[SOLVED] How to use date command for last minute

sergani · 10-05-2011, 09:19 AM

Hi all,

I'm currently writing a new script for Cacti (a graphing tool) that basically counts some lines in /var/log/httpd/access_log on a CentOS 5.5 machine.

If I do this

Code:

LOG=/var/log/httpd/access_log
LINES=`grep $(date "+%d/%b/%Y:%R") $LOG | grep "GET " | wc -l`
printf "$LINES"

I'll get a number, which is the number of lines.

The problem is that

Code:

date "+%d/%b/%Y:%R"

produces

Code:

05/Oct/2011:15:17

which basically is the current date to the minute.

Is it possible to use date to print the date, to the last (not current) minute? I could do it using some math and introducing variables, but is it possible through the date command itself, or any simple workaround?

Thanks all...
//M

macemoneta · 10-05-2011, 09:33 AM

The 'man date' command will provide much useful information. For your application:

Code:

date -d '1 minute ago' "+%d/%b/%Y:%R"

sergani · 10-05-2011, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macemoneta

The 'man date' command will provide much useful information. For your application:

Code:

date -d '1 minute ago' "+%d/%b/%Y:%R"

Awesome!

Actually i searched the man page, but couldn't find anything, not even now after your answer

Thanks a lot...
//M

macemoneta · 10-05-2011, 09:48 AM

Reading documentation is a skill worth taking the time to learn.

From 'man date':

Quote:

The --date=STRING is a mostly free format human readable date string such as "Sun, 29 Feb 2004 16:21:42 -0800" or "2004-02-29 16:21:42" or even "next Thursday". A date string may contain items indicating calendar date, time of day, time zone, day of week, relative time, relative date, and numbers. An empty string indicates the beginning of the day. The date string format is more complex than is easily documented here but is fully described in the info documentation.

From 'info date', pointed to by the above:

Quote:

28.6 Relative items in date strings
===================================

"Relative items" adjust a date (or the current date if none) forward or
backward. The effects of relative items accumulate. Here are some
examples:

1 year
1 year ago
3 years
2 days

The unit of time displacement may be selected by the string `year'
or `month' for moving by whole years or months. These are fuzzy units,
as years and months are not all of equal duration. More precise units
are `fortnight' which is worth 14 days, `week' worth 7 days, `day'
worth 24 hours, `hour' worth 60 minutes, `minute' or `min' worth 60
seconds, and `second' or `sec' worth one second. An `s' suffix on
these units is accepted and ignored.

The unit of time may be preceded by a multiplier, given as an
optionally signed number. Unsigned numbers are taken as positively
signed. No number at all implies 1 for a multiplier. Following a
relative item by the string `ago' is equivalent to preceding the unit
by a multiplier with value -1.

sergani · 10-05-2011, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macemoneta

Reading documentation is a skill worth taking the time to learn.

Not really interested ... but thanks for the advice anyway

//M