[SOLVED] Simple Linux script to convert datetime format to UTC format

shayno90 · 10-09-2009, 05:48 AM

Hi, just wondering is there a simple script to convert datetime to UTC format. I have been searching different forums but most answers are for converting UTC to datetime. For example what is a simple command/script to convert todays datetime to UTC format i.e. '2009-10-09 11:47:59'. Hope someone can help!

mathew_p_a · 10-09-2009, 05:58 AM

May be this might help.

date "+%F %T"

Eg:

Quote:

# date
Fri Oct 9 16:12:21 IST 2009

# date "+%F %T"
2009-10-09 16:12:24

shayno90 · 10-09-2009, 06:07 AM

Sorry I should be more specific, converting for example '2009-10-09 11:58:59' to an integer like 1254304212 (UTC time in seconds). So the command would echo or print the integers like 1254304212 for example.

cardy · 10-09-2009, 06:07 AM

For the current time you can do this with date

Quote:

date "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z"

will print the current date (with the addition of the time zone you can remove this by removing the %Z in your local time zone)

e.g.

Quote:

date "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z"
2009-10-09 12:05:15 BST

Adding -u tells it to print UTC time

Quote:

date -u "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S %Z"
2009-10-09 11:05:51 UTC

To print the current UTC time in the format you described

Quote:

date -u "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
2009-10-09 11:07:06

Nylex · 10-09-2009, 06:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shayno90

Sorry I should be more specific, converting for example '2009-10-09 11:58:59' to an integer like 1254304212 (UTC time in seconds). So the command would echo or print the integers like 1254304212 for example.

"man date" for info on how to use date. You can do what you want with date.

cardy · 10-09-2009, 06:16 AM

try

Quote:

date -u +%s

Lordandmaker · 10-09-2009, 06:26 AM

Code:

date -d "2009-10-09 11:58:59" +%s

will echo the timestamp of the time 2009-10-09 11:58:59

To get a bash script to do it, you'd want something like

Code:

/bin/bash
date -d "$1" +%s

Where the first argument is the date in the above format (in quotes to preserve the space). $1 always contains the first argument to the script in bash, $2 the second and so on.

shayno90 · 10-09-2009, 06:27 AM

Thanks cardy I tried the command for example

echo 2009-10-09 08:39:59| date -u +%s

and the output I got was

1255087420

Is there any way to verify if this correct, that the nano seconds equals that specified time?

shayno90 · 10-09-2009, 06:34 AM

thanks lordandmaker, i tried the bash script with the previous datetime but the integers were different from the output of the previous command for example

date -d "2009-10-09 08:39:59" +%s

1255073999

but

echo 2009-10-09 08:39:59| date -u +%s

1255087420

any ideas why this is so? and which is the correct one?

Lordandmaker · 10-09-2009, 06:41 AM

I'm guessing it's only getting the date portion, and not the time portion.

Try giving $1 and $2 to the date command in the script, or play with quote marks. I _always_ have to refer to the Internet when I write a bash script.

shayno90 · 10-09-2009, 08:19 AM

Thanks guys, the first bash script works perfect for getting the UTC time output as integers. I just verified doing a quick calculation in a spreadsheet versus the other bash command.