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Date & Time Format Directives

These directives are commonly used in tools like date, logging systems, and programming languages to format timestamps.

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Directives

DirectiveRepresentsExample
%Y4-digit year2026
%mMonth01-12
%dDay of month01-31
%HHour (24-hour format)00-23
%MMinute00-59
%SSecond00-59

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Example Format

%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S
Example output: 
2026-03-06 14:25:10

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Example in Shell

date "+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"
Output: 
2026-03-06 14:25:10

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Example for File Names

backup-%Y-%m-%d-%H-%M-%S.sql
Example result: 
backup-2026-03-06-14-25-10.sql

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Common Patterns

PatternExampleUse
%Y-%m-%d2026-03-06Date only
%Y%m%d20260306Compact date
%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S2026-03-06 14:25:10Logs
%Y%m%d-%H%M%S20260306-142510Filenames