I am using macOS’s /bin/date command, both in Terminal and via AppleScript (do shell script). I noticed inconsistent behaviour with the %N format specifier for nanoseconds:
• On some Macs, date +%s%N returns numeric nanoseconds as expected.
• On other Macs, the same command returns a literal N or fails when coerced to a number.
• This occurs across different macOS versions and on both Intel and Apple Silicon machines.
My understanding is that macOS ships BSD date, which does not officially document %N. I am trying to determine:
1. Is %N in /bin/date officially supported on macOS, and if so, on which versions?
2. If %N is not supported, what is Apple’s recommended, portable method for obtaining sub-second or millisecond timestamps in shell scripts or AppleScript across all macOS versions?
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