The console based tool to display times around the world
Worldtime is a simple command line tool to display the current local times in various locations around the globe. There are a lot of very nice web-based tools to do this, and much nicer than this little program, but I wanted something simple that can be executed quickly on the command line. It also needed to be able to store the areas/cities that I use most frequently and handle the various daylight saving time implementations that exist
Overall, I'm happy with this little tool and not sure what updates or enhancements I'd make, but if anyone has ideas, please post them on the GitHub discussion board and I'll do my best to implement.
If you are using this as the worldtime.jar file, then you'll need to have Java installed. WorldTime is written in Java so it can run on most operating systems. To execute the program, use the following command from the console:
java -jar worldtime.jar [options] [area/city] [area/city] [...]
If you have saved favorites, you don't need any area/city items, and I don't use any options with normal use. I've also aliased this so that worldtime will run the above. Some shells will even allow you to define ".jar" as an executable extension.
Please note that is nothing to install. Everything is contained in executable JAR file. To remove WorldTime, just delete the file. Simple.
If you are using this as a snap, then you do not have to have java installed as it will be contained in the snap package. To install WorldTime, you'll simply need to execute:
snap install worldtime
Then to execute WorldTime:
worldtime [options] [area/city] [area/city] [...]
You should not need any special snap permissions to run, although without assigning the snap more file system access permissions, you may only be able to export your favorites to your home directory. I'll need to look into this.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| -D | Start in Debug Mode. Not really useful to an end user, but if you are curious what's going on behind the scenes... |
| -h -? |
Display the program help information |
| -v | Show the program version and also check GitHub for the latest released version. If you are using a SNAP, then you are most likely on the latest version and perhaps newer than the GitHub release |
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| -a | Add the AREA/CITY(s) provided on the command line to the favorites. These are stored in the Java preferences system and the location varies by OS |
| -e | Erase all saved favorites |
| -i FILE | Import a new set of favorites from an external file. Existing favorites will be replaced by the imported set. The format is simply one AREA/CITY per line |
| -l | List the current saved favorites |
| -r AREA/CITY | Remove all of the AREA/CITIES on the command line from the favorites |
| -s | Show all supported AREA/CITY combinations. This is very important as you'll probably start with -s to determine which ones you'd like to add to your favorites |
| -x FILE | Export the current favorites to the file provided. The format is simply one AREA/CITY per line |
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| -2 | Show time display in 24 hour format instead of the default 12 hour method |
| -d | Show detailed time information for each city provided and/or are in your favorites |
| -z | By default, the output of WorldTime used color. When run with the -z switch, colorized output is disabled. Please note that some options are processed in the order they are entered and may contain color output. Therefore, to ensure no color is output, please make the -z the first option |
I would encourage anyone with a supported Linux platform to install WorldTime as a snap. See Snapcraft Homepage for more information. You can download, install, and keep the application up to date automatically by installing the snap via :
sudo snap install worldtime (Assuming snap is installed. Ubuntu and most of it's derivatives have it installed by default)
Secondly, if you will be using the import / export capability, you'll need to give your Worldtime access to your home directory. This is done via the following command after Worldtime is installed:
sudo snap connect worldtime:home
This will install the application into a sandbox where it is separate from other applications. Java is even included in the SNAP package so you don't even have to have it elsewhere.
This is obviously a very simple tool that I needed for myself and wanted to make it available to anyone who might find it useful. If you have thoughts or suggestions, please add a discussion item to the GitHub WorldTime discussion forum.
worldtime at fross dot org.
Copyright 2021-2024 by Michael Fross
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