diff --git a/mail-status.sh b/mail-status.sh
index 4e19d53..39ea28d 100644
--- a/mail-status.sh
+++ b/mail-status.sh
@@ -86,8 +86,15 @@ done
 (( LIMIT < 1 )) && LIMIT=1
 (( LIMIT > MAX_LIMIT )) && LIMIT=$MAX_LIMIT
 
-if [ "$DATE_SET" -eq 0 ]; then DATE_FILTER=$(date '+%b %e'); fi
+if [ "$DATE_SET" -eq 0 ]; then
+    # If no date was provided, use today's (with an automatic space for single-digit days)
+    DATE_FILTER=$(date '+%b %e')
+else
+    # If a date was provided manually, fix the format for single-digit days (changes "Sep 4" to "Sep  4")
+    DATE_FILTER=$(echo "$DATE_FILTER" | sed -E 's/^([a-zA-Z]{3})[[:space:]]+([0-9])$/\1  \2/')
+fi
 readonly DATE_FILTER
+
 DETAIL_VIEW=0; [[ -n "$ID_FILTER" && "$ID_FILTER" != "NOQUEUE" ]] && DETAIL_VIEW=1
 
 # ==============================================================================