Windows – How to get the current system date and time using a command prompt

batchcommand linewindows

I would like to get the current system date and time using a command prompt.
How do I get the date to be in a specific format, MM-DD-YYYY HH:MIN AM/PM?

Best Answer

Very easy to get the date and time, actually:

set Year=
for /f "skip=2" %%x in ('wmic Path Win32_LocalTime get Year^,Month^,Day^,Hour^,Minute^,Second /Format:List') do (
  if not defined Year set %%x
)

I'm assuming local time here. If you need UTC, adapt it accordingly.

Your format makes things more complicated. Apologies if I get something wrong here, I'm not familiar with am/pm formats.

if %Hour% LSS 12 (
  set ampm=AM
  if %Hour%==0 set Hour=12
) else (
  set ampm=PM
  set /a Hour-=12
)

We need a few leading zeroes:

if %Month% LSS 10 set Month=0%Month%
if %Day% LSS 10 set Day=0%Day%
if %Minute% LSS 10 set Minute=0%Minute%
if %Hour% LSS 10 set Hour=0%Hour%

Then it's time to assemble the parts:

set Timestamp=%Month%-%Day%-%Year% %Hour%:%Minute% %ampm%

_{(Just a random note: Why on earth would you want that timestamp format?)}

Related Solutions

Windows – Script to create folders in multiple directories using YYYYMMDD date as the folder name

Create a batch file that looks like this:

@echo off
for /F "tokens=2-4 delims=/ " %%i in ('date /t') do set yyyymmdd=%%k%%j%%i
echo Date: %yyyymmdd%

mkdir \\server1\share1\subdir1\%yyyymmdd%
mkdir \\server1\share2\subdir2\%yyyymmdd%
mkdir \\server2\share3\subdir3\%yyyymmdd%
...

Warning: the format of the date (yyyymmdd=%%k%%j%%i) depends on your regional settings. Because I use the French date format (dd/mm/yyyy), I have to use "%%k%%j%%i" as the format (%%i = day, %%j = month, %%j = year).

If your regional settings are set to US style (mm/dd/yyyy), you should use "%%k%%i%%j" (%%i = month, %%j = day, %%j = year).

If you want to include the time as well, use this:

@echo off
for /F "tokens=2-4 delims=/ " %%i in ('date /t') do set yyyymmdd=%%k%%j%%i
echo Date: %yyyymmdd%
for /F "tokens=1-3 delims=: " %%i in ('echo %time%') do set hhmmss=%%i%%j%%k
echo Time: %hhmmss%

mkdir \\server1\share1\subdir1\%yyyymmdd%%hhmmss%

The date is stored in the variable %yyyymmdd%, the time in %hhmmss% . Same remark as above for the date, not applicable for the time.

You could use a separator between the date and time: %yyyymmdd%_%hhmmss% for instance.

Windows – open Explorer at the current path when working in Command Prompt

Like this:

explorer .

The period being used to represent the current folder. Single one meaning this folder, Two of them, being the next folder up the hierarchy.

If at C:\Users\Bonzo...

explorer .

Opens up the folder C:\Users\Bonzo

explorer ..

Opens up the folder C:\Users, and

explorer ..\..

Opens up C:\

The dots work also with the cd command and pretty much anywhere else you need to specify locations.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows – Script to create folders in multiple directories using YYYYMMDD date as the folder name

Windows – open Explorer at the current path when working in Command Prompt

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