How do I get current datetime on the Windows comma

Question

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

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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).

Answer 1

I know that there are numerous ways mentioned already. But here is my way to break it down to understand how it is done. Hopefully, it is helpful for someone who like step by step method.

:: Check your local date format
echo %date%

    :: Output is Mon 08/15/2016

:: get day (start index, number of characters)
::         (index starts with zero)
set myday=%DATE:~0,4%
echo %myday%
    :: output is Mon 

:: get month
set mymonth=%DATE:~4,2%
echo %mymonth%
    :: output is 08

:: get date 
set mydate=%DATE:~7,2% 
echo %mydate%
    :: output is 15

:: get year
set myyear=%DATE:~10,4%
echo %myyear%
    :: output is 2016

Answer 2

Here's a way to get date time in a single line:

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

In the US this will output "yyyy-mm-dd hhmm". Different regional settings will result in different %date% outputs, but you can modify the token order.

If you want a different format, modify the echo statement by rearranging the tokens or using different (or no) separators.

Answer 3

And here is a similar batch-file for the time portion.

:: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/203090/how-to-get-current-datetime-on-windows-command-line-in-a-suitable-format-for-usi
:: Works on any NT/2k machine independent of regional time settings
::
:: Gets the time in ISO 8601 24-hour format
::
:: Note that %time% gets you fractions of seconds, and time /t doesn't, but gets you AM/PM if your locale supports that.
:: Since ISO 8601 does not care about AM/PM, we use %time%
::
    @ECHO off
    SETLOCAL ENABLEEXTENSIONS
    for /f "tokens=1-4 delims=:,.-/ " %%i in ('echo %time%') do (
      set 'hh'=%%i
      set 'mm'=%%j
      set 'ss'=%%k
      set 'ff'=%%l)
    ENDLOCAL & SET v_Hour=%'hh'%& SET v_Minute=%'mm'%& SET v_Second=%'ss'%& SET v_Fraction=%'ff'%

    ECHO Now is Hour: [%V_Hour%] Minute: [%V_Minute%] Second: [%v_Second%] Fraction: [%v_Fraction%]
    set timestring=%V_Hour%%V_Minute%%v_Second%.%v_Fraction%
    echo %timestring%

    :EOF

--jeroen

Answer 4

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

Answer 5

Just use this line:

PowerShell -Command "get-date"

Answer 6

Short answer :

 :: Start - Run , type:
 cmd /c "powershell get-date -format ^"{yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss}^"|clip"

 :: click into target media, Ctrl + V to paste the result 

Long answer

    @echo off
    :: START USAGE  ==================================================================
    ::SET THE NICETIME 
    :: SET NICETIME=BOO
    :: CALL GetNiceTime.cmd 

    :: ECHO NICETIME IS %NICETIME%

    :: echo nice time is %NICETIME%
    :: END USAGE  ==================================================================

    echo set hhmmsss
    :: this is Regional settings dependant so tweak this according your current settings
    for /f "tokens=1-3 delims=:" %%a in ('echo %time%') do set hhmmsss=%%a%%b%%c 
    ::DEBUG ECHO hhmmsss IS %hhmmsss%
    ::DEBUG PAUSE
    echo %yyyymmdd%
        :: this is Regional settings dependant so tweak this according your current settings
    for /f "tokens=1-3 delims=." %%D in ('echo %DATE%') do set  yyyymmdd=%%F%%E%%D
    ::DEBUG ECHO yyyymmdd IS %yyyymmdd%
    ::DEBUG PAUSE


    set NICETIME=%yyyymmdd%_%hhmmsss%
    ::DEBUG echo THE NICETIME IS %NICETIME%

    ::DEBUG PAUSE