How to Print Time in Bash? [2 Quick Methods]

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To print the current time in Bash, use the command:

echo $(date +%T)

Printing current time is useful for logging purposes, timing operations as well as displaying real-time information. Using the date command with proper format specifiers one can display the time in various formats such as hours, minutes, and seconds, either in 24-hour or 12-hour clock notation. In this article, I am going to demonstrate how to print time in Bash and customize it.

Format Specifiers for Printing Time in Bash

Some useful format specifiers for printing time are listed below:

1. Printing Time Using the “date” Command

The date command by default prints the current date and time. Also, it provides many options and format specifiers that allow users to print the current time without printing the date. For example:

1. Print time with date:

   echo $(date)

2. Print time:

   echo $(date +%T)

3. Print hour and minute:

   echo $(date +%H:%M)

4. Print time with AM/PM notation:

   echo $(date +%r)

The following script prints time in all available formats:

#!/bin/bash

today=$(date)
echo "Today's date: $today"

time_with_seconds=$(date +%T)
echo "Current time (with seconds): $time_with_seconds"

time_without_seconds=$(date +%H:%M)
echo "Current time (without seconds): $time_without_seconds"

with_Am_Pm=$(date +%r)
echo "Current time (12-hour format): $with_Am_Pm"

current_hours=$(date +%H)
echo "Current hours: $current_hours"

Executing this script will output as:

2. Printing Time Using the “timedatectl” Command

The timedatectl command is useful to configure the system’s date and time settings. But one can creatively use this command to get the system’s time. Follow the script below to visualize this:

#!bin/bash

time=timedatectl | awk '/Local time:/ {print $5}'
echo $time

How to Get the Run Time Using the “time” Command in Bash?

To get the run time of a Bash script, use time command before the commands to execute the script. The syntax is:

time ./example.sh

This will print the time required to execute the example.sh script.
Let’s check the execution time of the following script:

#!/bin/bash

echo "Enter a number:"
read n
val=0
power=1

while [ $n -ne 0 ]
do
r=$(( $n % 2 ))
val=$(( $r * $power + $val ))
power=$(( $power * 10 ))
n=$(( $n / 2 ))
done

echo "Binary output: $val"

This script takes a decimal number from the user and converts that into a binary equivalent, Now, execute this using time command before:This time I run the script by adding the time command as a prefix. You can see that the given input is again 4 and it successfully converts the number into its binary representation. Moreover, it shows three different times namely real, user, and sys time.

Conclusion

In conclusion, printing the local time or CST time is easier with the date command. On the other hand, one can use the time command to print system time. I believe with the knowledge of the above discussion, you can now print the local time in your machine as well as the system time of a Bash script.

People Also Ask

How to print time in Linux?

To print time in the terminal of Linux or any Unix operating system, you must go to the terminal and type the date command.

How to get currenct time up to milliseconds in Bash?

To get current time up to milliseconds, use echo $(date +%H:%M:%S:%3N) command.

How to print timestamp in Bash?

To print timestamp in Bash use the date +"%s" command.

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