From a547b9cee25fdffd3fb394ac488c01fbfe1a999e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: jbranchaud <jbranchaud@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2025 09:26:38 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] Add Create A Filename With The Current Date as a Unix TIL

---
 README.md                                     |  3 +-
 ...create-a-filename-with-the-current-date.md | 38 +++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 40 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
 create mode 100644 unix/create-a-filename-with-the-current-date.md

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 67d51c6..f3b514c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ pairing with smart people at Hashrocket.
 
 For a steady stream of TILs, [sign up for my newsletter](https://crafty-builder-6996.ck.page/e169c61186).
 
-_1633 TILs and counting..._
+_1634 TILs and counting..._
 
 See some of the other learning resources I work on:
 - [Ruby Operator Lookup](https://www.visualmode.dev/ruby-operators)
@@ -1542,6 +1542,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Count The Number Of ripgrep Pattern Matches](unix/count-the-number-of-ripgrep-pattern-matches.md)
 - [Count The Number Of Words On A Webpage](unix/count-the-number-of-words-on-a-webpage.md)
 - [Create A File Descriptor with Process Substitution](unix/create-a-file-descriptor-with-process-substitution.md)
+- [Create A Filename With The Current Date](unix/create-a-filename-with-the-current-date.md)
 - [Create A Sequence Of Values With A Step](unix/create-a-sequence-of-values-with-a-step.md)
 - [Curl With Cookies](unix/curl-with-cookies.md)
 - [Curling For Headers](unix/curling-for-headers.md)
diff --git a/unix/create-a-filename-with-the-current-date.md b/unix/create-a-filename-with-the-current-date.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c8ae95c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unix/create-a-filename-with-the-current-date.md
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+# Create A Filename With The Current Date
+
+I was recently working on a script to pull a scrubbed database dump using the
+`pg_dump` Postgres utility. Ultimately, the script does something like this to
+dump a remote database to a local file:
+
+```bash
+pg_dump \
+  -h host.region.rds.amazonaws.com \
+  -U db_username \
+  -d db_name \
+  -F c \
+  -f scrubbed-database-$(date +%Y-%m-%d).dump
+```
+
+Notice the last part of that command where we define the name of the dump file.
+It has a `$(...)` that is used to run and interpolate a command as part of the
+filename.
+
+Here is that `date` command run on its own:
+
+```bash
+$ date +%Y-%m-%d
+2025-04-02
+```
+
+In the above command, that would mean if I were to run it today, I'd get
+`scrubbed-database-2025-04-02.dump`.
+
+This approach can be used with any command where you are producing a file that
+you want to be dated or timestamped.
+
+Here is another example that incorporates the time as well:
+
+```bash
+$ touch $(date +%Y%m%d_%H%M%S)-migration.sql
+# => 20250402_092442-migration.sql
+```