To whom it may concern,
In nroff/troff man page source file /date.1//.gz/, the lines
.B date
[\fI\,OPTION\/\fR]... [_\fI\,+_FORMAT\/\fR]
.br
.B date
[_\fI\,-u|--utc|--universal\/\fR_]
[\fI\,MMDDhhmm\/\fR[[\fI\,CC\/\fR]\fI\,YY\/\fR][_\fI\,._ss\/\fR]]
should be changed to
.B date
[\fI\,OPTION\/\fR]... [_\fB+\fI\,_FORMAT\/\fR]
.br
.B date
[_\fB\-u\fR|\fB\-\-utc\fR|\fB\-\-universal\fR_]
[\fI\,MMDDhhmm\/\fR[[\fI\,CC\/\fR]\fI\,YY\/\fR][_\fB.\fI\,_ss\/\fR]]
This will have the effect of changing
*date* [/OPTION/]... [/+FORMAT/]
*date* [/-u|--utc|--universal/] [/MMDDhhmm/[[/CC/]/YY/][/.ss/]]
to
*date* [/OPTION/]... [*+*/FORMAT/]
*date* [*-u*|*--utc*|*--universal*] [/MMDDhhmm/[[/CC/]/YY/][*.*/ss/]]
-Michael
On 1/25/2026 9:50 AM, Alejandro Colomar wrote:
Hi Michael,
On Sun, Jan 25, 2026 at 09:02:05AM -0500, Michael Aramini wrote:
Alejandro, et al.,
This is a /man-pages/ bug report for "date(1) — Linux manual page" (
https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/date.1.html ) pertaining to formatting
of the man page.
The date(1) manual page is maintained by GNU coreutils; it's not part of
the Linux man-pages project. I've CCed them.
The line
*date *[/-u|--utc|--universal/] [/MMDDhhmm/[[/CC/]/YY/][/.ss/]]
represented in HTML as
<b>date </b>[<i>-u|--utc|--universal</i>]
[<i>MMDDhhmm</i>[[<i>CC</i>]<i>YY</i>][<i>.ss</i>]]
should, following man page formatting style, be formatted
*date *[*-u*|*--utc*|*--universal*] [/MMDDhhmm/[[/CC/]/YY/][*.*/ss/]]
represented in HTML as
<b>date </b>[<b-u</b>|<b>--utc</b>|<b>--universal</b>]
[<i>MMDDhhmm</i>[[<i>CC</i>]<i>YY</i>][<b>.</b><i>ss</i>]]
I.e. the "*-u*", "*--utc*", "*--universal*", and decimal point should be
(*non*-italic) *bold* as they are are not variables, but are potentially
verbatim text on the command line. Also, the vertical bars are syntax
symbols, which are neither variables nor verbatim text, thus should be in
regular/roman typeface, *not* italic (nor bold).
I agree with the bug report.
-Michael
Have a lovely day!
Alex
