How to: Add or display today’s date from a shell script

Q. How can I display or show today's UNIX computer date from a shell script using echo command? How do I store date command output to a variable?

A. Date command is use to print or set the system date and time under Linux/Unix like operating systems. However some time you need to include today's date in shell script. You need to use command substitution in your shell script to display today's date. Bash/sh shell performs the expansion by executing command and replacing the command substitution with the standard output
of the command, with any trailing newlines deleted. Command substitution allows the output of a command to replace the command name. You can use following syntax:

$(command)
OR
`command`
For example, type the following at shell prompt to display today's date:
$ echo "Today is $(date)"
Output:

Today is Sat Jan 28 15:48:11 IST 2006

Here is sample script, that stores today's date in TODAY and hostname in HOST variable:

#!/bin/bash
TODAY=$(date)
HOST=$(hostname)
echo "-----------------------------------------------------"
echo "Date: $TODAY                     Host:$HOST"
echo "-----------------------------------------------------"
# add rest code...

Save above script and execute it. See working shell script that notify admin user if Linux/FreeBSD system load crossed certain limit

Featured Articles:

• 20 Linux System Monitoring Tools Every SysAdmin Should Know
• 20 Linux Server Hardening Security Tips
• My 10 UNIX Command Line Mistakes
• Linux: 20 Iptables Examples For New SysAdmins
• 25 PHP Security Best Practices For Sys Admins
• The Novice Guide To Buying A Linux Laptop
• 10 Greatest Open Source Software Of 2009
• Top 5 Email Client For Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows Users
• Top 20 OpenSSH Server Best Security Practices
• Top 10 Open Source Web-Based Project Management Software
• Top 5 Linux Video Editor Software