Convert to epoch date

Table of Contents

Introduction
#

The Linux shell script below will convert a date, entered on the command line, to an epoch date.

#!/usr/bin/env sh
convert_to_epoch() {
    local date_time="$1"
    local epoch_time

    # GNU/Linux syntax
    epoch_time=$(date -d "$date_time" +%s 2>/dev/null)

    # Check if the conversion was successful
    if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
        echo "Epoch time for '$date_time' is: $epoch_time"
    else
        echo "Error: Invalid date and time format. Please use a valid format like 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'."
    fi
}

if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
    echo "Usage: $0 'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'"
    echo "Example: $0 '2023-10-01 12:00:00'"
else
    oldIFS="$IFS"
    IFS=' '
    arguments="$*"
    t=$(echo $arguments)
    convert_to_epoch "$t"
    IFS="$oldIFS"
fi

Introduction #

Introduction
#