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Text File | 1990-10-03 | 14.1 KB | 412 lines

Program: udate (can be renamed to 'date' if desired) Programmer: George Kerber Written: 06/28/89 - 01/14/90 Version: 1.14c PURPOSE: -------- Output a date/time string to stdout similar to the AmigaDOS date command, will also emulate the UNIX date command by allowing almost total user allowing an almost total user determined formatting of the date and/or time. Automatically adjusts the system clock for daylight savings time when in effect. Sets the computer date and time, completely replacing the AmigaDOS date command. SYNTAX: ------- udate udate hh:ss udate mm/dd[/yy] udate ["format string"] udate [-s -d -n -m xx ] udate [?] (helpscreen) ? Help screen. -s Prompts the user through setting the date and time. hh:mm Set time with no prompts. mm/dd[/yy] Set date, with no prompts. Year is optional. -d Increments the system clock by 1 hour when daylight savings time is in effect. -n Prevents a NEWLINE from being output after the date string is displayed. Works the same as the NOLINE option using the AmigaDOS echo command. -m xx Begins the date string at xx character position. DESCRIPTION: ------------ If no argument is given, the current date and time are displayed in standard AmigaDOS format with the timezone name displayed if the TIMEZONE variable is set. (explained later) The 'default' date display can be changed by the user. (explained later) dddddd dd-mmm-yy hh:ss tzn* If a string argument exists, the output of udate is under control of user. Sets the computer date and time, using prompts or command line options. Automatically adjusts the system clock for daylight savings time. All field descriptors must be 'escaped' by the current escape value. The default escape value is a '*', following the escape value that the AmigaDOS AmigaDOS echo command uses. If desired, the escape value can be changed to make it more 'normal'. To change the escape value, use the AmigaDOS setenv command. Example: to set the escape value to a backslash. 1> setenv ESCAPE=\ <enter> The udate helpscreen will always display the escape value. To print a literal character of the escape value you must 'escape' it. If the escape value was a '*', to print one you must enter a double *. See the examples below. The * escape character was made the default to provide compatibility with the AmigaDOS echo command. It uses a * as the escape character. (Am I the only one that thinks this is silly) Note that the ARP version of 'echo', a version of 'echo' and 'fortune' that I wrote allow the escape value to be changed as described above. All other characters are copied to the output without change. If the argument contains embedded blanks it must be quoted (see the EXAMPLE). INSTALLATION: ------------- Copy the udate & datehelp programs to the sys:c directory. It is recommended that you delete the AmigaDOS date program and replace it with the udate program renamed to date. The date/udate and datehelp program should be copied to your "c" directory. 1> copy udate c:date 1> copy datehelp c: This will copy the udate to your c: directory and overwrite and overwrite the original AmigaDOS date program. NOTE: The datehelp program is not necessary to use udate, but including it in your sys:c directory will provide a very complete help screen. The datehelp command is provided to reduce the program size of the udate command. The datehelp program can't be executed directly, the udate command calls datehelp when udate is given a ? as an argument. FIELD DESCRIPTORS: ------------------ ( must be preceded by the current escape value, which is a '*' by default ): a abbreviated weekday name A full weekday name b abbreviated month name B full month name D date as mm/dd/yy d day of month - 01 to 31 e day of month - 1 to 31 (single digits preceded by a blank) h abbreviated month name (alias for 'b') H hour - 00 to 23 I hour - 01 to 12 j julian day of current year m month of year - 01 to 12 M minute - 00 to 59 n insert a new-line character p string containing "AM" or "PM" depending on current hour. r time as hh:mm:ss pp, where pp is "AM" or "PM", hh is 01 to 12 R time as hh:mm S second - 00 to 59 t insert a tab character T time as hh:mmm:ss, hh is 00 to 23 w day of week - Sunday = 0 y year within century - 00 to 99 Y year as ccyy (4 digits) Z timezone name* Additions for AmigaDOS: x string containing day of month extension (th, st, rd, nd) u date/time as ddd mmm dd hh:mm:ss tzn* yyyy (standard UNIX date format) i hour - 1 to 12 W day of week - Sunday = 1 J days remaining in current year. q print a literal quote. o output is: "Good Morning|Afternoon|Evening" k output is: "Today is dddddd, mmmmmm dd, yyyy at hh:mm tzn" g Greeting message, same as "*o! *k" $ same as standard AmigaDOS date string, with timezone. (same as udate with no options) 0 blue pen color 1 white pen color 2 black pen color 3 orange pen color 4 default colors 5 boldface 6 underline 7 italics ) blue background ! white background @ black background # orange background C ddd dd-mmm-yy hh:mm tzn* Enter the 'escape' character twice with no space to print a literal 'escape' character. * Timezone will be displayed if set as described below. No errors are shown if the timezone variable is not set. Z if this descriptor is used, udate will TRY and locate an environmental variable called TIMEZONE. If TIMEZONE exists and is defined correctly, the current timezone will be displayed. See the section below for instructions on how to set the TIMEZONE variable. If TIMEZONE is not set, nothing will be displayed and no error will occur. x this descriptor will display a character string extension corresponding to the current day of the month (ex: st for 1, nd for 2, rd for 3 etc....). u the UNIX date command with no options displays a date/time string with this format. The timezone variable will be printed if set as described below. 4 There is no need to use a %4 (default colors) after changing the color, udate does this automatically on termination. EXAMPLES: --------- (assume the current date is July 4th, 1989 at 2:42:05pm) If the 'escape' value was changed using the setenv command, then replace all *'s with the new escape value. 1> udate <enter> Tuesday 04-Jul-89 14:42:05 MDT 1> 1> udate *u <enter> Tue Jul 4 14:42:05 MDT 1989 1> 1>udate "The TIME is *M:*S" <enter> (argument must be quoted The TIME is 14:42 for embedded blanks) 1> 1> udate *v <enter> (v is not a valid option) ERROR: Bad Conversion. (%v) 1> udate "DATE: *m/*d/*y*nTIME: *H:*M:*s" <enter> DATE: 07/04/89 TIME: 14:42:05 1> 1> udate "It is now *M minutes past the hour." It is now 42 minutes past the hour" 1> Add this to your startup-sequence (The env: variable TIMEZONE must have been previously set as described below to get the MDT): 1> udate -m 6 "*3Today is: *4*$" Today is: Monday 04-Jul-89 14:42:05 MDT 1> 1> udate "\n\t\o George,\n\k\n" Good Afternoon George, Today is Monday, July 4th, 1989 at 4:42 PM (MDT) 1> SETTING THE DATE & TIME: ------------------------ Execute 'udate' witht the '-s' option and you will be prompted through setting the date and/or time. Or the date and/or time can be changed directly from the command line. If udate is executed with a string that resembles a date or time, then udate will attempt to change the computer clock to the new date or time. Change Time: udate hh:mm The seconds are automatically set to 00 each time the time is changed. Change Date: udate mm/dd[/yy] The year is optional, if no year is entered, then the current year will be retained. NOTE: The 'udate' program can be used as an 'echo' command if desired. Because of how 'udate' determines if the user is trying to change the date or time, you can't simply 'echo' a constant date or time using udate. For example, if you enter: udate 12/23/89 udate will change the date to 12/23/89, rather than 'echo' 12/23/89 to the screen. You could enter: udate "12/23/89 " to actually 'echo' 12/23/89 to the screen. Notice the extra literal space at the end, this 'tricks' udate into thinking that you are not entering a valid date. CHANGING THE DEFAULT DATE DISPLAY --------------------------------- Normally the default date display for 'date' is: dddddd dd-mmm-yy hh:ss tzn If desired, this can be changed to anything you want by setting an environmental variable named 'DEFAULT'. Set DEFAULT to any valid formatted date string using the AmigaDOS setenv command. Example: setenv DEFAULT="\g \S" Then whenever 'udate' is executed with no arguments, the default will be '\g \S' instead of the default as shown above. SETTING THE TIMEZONE VARIABLE: ------------------------------ Add the following line to your s:startup-sequence file: (if desired) setenv TIMEZONE=tzn[:dst] where 'tzn' = the current standard timezone for your area. (EST, CST, MST, PST, etc) All three characters must be used. where 'dst' = the optional timezone for your area when daylight savings time is in-effect. (EDT, CDT, MDT, PDT, etc) If your area does not observe daylight savings time, then only enter 'tzn' as described above. If 'dst' is used, you must use all three characters and use an ':' as a field separator. Examples: 1> setenv TIMEZONE=EST:EDT 1> setenv TIMEZONE=MST:MDT 1> setenv TIMEZONE=PST The TIMEZONE variable must be set exactly as shown or 'udate' will completely ignore it. Setting the TIMEZONE is optional, but the current timezone will not be displayed if it isn't set. AUTOMATIC DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME ADJUSTMENT ------------------------------------------ udate will automatically keep your clock set for the correct time while daylight savings time is in effect and while it's not. Example: Add this line to your startup-sequence after any commands necessary to read your battery clock. 1> udate -d Set your battery clock to standard time in your area and add the above line to your startup-sequence file. If a command is necessary in the startup-sequence to read the battery clock, the 'udate -d' line must follow the readclock command. The 'udate -d' command should only be executed once per login session. If setup properly, you will NEVER have to do the twice yearly ritual of resetting your computer clock for daylight savings time. PURE/RESIDENT? -------------- If I understand 'pure' programs, they cannot contain any global variables. This version has no global variables and should be able to be made resident using the AmigaDOS 'resident' command. I have tested this and have had no problems making udate resident with the pure bit set. PROGRAMMING NOTES: ------------------ The AmigaDOS date command is very limited in the way it will output the date/time to the screen, you only get one way to do it. Sometimes the user will want to only display part of the date/time in a particular way. The UNIX date command will allow this easily. This new AmigaDOS udate command will totally emulate the UNIX date with many additions. This was written in "C" using Lattice 5.04. Compared to UNIX "C", I had to do this the hard way. UNIX "C" contains a function called "cftime" which will take the format descriptors directly, instead of having to use a long "switch" statement like I had to with Lattice. I have a version of udate for MS-DOS that works the same as this version. I added a few descriptors beyond what UNIX offers. Using the descriptors, the user can add color and date extensions to the day number. If desired, this udate command could be used as an "echo" command. Most of the field descriptors emulate the UNIX descriptors. This was done to avoid confusion with those that use UNIX too. On the other hand, I could see no reason to have to use a '+' before the descriptor string like UNIX needs. To maintain compatibility with AmigaDOS, the 'escape' value will default to a '*' like the AmigaDOS echo command. NOTE TO AMIGADOS 1.2 USERS: --------------------------- You can still use this udate command with v1.2, and get the timezone displayed. Just add the following lines to your startup-sequence: makedir ram:env assign env: ram:env echo > env:TIMEZONE "MST:MDT" ; or whatever your timezone is STATUS: ------- 'udate' is public domain and can be freely distributed. But I insist on being kep at the author and that all documentation is left intact and distributed with the program. Please leave the name of the program as 'udate' when distributing the program, but feel free to rename it to date for your use. George Kerber 19756 E. Linvale Drive Aurora, Colorado 80013 303-692-2890 Compuserve 74010,2132 10/07/89 v1.11: Removed the need to begin each string argument with a '!'. This was an attempt to make udate work similar to the UNIX version of date. Also made the escape value default to a '*', but changeable using the setenv command. The similarity between the UNIX date and udate is going away... 12/29/89 v1.14: Added the daylight savings time function to the udate code eliminating the need for a separate 'dst' program. Udate now allows the date and time to be set via prompts or directly from command line strings. Removed all global variables. Pure? For whatever it's worth.... udate will display the year correctly until 2079.