To assign output of any shell command to variable in bash, use the following command substitution syntax:

var=$(command-name-here)
var=$(command-name-here arg1)
var=$(/path/to/command)
var=$(/path/to/command arg1 arg2)

OR use backticks based syntax as follows to assign output of a Linux command to a variable:

var=`command-name-here`
var=`command-name-here arg1`
var=`/path/to/command`
var=`/path/to/command arg1 arg2`

Do not put any spaces after the equals sign and command must be on right side of =.

To store date command output to a variable called now, enter:

## store date command output to $now ##

now=$(date)

OR

## alternate syntax ##

now=`date`
 
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To display back result (or output stored in a variable called $now) use the echo or printf command:
 
<code bash>
echo "$now"
printf "%s\n" "$now"

Sample outputs:

Wed Apr 25 00:55:45 IST 2012

You can combine the echo command and shell variables as follows:

echo "Today is $now"

Sample outputs:

Today is Wed Apr 25 00:55:45 IST 2012

You can do command substitution in an echo command itself (no need to use shell variable):

echo "Today is $(date)"
printf "Today is %s\n" "$(date)"

Sample outputs:

Today is Wed Apr 25 00:57:58 IST 2011