How to convert between date formats on the command line

DominikHoffmann · #1 February 1st, 2012, 08:29 PM

How would I convert a string, such as

Code:

2012-01-31 18:54:55 +0000

into the format of the

Code:

date -j -f "%a %b %d %T %Z %Y" "`date`" "+%s"

i.e., Epoch time?

Viro · #2 February 3rd, 2012, 10:48 AM

Try this:

Code:

date --date='2012-01-31 18:54:55 +0000' +'%a %b %d %T %Z %Y'

That code produces "Tue Jan 31 18:54:55 GMT 2012" which is presumably what you're after.

DominikHoffmann · #3 February 3rd, 2012, 11:09 AM

That command produces the output

Code:

usage: date [-jnu] [-d dst] [-r seconds] [-t west] [-v[+|-]val[ymwdHMS]] ... 
            [-f fmt date | [[[mm]dd]HH]MM[[cc]yy][.ss]] [+format]

Viro · #4 February 3rd, 2012, 03:42 PM

Hmm... it looks like the shell utilities that are shipped with OS X aren't standard. Sorry I can't help more as I don't have my Mac with me.

DominikHoffmann · #5 February 3rd, 2012, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Viro

Try this:
[CODE]
That code produces "Tue Jan 31 18:54:55 GMT 2012" which is presumably what you're after.

I'm looking for the time in seconds since Jan. 1, 1970.

BjarneDM · #6 February 3rd, 2012, 05:03 PM

You'll have to combine the information from man 1 date and man 3 strftime

Code:

declare myDate="2012-01-31 18:54:55 +0000"
date -j -f "%Y-%m-%d %T %z" "${myDate}" "+%s"

The Following User Says Thank You to BjarneDM For This Useful Post:
DominikHoffmann (February 3rd, 2012)