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pfuntner/unixdate

Last active April 3, 2018 15:46
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Unix-style date script for Cygwin/Git bash
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unixdate
#! /usr/bin/python
import sys
import subprocess
cmd = sys.argv[1:]
if not any(word.startswith("+") for word in cmd):
cmd.insert(0, "+%a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Z %Y")
cmd.insert(0, "date")
exit(subprocess.Popen(cmd).wait())
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pfuntner commented Apr 3, 2018

Even the new changes are not perfect:

$ date -d +30\ days                    # this doesn't behave as expected, the Unix format is not specified
Thu, May  3, 2018 11:36:28 AM

$ date -d+30\ days                     # this behaves as expected, the Unix format is specified
Thu May  3 11:36:32 EDT 2018

$

When a space separated the -d option and its argument, the script incorrectly assumed that +30 days was a format specification. To solve this:

  • the script could intelligently parse out every option and argument so it doesn't confuse arguments for options - not as simple as it may sound because date -ud +1\ day is valid - add one day and report UTC information. The script would have to know this is means the same as date -u -d +1\ day
  • do not leave a space between the option and the argument

How dumb is it for date to have the format specified this way?

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