system-time

Get accurate system time in various formats and timezones. Use when the user needs to know the current time, date, timestamp, or wants to convert between timezones. Supports ISO 8601, Unix timestamp, human-readable formats, and timezone conversions.

Get accurate system time information in multiple formats.

Quick Usage

Current Time (Local)

date                                    # Human readable
date -Iseconds                          # ISO 8601 with seconds
date +%s                                # Unix timestamp

Current Time (UTC)

date -u                                 # UTC human readable
date -u -Iseconds                       # UTC ISO 8601
date -u +%s                             # UTC Unix timestamp (same as local)

Specific Timezone

TZ=Asia/Shanghai date                   # Shanghai time
TZ=America/New_York date                # New York time
TZ=Europe/London date                   # London time

Common Formats

Format	Command	Example Output
ISO 8601	date -Iseconds	2024-03-11T16:30:00+08:00
Unix timestamp	date +%s	1710145800
RFC 2822	date -R	Mon, 11 Mar 2024 16:30:00 +0800
Custom	date "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"	2024-03-11 16:30:00

Timezone Conversion

Convert from one timezone to another:

# Convert specific time from Shanghai to New York
TZ=America/New_York date -d "2024-03-11 16:30:00 CST"

# List available timezones
ls /usr/share/zoneinfo/

Python Alternative (for scripting)

from datetime import datetime, timezone

# Current UTC time
utc_now = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
print(utc_now.isoformat())

# Current local time
local_now = datetime.now()
print(local_now.isoformat())

# Unix timestamp
print(int(utc_now.timestamp()))

Notes

• Unix timestamp is always UTC (timezone-independent)
• ISO 8601 format includes timezone offset
• Use timedatectl on Linux systems for system clock info