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This is the NetBSD version of unix "date" ported to compile and
execute under NeXTSTEP 3.3. It also includes a quad-fat binary
for those who don't want to or can't compile the source. The
NeXTSTEP version of "date" is of little value in scripts since it
doesn't support the "+" option. This version does support the
"+" option, but unfortunately does so using the NeXTSTEP "strftime()"
library call rather than the NetBSD system call. The NeXTSTEP
"strftime()" function is also limiting. In fact, it's not even
possible to duplicate the output of the regular "date" command with
strftime which may explain why there's no "+" option. However,
it's better than nothing.
I make no guarantees that this version of date works correctly.
It seems to work well enough for me, but I'm only using it to
generate formatted strings containing %y%m%d.
I've hacked in support for the correct output of date when given
no + option just to keep things compatible in case someone uses
this date function instead of the system-supplied one. It looked
like it would be too much work to also port the NetBSD version of
strftime().
Along with all of the other problems that popped up when trying to
port this, I also was unable to generate a nicely formatted man
page. I'm including an SGI man page for date (since it's all I
have access to) even though it's probably wrong in some areas.
It's still closer to what this version of date does than what the
NeXTSTEP man page outputs. For the important stuff (what options
are available for use with "+"), see the strftime (3) man page.
If anyone feels like improving this port, please do so. Including
a better version of strftime would be great. Creating a man page
from the date.1 source file would also be great. Please send me
any updates you make so I can start using them :) It's unlikely
that I'll spend any further time improving this port.
This file was originally uploaded to
ftp://next-ftp.peak.org/pub/next/submissions/date-unix-0.1-NIHS.bs.tar.gz.
I would expect to see it eventually migrate to
ftp://next-ftp.peak.org/pub/next/sources/util/date-unix-0.1-NIHS.bs.tar.gz
-Mike Kienenberger
mkienenb@alaska.net
June 23rd, 1996
date(1) date(1)
NAME
date - print and set the date
SYNOPSIS
date [ -u ] [ + format ]
date [ -a [ - ] sss.fff ]
date [ -u | -n ] [[ mmdd]HHMM | mmddHHMM[cc]yy ] [ .ss ]
DESCRIPTION
If no argument is given, or if the argument begins with +, the current
date and time are printed. Otherwise, the current date is set if the
user is super-user.
Supplementary code set characters in +format (see below) are recognized
and displayed according to the locale specified in the LC_CTYPE
environment variable [see LANG on environ(5)]. Month and weekday names
are recognized according to the locale specified in the LC_TIME
environment variable, as described below.
-a [ - ] sss.fff
Slowly adjust the time by sss.fff seconds (fff represents
fractions of a second). This adjustment can be positive or
negative. The system's clock will be sped up or slowed down
until it has drifted by the number of seconds specified.
-u Display (or set) the date in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT-
universal time), bypassing the normal conversion to (or from)
local time.
mm is the month number
dd is the day number in the month
HH is the hour number (24 hour system)
MM is the minute number
ss is the second(s) number
cc is the century minus one
yy is the last 2 digits of the year number
The month, day, year, and century may be omitted; the current
values are supplied as defaults. For example:
date 10080045
sets the date to Oct 8, 12:45 AM. The current year is the
default because no year is supplied. The system operates in
GMT. date takes care of the conversion to and from local
standard and daylight time. Only super-user may change the
date. After successfully setting the date and time, date
displays the new date according to the default format. The
date command uses TZ to determine the correct time zone
information [see environ(5)].
+ format If the argument begins with +, the output of date is under
the control of the user. Each Field Descriptor, described
below, is preceded by % and is replaced in the output by its
corresponding value. A single % is encoded by %%. All other
characters are copied to the output without change. The
string is always terminated with a new-line character. If
the argument contains embedded blanks it must be quoted (see
the EXAMPLE section). Supplementary code set characters may
be used in format.
As noted, month and weekday names are recognized according to the locale
specified in the LC_TIME environment variable [see LANG on environ(5)].
The names are taken from a file whose format is specified in strftime(4).
This file also defines country-specific date and time formats such as %c,
which specifies the default date format. The following form is the
default for %c:
%a %b %e %T %Z %Y
e.g., Fri Dec 23 10:10:42 EST 1988
Field Descriptors (must be preceded by a %):
a abbreviated weekday name
A full weekday name
b abbreviated month name
B full month name
c country-specific date and time format
d day of month - 01 to 31
D date as %m/%d/%y
e day of month - 1 to 31 (single digits are preceded by a blank)
h abbreviated month name (alias for %b)
H hour - 00 to 23
I hour - 01 to 12
j day of year - 001 to 366
m month of year - 01 to 12
M minute - 00 to 59
n insert a new-line character
p string containing ante-meridiem or post-meridiem indicator (by
default, AM or PM)
r time as %I:%M:%S %p
R time as %H:%M
S second - 00 to 61, allows for leap seconds
t insert a tab character
T time as %H:%M:%S
U week number of year (Sunday as the first day of the week) - 00 to
53
w day of week - Sunday = 0
W week number of year (Monday as the first day of the week) - 00 to
53
x country-specific date format
X country-specific time format
y year within century - 00 to 99
Y year as ccyy (4 digits)
Z timezone name
EXAMPLE
The command
date '+DATE: %m/%d/%y%nTIME: %H:%M:%S'
generates as output:
DATE: 08/01/76
TIME: 14:45:05
FILES
/usr/lib/locale/locale/LC_MESSAGES/uxcore.abi
language-specific message file [See LANG on environ (5).]
SEE ALSO
syslog(3), strftime(4), timed(1M), timeslave(1M), utmp(4), environ(5)
DIAGNOSTICS
UX:date:ERROR:No permission
You are not super-user and you try to change the date.
UX:date:ERROR:bad conversion
The date set is syntactically incorrect.
NOTES
If you attempt to set the current date to one of the dates on which the
standard and alternate time zones change (for example, the date that
daylight time is starting or ending), and you attempt to set the time to
a time in the interval between the end of standard time and the beginning
of the alternate time (or the end of the alternate time and the beginning
of standard time), the results are unpredictable.
If you are running a network-based time service, such as timed, then it
will override any changes you make with the date command.
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These are the contents of the former NiCE NeXT User Group NeXTSTEP/OpenStep software archive, currently hosted by Netfuture.ch.