ddate
Display Discordian date
SYNOPSIS
ddate [OPTION]... [+FORMAT]
PARAMETERS
-c, --calendar
print Discordian calendar
-d, --date=DATE
use specified DATE (default: now)
-f, --file=FORMATFILE
read format from FORMATFILE
-i, --internet
use fnorded Internet Discordian Calendar
-I, --iso
print ISO 8601 date
-j, --julian
print Julian day number
-r, --reference=SECONDS
use epoch SECONDS as date
-s, --season
print season name only
-u, --universal
use UTC
+FORMAT
custom output FORMAT string
--help
show help
--version
show version
DESCRIPTION
ddate is a humorous Linux command-line utility that outputs the current date—or a user-specified date—in the Discordian calendar format, inspired by Discordianism, a parody religion founded in the 1960s by Greg Hill and Kerry Thornley. The Discordian calendar divides the year into five 73-day seasons: Chaos, Discord, Confusion, Bureaucracy, and The Aftermath, totaling 365 days, with St. Tib's Day inserted after day 59 of Confusion every four years (equivalent to February 29).
Days are named in cycles like Sweetmorn, Boomtime, Pungenday, Prickle-Prickle, and Setting Orange. Output includes the day name, day-of-season, season, and year in YOLD (Year of Our Lady of Discord), starting from 1168 BC (year 0). A typical invocation yields: Today is Prickle-Prickle, the 23rd day of Confusion in the YOLD 3190.
Designed for fun and surrealism, ddate appeals to hackers, sysadmins, and Discordian enthusiasts. It supports formatting akin to date, calendars, seasons only, Julian days, and more, making it a cultural artifact in Unix lore rather than a practical tool.
CAVEATS
Primarily for entertainment; inaccurate for precise scheduling. Limited timezone support; humorous output may confuse non-Discordians.
EXAMPLE
$ ddate
Today is Setting Orange, the 49th day of Bureaucracy in the YOLD 3190
DAY NAMES
Sweetmorn, Boomtime, Pungenday, Prickle-Prickle, Setting Orange
SEASONS
Chaos (1-73), Discord (74-146), Confusion (147-219), Bureaucracy (220-292), Aftermath (293-365)
HISTORY
Created by Thomas Baugher in 1994 as part of Discordian tools. Maintained sporadically, included in some distros like Debian; evolved with bug fixes and format enhancements for Unix-like systems.
