Sometimes you need to add a handy time-stamp to your bash output. For back-up purposes, archiving-purposes or just for experimenting. Doing so is simple, you just need to add the $date command to your output.
First, some basics (All the variables are case-sensitive):
- date – Display the current date
- %y – Add current year
- %m – Add current month
- %d – Add current day
- %H – Add current hour
- %M – Add current minute
- %S – Add current second
Now, some examples:
- echo $(date +%H:%M:%S) > Current\ Time.txt – Echo current time to a txt file
- cp -r $USER/minecraft_server/world $USER/minecraft_server/world-backup-$(date +%y-%m-%d) – Make a backup of a folder with the current date
- date ‘+DATE: %m/%d/%y%nTIME:%H:%M:%S’ – Print the current date and time to the terminal
