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How do I get current date/time on the Windows command line in a suitable format for usage in a file/folder name?

Asked 2008-10-14T22:25:34.303
650

Update: Now that it's 2016 I'd use PowerShell for this unless there's a really compelling backwards-compatible reason for it, particularly because of the regional settings issue with using date. See @npocmaka's https://stackoverflow.com/a/19799236/8479

What's a Windows command line statement(s) I can use to get the current datetime in a format that I can put into a filename?

I want to have a .bat file that zips up a directory into an archive with the current date and time as part of the name, for example, Code_2008-10-14_2257.zip. Is there any easy way I can do this, independent of the regional settings of the machine?

I don't really mind about the date format, ideally it'd be yyyy-mm-dd, but anything simple is fine.

So far I've got this, which on my machine gives me Tue_10_14_2008_230050_91:

rem Get the datetime in a format that can go in a filename.
set _my_datetime=%date%_%time%
set _my_datetime=%_my_datetime: =_%
set _my_datetime=%_my_datetime::=%
set _my_datetime=%_my_datetime:/=_%
set _my_datetime=%_my_datetime:.=_%

rem Now use the timestamp by in a new ZIP file name.
"d:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" a -r Code_%_my_datetime%.zip Code

I can live with this, but it seems a bit clunky. Ideally it'd be briefer and have the format mentioned earlier.

I'm using Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP Professional. I don't want to install additional utilities to achieve this (although I realise there are some that will do nice date formatting).

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4 Answers

123

Regionally independent date time parsing

The output format of %DATE% and of the dir command is regionally dependent and thus neither robust nor smart. date.exe (part of UnxUtils) delivers any date and time information in any thinkable format. You may also extract the date/time information from any file with date.exe.

Examples: (in a cmd-script use %% instead of %)

date.exe +"%Y-%m-%d"
2009-12-22

date.exe +"%T"
18:55:03

date.exe +"%Y%m%d %H%M%S: Any text"
20091222 185503: Any text

date.exe +"Text: %y/%m/%d-any text-%H.%M"
Text: 09/12/22-any text-18.55

Command: date.exe +"%m-%d """%H %M %S """"
07-22 "18:55:03"`

The date/time information from a reference file:
date.exe -r c:\file.txt +"The timestamp of file.txt is: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S"

Using it in a CMD script to get year, month, day, time information:

for /f "tokens=1,2,3,4,5,6* delims=," %%i in ('C:\Tools\etc\date.exe +"%%y,%%m,%%d,%%H,%%M,%%S"') do set yy=%%i& set mo=%%j& set dd=%%k& set hh=%%l& set mm=%%m& set ss=%%n

Using it in a CMD script to get a timestamp in any required format:

for /f "tokens=*" %%i in ('C:\Tools\etc\date.exe +"%%y-%%m-%%d %%H:%%M:%%S"') do set timestamp=%%i

Extracting the date/time information from any reference file.

for /f "tokens=1,2,3,4,5,6* delims=," %%i in ('C:\Tools\etc\date.exe -r file.txt +"%%y,%%m,%%d,%%H,%%M,%%S"') do set yy=%%i& set mo=%%j& set dd=%%k& set hh=%%l& set mm=%%m& set ss=%%n

Adding to a file its date/time information:

for /f "tokens=*" %%i in ('C:\
answered 2009-12-23T09:40:23.903
43

I use this (again not region independent (UK))

set bklog=%date:~6,4%-%date:~3,2%-%date:~0,2%_%time:~0,2%%time:~3,2%
answered 2009-04-12T13:13:23.517
9

Matthew Johnson's one-liner solution to get the one-liner date and time is eloquent and useful.

It does however need a simple modification to work from within a batch file:

for /f "tokens=2,3,4,5,6 usebackq delims=:/ " %%a in ('%date% %time%') do echo %%c-%%a-%%b %%d%%e
answered 2013-04-28T16:05:38.040
4

http://sourceforge.net/projects/unxutils/files/

Look inside the ZIP file for something called "Date.exe" and rename it "DateFormat.exe" (to avoid conflicts).

Put it in your Windows system32 folder.

It has a lot of "date output" options.

For help, use DateFormat.exe --h

I'm not sure how you would put its output into an environment variable... using SET.

answered 2010-10-31T04:45:36.517

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