How to change time-zone settings from the command line

Question

I have a virtual machine that is set to PST that a couple of colleagues have in different time-zones.

If I wanted to change the time-zone to EST and GMT, what do I need to do?

Jossef Harush Kadouri · Accepted Answer · 2023-02-11T13:32:14.453

443

Use timedatectl

sudo timedatectl set-timezone <timeszone>

Examples:

Timezone as EST
```
  sudo timedatectl set-timezone EST
```
Timezone as UTC
```
  sudo timedatectl set-timezone UTC
```
Listing all valid Timezones
```
  timedatectl list-timezones
```

This command is perfect for automation scripts since it doesn't require any user interaction while compared to the other given answer based on dpkg-reconfigure tzdata.

edited Feb 11 '23 at 13:32

answered Mar 08 '15 at 13:15

Jossef Harush Kadouri

5,326
2
23
23

score 82 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '15 at 14:06

82

As root you have to execute:

dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

A menu based tool should be started that allows you to change the timezone.

edited Apr 13 '15 at 14:06

Freek de Bruijn

111

answered Aug 31 '10 at 19:41

maxschlepzig

3,734

score 46 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 05 '14 at 14:34

46

The following also work. For GMT:

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/GMT /etc/localtime

For EST:

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/EST /etc/localtime

edited Aug 05 '14 at 14:34

user100464

228

answered Aug 31 '12 at 10:09

pm_labs

561

score 37 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 18 '16 at 15:52

37

The most ease way especially to a server is to list timezones:

timedatectl list-timezones

And choose yours, for example:

timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Athens

Thats it! , :-)

answered Feb 18 '16 at 15:52

Dimitrios

497

score 8 · Answer 5 · edited May 02 '16 at 02:26

Edit the timezone file at the /etc folder as:

Etc/GMT

You can use the next format:

Region "/" City

Example of /etc/timezone:

Europe/Athens

or

Europe/Paris
Europe/London

You may experiment with the: dpkg-reconfigure tzdata and check cat the timezone file.

You must reboot or start again a service (not the ntp service). I do not know which one. If somebody knows please share with us. (Tested on Ubuntu 15.10 the change is taken into account instantly)

score 6 · Answer 6 · answered Sep 01 '10 at 00:04

6

To run one program with a different time zone setting, set the TZ environment variable, e.g. run TZ=Pacific/Kiritimati date to see what time it is on Christmas Island, or export TZ=Pacific/Kiritimati to have the setting last for a shell session.

answered Sep 01 '10 at 00:04

Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'

61,858

score 6 · Answer 7 · edited Sep 26 '18 at 22:30

6

cp -p /usr/share/zoneinfo/US/Pacific /etc/localtime

I recommend AGAINST linking like mentioned by others. If some script accidentally over writes your /etc/localtime file, then it overwrites your Pacific timezone file... and it's a bit of a pain to replace it.

Just copy the Pacific file over the localtime file with the command above.

edited Sep 26 '18 at 22:30

abu_bua

11,313

answered Jul 18 '17 at 20:04

J Roysdon

161

score 3 · Answer 8 · answered Apr 26 '18 at 07:24

3

I use the following script to ask the user which timezone to set, and then confirm it has indeed been set:

#!/bin/sh
sudo timedatectl set-timezone $(tzselect)
echo
echo timedatectl says:
timedatectl

I call it tz-set.

answered Apr 26 '18 at 07:24

Tom Hale

3,728

score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Mar 19 '19 at 10:30

0

As root you have to execute:

ln -fs /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Warsaw /etc/localtime && dpkg-reconfigure --frontend noninteractive tzdata

answered Mar 19 '19 at 10:30

Stefan Sebastian

1

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Mar 24 '19 at 22:41

0

This worked for me on GCP Ubuntu 14 via SSH

sudo su
cp /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Singapore /etc/localtime
Restart the server
Done

answered Mar 24 '19 at 22:41

Vignesh Chinnaiyan

101

How to change time-zone settings from the command line

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