# phpman > man > DP(8mh)

[DP(8mh)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/DP/8mh/markdown)                                                                                      [DP(8mh)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/DP/8mh/markdown)



## NAME
       dp - nmh parser of RFC 822-style dates

## SYNOPSIS
       **/usr/lib/mh/dp** [**-help**] [**-version**] [**-form** _formatfile_] [**-format** _string_] [**-width** _columns_] _dates_
            ...

## DESCRIPTION
       **dp** is a program that parses dates according to the ARPA Internet standard.   It  also  under‐
       stands many non-standard formats, such as those produced by TOPS-20 sites and some Unix sites
       using [_ctime_(3)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ctime/3/markdown).  It is useful for seeing how **nmh** will interpret a date.

       The **dp** program treats each argument as a single date, and prints the date out in the official
       RFC 822 format.  Hence, it is usually best to enclose each argument in quotes for the shell.

       To  override  the  output  format used by **dp**, the **-format** _string_ or **-format** _file_ switches are
       used.  This permits individual fields of the address to be extracted with ease.   The  string
       is simply a format string and the file is simply a format file.  See [_mh-format_(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mh-format/5/markdown) for the de‐
       tails.

       Here is the default format string used by **dp**:

            %<(nodate{text})error: %{text}%|%(putstr(pretty{text}))%>

       which says that if an error was detected, print the error, a `:',  and  the  date  in  error.
       Otherwise, output the RFC 822-proper format of the date.

## FILES
       $HOME/.mh_profile   The user's profile.

## PROFILE COMPONENTS
       None

## SEE ALSO
       [_fmttest_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/fmttest/1/markdown), [_ap_(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ap/8/markdown),

       _Standard_ _for_ _the_ _Format_ _of_ _ARPA_ _Internet_ _Text_ _Messages_ (RFC 822)

## DEFAULTS
       -format             As described above.
       -width              The width of the terminal.

## CONTEXT
       None



nmh-1.7.1                                    1999-04-30                                      [DP(8mh)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/DP/8mh/markdown)