[problem]
You want to capture the current epoch. Maybe to use in a log file, or as a filename.
Or maybe you want to calculate the date yesterday.
[/problem]
[solution]
This piece of code is very useful for performing date calculations. You can obtain the current epoch (time in seconds since Jan 1 1970), then add 3600 for 1 hour – or 86400 for 24 hours hence.
[/solution]
[example]
So use in a UNIX variable like this:
epoch=perl -M'English' -e 'print $BASETIME."n";'
To work out 24 hours ago, just subtract 86400.
perl -M'English' -e 'print(($BASETIME-86400)."n");'
Then to see the date yesterday:
$ perl -M'English' -e 'print(($BASETIME-86400)."n");'
1180746252
$ perl -M'English' -e 'print(localtime(1180746252)."n");'
Sat Jun 2 09:04:12 2007
[/example]
[reference]
[tags]Perl, epoch, date manipulation, Perl Coding School[/tags]
[/reference]
[recommended]
[/recommended]
If you have found my website useful, please consider buying me a coffee below 😉