changing timezone in linux systems using tzselect

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In an older post, we have seen how to change the timezone in Linux systems by changing the "/etc/localtime" file. But its not easy. How to change the timezone in Linux systems easily? using the command tzselect we can do it very easily. Here we are changing the timezone of a Centos Linux System using the command tzselect. We will change the timezone to IST(Indian Standard Time). This command can be used in other Unix systems also.

Configuring time using tzselect

Enter the command tzselect in terminal.
[root@server ~]# tzselect
Please identify a location so that time zone rules can be set correctly.
Please select a continent or ocean.
 1) Africa
 2) Americas
 3) Antarctica
 4) Arctic Ocean
 5) Asia
 6) Atlantic Ocean
 7) Australia
 8) Europe
 9) Indian Ocean
10) Pacific Ocean
11) none - I want to specify the time zone using the Posix TZ format.
#? 5
Please select a country.
 1) Afghanistan          18) Israel              35) Palestine
 2) Armenia               19) Japan               36) Philippines
 3) Azerbaijan            20) Jordan             37) Qatar
 4) Bahrain                21) Kazakhstan        38) Russia
 5) Bangladesh          22) Korea (North)        39) Saudi Arabia
 6) Bhutan                 23) Korea (South)        40) Singapore
 7) Brunei                  24) Kuwait               41) Sri Lanka
 8) Cambodia            25) Kyrgyzstan         42) Syria
 9) China                   26) Laos                   43) Taiwan
10) Cyprus                27) Lebanon             44) Tajikistan
11) East Timor          28) Macau                45) Thailand
12) Georgia               29) Malaysia            46) Turkmenistan
13) Hong Kong          30) Mongolia            47) United Arab Emirates
14) India                    31) Myanmar (Burma)        48) Uzbekistan
15) Indonesia          32) Nepal            49) Vietnam
16) Iran                    33) Oman            50) Yemen
17) Iraq                     34) Pakistan
#? 14

The following information has been given:

    India

Therefore TZ='Asia/Kolkata' will be used.
Local time is now:    Mon Mar 10 21:15:40 IST 2014.
Universal Time is now:    Mon Mar 10 15:45:40 UTC 2014.
Is the above information OK?
1) Yes
2) No
#? 1

You can make this change permanent for yourself by appending the line
    TZ='Asia/Kolkata'; export TZ
to the file '.profile' in your home directory; then log out and log in again.

Here is that TZ value again, this time on standard output so that you
can use the /usr/bin/tzselect command in shell scripts:
Asia/Kolkata
[root@nagios ~]# date
Mon Mar 10 21:15:51 IST 2014

Now, open "/etc/profile"
add the line
TZ='Asia/Kolkata'; export TZ
save the file.
#source /etc/profile

You are done. You can follow above steps to select any timezone.
Best Reads:
1. The Linux Command Line: A Complete Introduction
2. How Linux Works: What Every Superuser Should Know
3. Linux for Beginners: An Introduction to the Linux Operating System and Command Line
4. Linux Bible