DATE(1)                                                                DATE(1)



NAME
       date - print and set the date

SYNOPSIS
       date [ -n ] [ -u ] [ yymmddhhmm [ .ss ] ]

DESCRIPTION
       If no arguments are given, the current date and time are printed.  Pro‐
       viding an argument will set the desired date.  Only the  superuser  can
       set  the  date.   The _-_u flag is used to display or set the date in GMT
       (universal) time.  _y_y represents the last two digits of the  year;  the
       first _m_m is the month number; _d_d is the day number; _h_h is the hour num‐
       ber (24 hour system); the second  _m_m  is  the  minute  number;  ._s_s  is
       optional and represents the seconds.  For example:

              date 8506131627

       sets the date to June 13 1985, 4:27 PM.  The year, month and day may be
       omitted; the default values will be the current ones.  The system oper‐
       ates in GMT.  _D_a_t_e takes care of the conversion to and from local stan‐
       dard and daylight-saving time.

       If _t_i_m_e_d_(_8_) is running to synchronize the clocks of machines in a local
       area  network, _d_a_t_e sets the time globally on all those machines unless
       the -n option is given.

FILES
       /usr/adm/wtmp  to  record  time-setting.   In  /usr/adm/messages,  _d_a_t_e
       records the name of the user setting the time.

SEE ALSO
       gettimeofday(2), utmp(5), timed(8),
       _T_S_P_:  _T_h_e _T_i_m_e _S_y_n_c_h_r_o_n_i_z_a_t_i_o_n _P_r_o_t_o_c_o_l _f_o_r _U_N_I_X _4_._3_B_S_D, R. Gusella and
       S. Zatti

DIAGNOSTICS
       Exit status is 0 on success, 1 on complete failure to set the date, and
       2 on successfully setting the local date but failing globally.

       ‘You are not superuser: date not set’ if you try to change the date but
       are not the super-user.  Occasionally, when _t_i_m_e_d synchronizes the time
       on  many hosts, the setting of a new time value may require more than a
       few seconds.  On these occasions,  _d_a_t_e  prints:  ‘Network  time  being
       set’.   The  message  ‘Communication  error with timed’ occurs when the
       communication between _d_a_t_e and _t_i_m_e_d fails.

BUGS
       The system attempts to keep the date in  a  format  closely  compatible
       with VMS.  VMS, however, uses local time (rather than GMT) and does not
       understand daylight-saving time.  Thus, if you use both UNIX  and  VMS,
       VMS will be running on GMT.



4th Berkeley Distribution        May 18, 1986                          DATE(1)