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NAME

       convdate - Convert to/from RFC 5322 dates and seconds since epoch

SYNOPSIS

       convdate [-dhl] [-c | -n | -s] [date ...]

DESCRIPTION

       convdate translates the date/time strings given on the command line, outputting the results one to a line.  The input can either be a date
       in RFC 5322 format (accepting the variations on that format that innd(8) is willing to accept), or the number of seconds since epoch (if -c
       is given).  The output is either ctime(3) results, the number of seconds since epoch, or a Usenet Date: header, depending on the options
       given.

       If date is not given, convdate outputs the current date.

OPTIONS

       -c  Each argument is taken to be the number of seconds since epoch (a time_t) rather than a date.

       -d  Output a valid Usenet Date: header instead of the results of ctime(3) for each date given on the command line.  This is useful for
	   testing the algorithm used to generate Date: headers for local posts.  Normally, the date will be in UTC, but see the -l option.

       -h  Print usage information and exit.

       -l  Only makes sense in combination with -d.  If given, Date: headers generated will use the local time zone instead of UTC.

       -n  Rather than outputting the results of ctime(3) or a Date: header, output each date given as the number of seconds since epoch (a
	   time_t).  This option doesn't make sense in combination with -d.

       -s  Pass each given date to the RFC 5322 date parser and print the results of ctime(3) (or a Date: header if -d is given).  This is the
	   default behavior.

EXAMPLES

       Most of these examples are taken, with modifications from the original man page dating from 1991 and were run in the EST/EDT time zone.

	   % convdate '10 Feb 1991 10:00:00 -0500'
	   Sun Feb 10 10:00:00 1991

	   % convdate '13 Dec 91 12:00 EST' '04 May 1990 0:0:0'
	   Fri Dec 13 12:00:00 1991
	   Fri May  4 00:00:00 1990

	   % convdate -n '10 feb 1991 10:00' '4 May 90 12:00'
	   666198000
	   641880000

	   % convdate -c 666198000
	   Sun Feb 10 10:00:00 1991

       ctime(3) results are in the local time zone.  Compare to:

	   % convdate -dc 666198000
	   Sun, 10 Feb 1991 15:00:00 +0000 (UTC)

	   % env TZ=PST8PDT convdate -dlc 666198000
	   Sun, 10 Feb 1991 07:00:00 -0800 (PST)

	   % env TZ=EST5EDT convdate -dlc 666198000
	   Sun, 10 Feb 1991 10:00:00 -0500 (EST)

       The system library functions generally use the environment variable TZ to determine (or at least override) the local time zone.

HISTORY

       Written by Rich $alz <rsalz@uunet.uu.net>, rewritten and updated by Russ Allbery <rra@stanford.edu> for the -d and -l flags.

       $Id: convdate.pod 8894 2010-01-17 13:04:04Z iulius $

SEE ALSO

       active.times(5).

INN 2.5.2							    2010-02-08							       CONVDATE(1)