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authorSheldon Hearn <sheldonh@FreeBSD.org>2000-07-18 12:06:22 +0000
committerSheldon Hearn <sheldonh@FreeBSD.org>2000-07-18 12:06:22 +0000
commit26c4d5a01763d2c6f07b2a729c422d394b15cc11 (patch)
tree8a060e89c3739a6e2169bc50a3a6b9adaf039ba0 /bin/date
parentcb38e6c7ff2cef96a61f504cc76a289bcac7503e (diff)
Notes
Diffstat (limited to 'bin/date')
-rw-r--r--bin/date/date.1123
1 files changed, 65 insertions, 58 deletions
diff --git a/bin/date/date.1 b/bin/date/date.1
index 82551ada1d38..91bc198fee25 100644
--- a/bin/date/date.1
+++ b/bin/date/date.1
@@ -61,23 +61,26 @@
.Oc
.Op Cm + Ns Ar format
.Sh DESCRIPTION
-.Nm Date
-displays the current date and time when invoked without arguments.
-Providing arguments will format the date and time in a user-defined
-way or set the date.
+When invoked without arguments, the
+.Nm
+utility displays the current date and time.
+Otherwise, depending on the options specified,
+.Nm
+will set the date and time or print it in a user-defined way.
+.Pp
Only the superuser may set the date.
.Pp
The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
-.It Fl d
-Set the kernel's value for daylight savings time.
+.It Fl d Ar dst
+Set the kernel's value for daylight saving time.
If
.Ar dst
is non-zero, future calls
to
.Xr gettimeofday 2
-will return a non-zero
-.Ql tz_dsttime .
+will return a non-zero for
+.Fa tz_dsttime .
.It Fl f
Use
.Ar fmt
@@ -89,59 +92,60 @@ the default
.Oc "\&yy" Oc "\&mm" Oc "\&dd" Oc "\&HH" Ns
.Oc
.No "\&MM" Ns Op "\&.ss" Xc
-format. Parsing is done using
+format.
+Parsing is done using
.Xr strptime 3 .
.It Fl j
-Do not try to set the date. This allows you to use the
+Do not try to set the date.
+This allows you to use the
.Fl f
flag in addition to the
.Cm +
option to convert one date format to another.
.It Fl n
-The utility
+By default, if the
.Xr timed 8
-is used to synchronize the clocks on groups of machines.
-By default, if
-.Xr timed
-is running,
+daemon is running,
.Nm
-will set the time on all of the machines in the local group.
+sets the time on all of the machines in the local group.
The
.Fl n
-option stops
-.Nm
-from setting the time for other than the current machine.
-.It Fl r
-Print out the date and time that is
+option suppresses this behavior and causes the time to be set only on the
+current machine.
+.It Fl r Ar seconds
+Print the date and time represented by
+.Ar seconds ,
+where
.Ar seconds
-from the Epoch
+is the number of seconds since the Epoch
.Po
00:00:00 UTC, January 1, 1970;
see
.Xr time 3
.Pc .
-.It Fl t
-Set the kernel's value for minutes west of
+.It Fl t Ar minutes_west
+Set the system's value for minutes west of
.Tn GMT .
-.Ar Minutes_west
+.Ar minutes_west
specifies the number of minutes returned in
-.Ql tz_minuteswest
+.Fa tz_minuteswest
by future calls to
.Xr gettimeofday 2 .
.It Fl u
Display or set the date in
.Tn UTC
-.Pq universal
-time.
+(Coordinated Universal) time.
.It Fl v
-Adjust the second, minute, hour, month day, week day, month or year according to
+Adjust the second, minute, hour, month day, week day,
+month or year according to
.Ar val .
If
.Ar val
-is preceded with a plus or minus sign, the date is adjusted forwards
-or backwards according to the remaining string, otherwise the relevant
-part of the date is set. The date can be adjusted as many times as
-required using these flags. Flags are processed in the order given.
+is preceded with a plus or minus sign,
+the date is adjusted forwards or backwards according to the remaining string,
+otherwise the relevant part of the date is set.
+The date can be adjusted as many times as required using these flags.
+Flags are processed in the order given.
.Pp
When setting values
.Pq rather than adjusting them ,
@@ -167,18 +171,20 @@ or
must be used to specify which part of the date is to be adjusted.
.Pp
The week day or month may be specified using a name rather than a
-number. If a name is used with the plus
+number.
+If a name is used with the plus
.Pq or minus
sign, the date will be put forwards
.Pq or backwards
to the next
.Pq previous
-date that matches the given week day or month. This will not adjust the date
+date that matches the given week day or month.
+This will not adjust the date,
if the given week day or month is the same as the current one.
.Pp
When a date is adjusted to a specific value or in units greater than hours,
daylight savings time considerations are ignored.
-Adjustments in units of hours or less honour daylight savings time.
+Adjustments in units of hours or less honor daylight saving time.
So, assuming the current date is March 26, 0:30 and that the DST adjustment
means that the clock goes forward at 01:00 to 02:00, using
.Fl v No +1H
@@ -186,10 +192,10 @@ will adjust the date to March 26, 2:30.
Likewise, if the date is October 29, 0:30 and the DST adjustment means that
the clock goes back at 02:00 to 01:00, using
.Fl v No +3H
-will be necessary to reach October 20, 2:30.
+will be necessary to reach October 29, 2:30.
.Pp
When the date is adjusted to a specific value that doesn't actually exist
-.Pq for example March 26, 1:30 BST 2000 ,
+.Pq for example March 26, 1:30 BST 2000 in the Europe/London timezone ,
the date will be silently adjusted forwards in units of one hour until it
reaches a valid time.
When the date is adjusted to a specific value that occurs twice
@@ -201,13 +207,16 @@ Refer to the examples below for further details.
.El
.Pp
An operand with a leading plus
-.Pq Dq \&+
-sign signals a user-defined format string which specifies the format in
-which to display the date and time. The format string may contain any of
-the conversion specifications described in the
+.Pq Sq +
+sign signals a user-defined format string
+which specifies the format in which to display the date and time.
+The format string may contain any of the conversion specifications
+described in the
.Xr strftime 3
manual page, as well as any arbitrary text.
-A <newline> character is always output after the characters specified by
+A newline
+.Pq Ql \en
+character is always output after the characters specified by
the format string.
The format string for the default display is
.Dq +%+ .
@@ -225,23 +234,22 @@ prepended to the abbreviated year.
Year in abbreviated form
.Pq e.g. 89 for 1989, 06 for 2006 .
.It Ar mm
-Numeric month.
-A number from 1 to 12.
+Numeric month, a number from 1 to 12.
.It Ar dd
Day, a number from 1 to 31.
.It Ar HH
Hour, a number from 0 to 23.
.It Ar MM
Minutes, a number from 0 to 59.
-.It Ar .ss
+.It Ar ss
Seconds, a number from 0 to 61
.Pq 59 plus a maximum of two leap seconds .
.El
.Pp
Everything but the minutes is optional.
.Pp
-Time changes for Daylight Saving and Standard time and leap seconds
-and years are handled automatically.
+Time changes for Daylight Saving Time, standard time, leap seconds,
+and leap years are handled automatically.
.Sh EXAMPLES
The command:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
@@ -254,14 +262,14 @@ DATE: 1987-11-21
TIME: 13:36:16
.Ed
.Pp
-The command:
+In the Europe/London timezone, the command:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
date -v1m -v+1y
.Ed
.Pp
will display:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
-Sun Jan 4 03:15:24 GMT 1998
+Sun Jan 4 04:15:24 GMT 1998
.Ed
.Pp
where it is currently Mon Aug 4 04:15:24 BST 1997.
@@ -305,9 +313,8 @@ sets the time to
.Li "2:32 PM" ,
without modifying the date.
.Sh ENVIRONMENT
-The execution of
-.Nm
-is affected by the following environment variables:
+The following environment variables affect the execution of
+.Nm Ns :
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Ev TZ
The timezone to use when displaying dates.
@@ -323,9 +330,9 @@ for more information.
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width /var/log/messages -compact
.It Pa /var/log/wtmp
-a record of date resets and time changes
+record of date resets and time changes
.It Pa /var/log/messages
-a record of the user setting the time
+record of the user setting the time
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr gettimeofday 2 ,
@@ -345,7 +352,7 @@ utility exits 0 on success, 1 if unable to set the date, and 2
if able to set the local date, but unable to set it globally.
.Pp
Occasionally, when
-.Xr timed
+.Xr timed 8
synchronizes the time on many hosts, the setting of a new time value may
require more than a few seconds.
On these occasions,
@@ -358,12 +365,12 @@ occurs when the communication
between
.Nm
and
-.Xr timed
+.Xr timed 8
fails.
.Sh STANDARDS
The
.Nm
-command is expected to be compatible with
+utility is expected to be compatible with
.St -p1003.2 .
.Sh HISTORY
A