Prior to macOS Big Sur 11, restarting the SystemUIServer process updated the date and time format of the menu bar clock with any changes to the DateFormat key. GlobalPreferences domain.Īny attempt to set the date and time format from the command line should ensure that this key exists or not based on the values of the Show24Hour and ShowAMPM keys, or vice versa. When on checked, the key is deleted from the. When the option is off unchecked, the AppleICUForce12HourTime key has a boolean value of true. While this option can be turned on checked or off unchecked from within System Settings 1 System Preferences, it can be toggled from the command line using the AppleICUForce12HourTime key in the. This option exists in Catalina too, but doesn't appear to assert the same control as it does in macOS Big Sur 11 and later. It is also used to format the display of dates and times in the Finder. This option can be found in System Settings > General > Date & Time 2 System Preferences > Language & Region > General and may override the keys Show24Hour and ShowAMPM depending on their values. Now, multiple defaults write commands are required to set the DateFormat key together with the 5 additional keys. Prior to macOS Big Sur 11, only the DateFormat key need be set using a single defaults write command. The additional keys are Show24Hour, ShowAMPM, ShowDate 3, ShowDayOfMonth 3, ShowDayOfWeek and ShowSeconds. In macOS Big Sur 11 and later, the structure of .plist has changed: The SystemUIServer process no longer appears responsible for displaying the date and time in the menu bar. Prior to macOS Big Sur 11, setting the date and time format of the menu bar clock from the command line was relatively trivial.Ĭhallenges to setting the date and time format of the menu bar clock introduced in macOS Big Sur 11 include:Īdditional keys in the domain.Ī (re-purposed?) 24-Hour Time option in System Settings 1 System Preferences which overrides time settings. In addition, the primary preferred language setting also in System Settings > General > Language & Region 2 System Preferences > Language & Region > General may affect how the date and time is displayed. For example, the format 'EEE d MMM HH:mm' is displayed differently for the following Region settings: Region Setting Other Regions may display the same date and time format differently.

The Menu Bar Clock values in the table above are localised and based on a Region setting of United Kingdom in System Settings > General > Language & Region 2 System Preferences > Language & Region > General. menu-bar-clock.sh 'EEE d MMM h:mm a' -s menu-bar-clock.sh 'EEE d MMM h:mm:ss' -s menu-bar-clock.sh 'EEE d MMM h:mm:ss a' -s menu-bar-clock.sh 'EEE d MMM h:mm:ss a' menu-bar-clock.sh 'EEE d MMM HH:mm:ss' -s If the option is passed to the script it will be ignored when the date format doesn't contain d MMM or the installed macOS version is macOS Monterey 12.3.1 or earlier or macOS Big Sur 11. In all other circumstances it can be omitted, as per the table below. 18 Aug and you want that date portion displayed when space allows. The option need only be passed to the script when the desired date format contains d MMM i.e. To support the changes to the Show date option in macOS Monterey 12.4, the script accepts a new option: -s. Instead, the Show date option offers 3 new choices which are written to a new key in the domain named ShowDate. Previously, it was either checked or unchecked and set the value of the ShowDayOfMonth key in the domain to either true or false respectively. 2 System Preferences > Dock & Menu Bar > Clock. Starting with macOS Monterey 12.4, Apple have made changes to the Show date option in System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Clock Options. Use one of the commands under the Command Line heading in the table below to set the required date and time format Type chmod +x menu-bar-clock.sh and press enter to make the script executable Type cd ~/Downloads/menu-bar-clock-main and press enter Instructionsĭouble-click ~/Downloads/menu-bar-clock-main.zip in the Finder to unzip it (Safari may do this automatically) It is therefore limited to the formats defined by Apple. Please note, the script simply mimics what can otherwise be achieved by setting the format through System Settings 1 System Preferences. Set the date and time format of the menu bar clock from the command line in macOS Big Sur 11 and later.

IMPORTANT: Until I have the opportunity to fix it, please note that changes in macOS Monterey 12.4 have temporarily broken this script. Compatible with macOS Big Sur 11 and later.

Mac add utc clock to menu bar