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

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 setting

Answer 1

A function that is based on wmic:

:Now  -- Gets the current date and time into separate variables
::    %~1: [out] Year
::    %~2: [out] Month
::    %~3: [out] Day
::    %~4: [out] Hour
::    %~5: [out] Minute
::    %~6: [out] Second
  setlocal
  for /f %%t in ('wmic os get LocalDateTime ^| findstr /b [0-9]') do set T=%%t
  endlocal & (
    if "%~1" neq "" set %~1=%T:~0,4%
    if "%~2" neq "" set %~2=%T:~4,2%
    if "%~3" neq "" set %~3=%T:~6,2%
    if "%~4" neq "" set %~4=%T:~8,2%
    if "%~5" neq "" set %~5=%T:~10,2%
    if "%~6" neq "" set %~6=%T:~12,2%
  )
goto:eof

Upside: Region independent. Downside: Only system administrators can run wmic.exe.

Usage:

call:Now Y M D H N S
echo %Y%-%M%-%D% %H%:%N%:%S%

This echos a string like this:

2014-01-22 12:51:53

Note that function parameters are out-Parameters - that is, you must supply variable names instead of values.

All parameters are optional, so call:Now Y M is a valid call if you only want to get year and month.