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

The first four lines of this code will give you reliable YY DD MM YYYY HH Min Sec variables in Windows XP Professional and higher.

@echo off
for /f "tokens=2 delims==" %%a in ('wmic OS Get localdatetime /value') do set "dt=%%a"
set "YY=%dt:~2,2%" & set "YYYY=%dt:~0,4%" & set "MM=%dt:~4,2%" & set "DD=%dt:~6,2%"
set "HH=%dt:~8,2%" & set "Min=%dt:~10,2%" & set "Sec=%dt:~12,2%"

set "datestamp=%YYYY%%MM%%DD%" & set "timestamp=%HH%%Min%%Sec%" & set "fullstamp=%YYYY%-%MM%-%DD%_%HH%%Min%-%Sec%"
echo datestamp: "%datestamp%"
echo timestamp: "%timestamp%"
echo fullstamp: "%fullstamp%"
pause

Answer 2

Just use this line:

PowerShell -Command "get-date"

Answer 3

:: GetDate.cmd -> Uses WMIC.exe to get current date and time in ISO 8601 format
:: - Sets environment variables %_isotime% and %_now% to current time
:: - On failure, clears these environment variables
:: Inspired on -> https://ss64.com/nt/syntax-getdate.html
:: - (cX) 2017 adolfo.dimare@gmail.com
:: - http://stackoverflow.com/questions/203090
@echo off

set _isotime=
set _now=

:: Check that WMIC.exe is available
WMIC.exe Alias /? >NUL 2>&1 || goto _WMIC_MISSING_

if not (%1)==() goto _help
SetLocal EnableDelayedExpansion

:: Use WMIC.exe to retrieve date and time
FOR /F "skip=1 tokens=1-6" %%G IN ('WMIC.exe Path Win32_LocalTime Get Day^,Hour^,Minute^,Month^,Second^,Year /Format:table') DO (
    IF "%%~L"=="" goto  _WMIC_done_
        set _yyyy=%%L
        set _mm=00%%J
        set _dd=00%%G
        set _hour=00%%H
        set _minute=00%%I
        set _second=00%%K
)
:_WMIC_done_

::   1    2     3       4      5      6
:: %%G  %%H    %%I     %%J    %%K    %%L
:: Day  Hour  Minute  Month  Second  Year
:: 27   9     35      4      38      2017

:: Remove excess leading zeroes
        set _mm=%_mm:~-2%
        set _dd=%_dd:~-2%
        set _hour=%_hour:~-2%
        set _minute=%_minute:~-2%
        set _second=%_second:~-2%
:: Syntax -> %variable:~num_chars_to_skip,num_chars_to_keep%

:: Set date/time in ISO 8601 format:
        Set _isotime=%_yyyy%-%_mm%-%_dd%T%_hour%:%_minute%:%_second%
:: -> http://google.com/search?num=100&q=ISO+8601+format

if 1%_hour% LSS 112 set _now=%_isotime:~0,10% %_hour%:%_minute%:%_second%am
if 1%_hour% LSS 112 goto _skip_12_
    set /a _hour=1%_hour%-12
    set _hour=%_hour:~-2%
    set _now=%_isotime:~0,10% %_hour%:%_minute%:%_second%pm
    :: -> https://ss64.com/nt/if.html
    :: -> http://google.com/search?num=100&q=SetLocal+EndLocal+Windows
    :: 'if () else ()' will NOT set %_now% correctly !?
:_skip_12_

EndLocal & set _isotime=%_isotime% & set _now=%_now%
goto _out

:_WMIC_MISSING_
echo.
echo WMIC.exe command not available
echo - WMIC.exe needs Administrator privileges to run in Windows
echo - Usually the path to WMIC.exe is "%windir%\System32\wbem\WMIC.exe"

:_help
echo.
echo GetDate.cmd: Uses WMIC.exe to get current date and time in ISO 8601 format
echo.
echo    %%_now%%     environment variable set to current date and time
echo    %%_isotime%% environment variable to current time in ISO format
echo    set _today=%%_isotime:~0,10%%
echo.

:_out
:: EOF: GetDate.cmd

Answer 4

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

Answer 5

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 6

I had a similar problem. I have an automatic daily download from an FTP server of an encrypted file. I wanted to decrypt the file using gpg, rename the file to the current date (YYYYMMDD format) and drop the decrypted file into a folder for the correct department.

I went through several suggestions for renaming the file according to date and was having no luck until I stumbled upon this simple solution.

for /f "tokens=1-5 delims=/ " %%d in ("%date%") do rename "decrypted.txt" %%g-%%e-%%f.txt

It worked perfectly (i.e., the filename comes out as "2011-06-14.txt").

(Source)