bash Cookbook

Date and Time String Formatting with strftime

Table A-18 shows common date and time string formatting options. Consult your system’s manpages for date and strftime(3), as both the options and what they mean vary from system to system.

Table A-18. strftime format codes

Format	Description
%%	A literal %.
%a	The locale’s abbreviated weekday name (Sun..Sat).
%A	The locale’s full weekday name (Sunday..Saturday).
%B	The locale’s full month name (January..December).
%b or %h	The locale’s abbreviated month name (Jan..Dec).
%c	The locale’s default/preferred date and time representation.
%C	The century (a year divided by 100 and truncated to an integer) as a decimal number (00..99).
%d	The day of the month as a decimal number (01..31).
%D	The date in the format %m/%d/%y (MM/DD/YY). Note that the United States uses MM/DD/YY while everyone else uses DD/MM/YY, so this format is ambiguous and should be avoided. Use %F instead, since it’s a recognized standard and it sorts well.
%e	The day of month as a blank padded decimal number ( 1..31).
%F	The date in the format %Y-%m-%d (the ISO 8601 date format: CCYY-MM-DD); except when it’s the full month name, as on HP-UX.
%g	The two-digit year corresponding to the %V week number (YY).
%G	The four-digit year corresponding to the %V week number (CCYY).
%H	The hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number (00..23).
%h or %b	The locale’s abbreviated month name (Jan..Dec).
%I	The hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number (01..12).
%j	The day of the year as a decimal ...