How to change time-zone settings from the command line

Use timedatectl

sudo timedatectl set-timezone <timeszone>

Examples:

  • Timezone as EST

    sudo timedatectl set-timezone EST
    
  • Timezone as UTC

    sudo timedatectl set-timezone UTC
    
  • Listing all valid Timezones

    timedatectl list-timezones
    

This command is perfect for automation scripts since it doesn't require any user interaction while compared to the other given answer based on dpkg-reconfigure tzdata.


As root you have to execute:

dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

A menu based tool should be started that allows you to change the timezone.


The following also work. For GMT:

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/GMT /etc/localtime

For EST:

ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/EST /etc/localtime