datetime - Current Date & Time
Get the current date and time in various formats.
Quick Reference
# Date only
date +%Y-%m-%d # 2025-01-15
date +%Y/%m/%d # 2025/01/15
date +%d-%m-%Y # 15-01-2025
# Date with time
date +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S" # 2025-01-15 14:30:45
date +"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" # 2025-01-15T14:30:45 (ISO 8601)
date -u +"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ" # 2025-01-15T14:30:45Z (UTC ISO 8601)
# Time only
date +%H:%M:%S # 14:30:45
date +%H:%M # 14:30
date +%I:%M%p # 02:30PM (12-hour)
# Timestamps
date +%s # 1705329045 (Unix epoch)
date +%s%3N # 1705329045123 (milliseconds)
# Human readable
date "+%B %d, %Y" # January 15, 2025
date "+%A, %B %d, %Y" # Wednesday, January 15, 2025
date "+%b %d %Y" # Jan 15 2025
# File-safe formats (no colons/spaces)
date +%Y%m%d # 20250115
date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S # 20250115_143045
date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S # 20250115-143045When to Use
Use this skill whenever you need:
- Current date for logging or timestamps
- Date strings for file naming
- ISO 8601 formatted dates for APIs
- Unix timestamps for calculations
- Human-readable date displays
- UTC time for cross-timezone consistency
Format Codes
| Code | Output | Example | |------|--------|---------| | %Y | Year (4-digit) | 2025 | | %m | Month (01-12) | 01 | | %d | Day (01-31) | 15 | | %H | Hour 24h (00-23) | 14 | | %M | Minute (00-59) | 30 | | %S | Second (00-59) | 45 | | %I | Hour 12h (01-12) | 02 | | %p | AM/PM | PM | | %s | Unix timestamp | 1705329045 | | %A | Weekday name | Wednesday | | %B | Month name | January | | %b | Month abbrev | Jan | | %Z | Timezone | PST |
Common Patterns
Log timestamp:
echo "[$(date +"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")] Event occurred"Backup file naming:
cp file.txt "file_$(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S).txt"API timestamp (UTC):
date -u +"%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ"