UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi All,
Need your help in converting a date format in ksh.
I'm currently working on SUN os where my script is getting a date from a table.
The result returns to ksh in this format: 17-JUL-08

How do i convert this string to a date format like yyyymmdd?

I tried

Code:

#!/bin/ksh
d="17-JUL-08"
date -d $d "+%m/%d/%Y"

but it seems not working and giving the error message :illegal option --d


Thanks a tonnes for your help.

agatha

check if your date command supports the -d option

The date -d option is not supported by the default Solaris date utility but only by the GNU date utility (typicailly /opt/sfw/bin/date) if installed.

Thanks for all your reply.
Is there any alternative way to change the date format? (as sun solaris not support -d)

It's not pre-Y2K compliant, but you could do something with sed like this:

Code:

d="17-JUL-08"
echo $d | sed '
        s/\(..\)-\(...\)-\(..\)/20\3\2\1/
        s/JAN/01/
        s/FEB/02/
        s/MAR/03/
        s/APR/04/
        s/MAY/05/
        s/JUN/06/
        s/JUL/07/
        s/AUG/08/
        s/SEP/09/
        s/OCT/10/
        s/NOV/11/
        s/DEC/12/
'

thanks a tonnes to Annihilannic. The date now return to yyyymmdd format.