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

"d:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" a -r code_%date:~10,4%-%date:~4,2%-%date:~7,2%.zip

Answer 2

This is what I've used:

::Date Variables - replace characters that are not legal as part of filesystem file names (to produce name like "backup_04.15.08.7z")
SET DT=%date%
SET DT=%DT:/=.%
SET DT=%DT:-=.%

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If you want further ideas for automating backups to 7-Zip archives, I have a free/open project you can use or review for ideas: http://wittman.org/ziparcy/

Answer 3

I changed the answer with the batch file from vMax so it works with the Dutch language too.
The Dutch - persistent as we are - have a few changes in the %date%, date/t, and date that break the original batch-file.

It would be nice if some people can check this against other Windows locales as well, and report back the results.
If the batch-file fails at your location, then please include the output of these two statements on the command prompt:
echo:^|date
date/t

This is a sample of the output you should get from the batch-file:

C:\temp>set-date-cmd.bat
Today is Year: [2011] Month: [01] Day: [03]
20110103

Here is the revised code with comments on why:

:: https://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 date settings
::
:: 20110103 - adapted by [e-mail] for Dutch locale
:: Dutch will get jj as year from echo:^|date, so the '%%c' trick does not work as it will fill 'jj', but we want 'yy'
:: luckily, all countries seem to have year at the end: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_date
::            set '%%c'=%%k
::            set 'yy'=%%k
::
:: In addition, date will display the current date before the input prompt using dashes
:: in Dutch, but using slashes in English, so there will be two occurances of the outer loop in Dutch
:: and one occurence in English.
:: This skips the first iteration:
::        if "%%a" GEQ "A"
::
:: echo:^|date
:: Huidige datum: ma 03-01-2011
:: Voer de nieuwe datum in: (dd-mm-jj)
:: The current date is: Mon 01/03/2011
:: Enter the new date: (mm-dd-yy)
::
:: date/t
:: ma 03-01-2011
:: Mon 01/03/2011
::
:: The assumption in this batch-file is that echo:^|date will return the date format
:: using either mm and dd or dd and mm in the first two valid tokens on the second line, and the year as the last token.
::
:: The outer loop will get the right tokens, the inner loop assigns the variables depending on the tokens.
:: That will resolve the order of the tokens.
::
@ECHO off
    set v_day=
    set v_month=
    set v_year=

    SETLOCAL ENABLEEXTENSIONS
    if "%date%A" LSS "A" (set toks=1-3) else (set toks=2-4)
::DEBUG echo toks=%toks%
      for /f "tokens=2-4 delims=(-)" %%a in ('echo:^|date') do (
::DEBUG echo first token=%%a
        if "%%a" GEQ "A" (
          for /f "tokens=%toks% delims=.-/ " %%i in ('date/t') do (
            set '%%a'=%%i
            set '%%b'=%%j
            set 'yy'=%%k
          )
        )
      )
      if %'yy'% LSS 100 set 'yy'=20%'yy'%
      set Today=%'yy'%-%'mm'%-%'dd'%

    ENDLOCAL & SET v_year=%'yy'%& SET v_month=%'mm'%& SET v_day=%'dd'%

    ECHO Today is Year: [%V_Year%] Month: [%V_Month%] Day: [%V_Day%]
    set datestring=%V_Year%%V_Month%%V_Day%
    echo %datestring%

    :EOF

--jeroen