1) UNIX Programmer's Manual DATE(1)
fails.
BUGS
The system attempts to keep the date in a format closely
compatible with VMS. VMS, however, uses local time (rather
than GMT) and does not understand daylight-saving time.
Thus, if you use both UNIX and VMS, VMS will be running on
GMT.
Printed 11/26/99 March 24, 1987 2