* Day of week items: Day of week items
* Relative items in date strings: Relative items in date strings
* Pure numbers in date strings: Pure numbers in date strings
-* Authors of getdate: Authors of getdate
+* Seconds since the Epoch: Seconds since the Epoch
+* Authors of get_date: Authors of get_date
Opening the software toolbox
Do not create files that do not exist.
@item -d
-@itemx --date=time
+@itemx --date=@var{time}
@opindex -d
@opindex --date
@opindex time
Use @var{time} instead of the current time. It can contain month names,
-time zones, @samp{am} and @samp{pm}, etc. @xref{Date input formats}.
+time zones, @samp{am} and @samp{pm}, @samp{yesterday}, etc. For
+example, @option{--date="2004-02-27 14:19:13.489392193 +0530"}
+specifies the instant of time that is 489,392,193 nanoseconds after
+February 27, 2004 at 2:19:13 PM in a time zone that is 5 hours and 30
+minutes east of @acronym{UTC}. @xref{Date input formats}.
+File systems that do not support high-resolution time stamps
+silently ignore any excess precision here.
@item -f
@opindex -f
[ MMDDhhmm[[CC]YY][.ss] ]
@end example
+@vindex LC_TIME
Invoking @command{date} with no @var{format} argument is equivalent to invoking
-@samp{date '+%a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Z %Y'}.
+it with a default format that depends on the @env{LC_TIME} locale category.
+In the default C locale, this format is @samp{'+%a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Z %Y'},
+so the output looks like @samp{Fri Feb 27 13:47:51 PST 2004}.
@findex strftime @r{and @command{date}}
@cindex time formats
If given an argument that starts with a @samp{+}, @command{date} prints the
current time and date (or the time and date specified by the
@option{--date} option, see below) in the format defined by that argument,
-which is the same as in the @code{strftime} function. Except for
+which is similar to that of the @code{strftime} function. Except for
directives, which start with @samp{%}, characters in the format string
are printed unchanged. The directives are described below.
Display the time and date specified in @var{datestr} instead of the
current time and date. @var{datestr} can be in almost any common
format. It can contain month names, time zones, @samp{am} and @samp{pm},
-@samp{yesterday}, @samp{ago}, @samp{next}, etc. @xref{Date input formats}.
+@samp{yesterday}, etc. For example, @option{--date="2004-02-27
+14:19:13.489392193 +0530"} specifies the instant of time that is
+489,392,193 nanoseconds after February 27, 2004 at 2:19:13 PM in a
+time zone that is 5 hours and 30 minutes east of @acronym{UTC}.
+@xref{Date input formats}.
@item -f @var{datefile}
@itemx --file=@var{datefile}
@item seconds
Append the hours, minutes, and seconds.
+
+@item ns
+Append the hours, minutes, seconds, and nanoseconds.
@end table
If showing any time terms, then include the time zone using the format