date command

Volcano · 04-22-2012, 01:10 AM

$(date +%e-%B-%Y)

what does e , B , Y stands for in this command ?

I guess Y =year

what does e and B stands for ?

sysmicuser · 04-22-2012, 01:20 AM

The best is to do it yourself on server.

Here is a clue for you.

user01@user01-VirtualBox:~$ date +%e-%B-%Y
22-April-2012
user01@user01-VirtualBox:~$

---------- Post added 04-22-12 at 04:21 PM ----------

or you can look at man page and play with formatting

Volcano · 04-22-2012, 01:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sysmicuser

The best is to do it yourself on server.

Here is a clue for you.

user01@user01-VirtualBox:~$ date +%e-%B-%Y
22-April-2012
user01@user01-VirtualBox:~$

---------- Post added 04-22-12 at 04:21 PM ----------

or you can look at man page and play with formatting

No. you misunderstood my post. I dont want to know its output because I know it. I meant the flag expansion

Quote:

I guess Y =year
what does e and B stands for

Please revert back if you still dont get the point.

Tinkster · 04-22-2012, 01:38 AM

man date
/FORMAT

Cheers,
Tink

Volcano · 04-22-2012, 01:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinkster

man date
/FORMAT
Cheers,
Tink

thanks I have found these ...
FORMAT controls the output.

%Y year
%e day of month, space padded; same as %_d
%B locale’s full month name (e.g., January)

but why a "+" there in date +%e-%B-%Y

+ is used for String concatenation. I dont see any logic why + is used with date

Nylex · 04-22-2012, 01:58 AM

From the man page:

date [OPTION]... [+FORMAT]

It's just used to tell date that the characters that come after it are the format string.

Volcano · 04-22-2012, 02:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nylex

From the man page:

date [OPTION]... [+FORMAT]

It's just used to tell date that the characters that come after it are the format string.

aah ...[+FORMAT] ....I see there is + before format.

Why Linux developers has kept OPTION and FORMAT both in the manual ? they could just put either. Don't understand why both. How are they different from functional point of view ?

Nylex · 04-22-2012, 02:09 AM

FORMAT is for the format string, while OPTION is for options like --date, --reference, etc. Also, date isn't developed by "Linux developers", but by GNU people. Their software is available for other platforms as well.

Volcano · 04-22-2012, 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nylex

FORMAT is for the format string, while OPTION is for options like --date, --reference, etc.

Does that mean FORMAT may not be available for other commands ...because all commands may not print and hence no output format required.

But options seems all commands require .

Nylex · 04-22-2012, 02:20 AM

Obviously the arguments you can pass to a given command are specific to that command.

Volcano · 04-22-2012, 02:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nylex

Obviously the arguments you can pass to a given command are specific to that command.

Excellent. I got you. You are very much helpful. Thanks.

Can you please tell how do I print a date

(a) 7 days prior to the current date

(b) last date of the previous month

I'm trying to do this basically...

$ date-7 +%e-%B-%Y // this is not correct syntax I know

Whats the correct syntax here ?

and

$ last_date_of_previous_month+%e-%B-%Y // this is not correct syntax I know

Whats the correct syntax here ?

Nylex · 04-22-2012, 02:45 AM

Did you look at the documentation for date? This is covered there. From the bottom of the man page:

A date string may contain items indicating calendar date, time of day, time zone, day of week, relative time, relative date, and numbers. ... The date string format is more complex than is easily documented here but is fully described in the info documentation.

The "SEE ALSO" section tells you how to get to the info page. Once there, you want to look at the section "Date input formats".

Tinkster · 04-22-2012, 02:47 AM

I don't understand what you mean by two, but ...

Code:

 date "+%e-%B-%Y" --date "today - 7 days"
15-April-2012

Volcano · 04-22-2012, 03:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tinkster

I don't understand what you mean by two, but ...

Code:

 date "+%e-%B-%Y" --date "today - 7 days"
15-April-2012

This is OK.

How do I get the last date of the previous month in the same format ?

Satyaveer Arya · 04-23-2012, 01:57 AM

Quote:

How do I get the last date of the previous month in the same format ?

Did you try looking through the man page of date?