How to append a date in batch files

Question

I have the following line in a batch file (that runs on an old Windows 2000 box):

7z a QuickBackup.zip *.backup

How do I append the date to

Answer 1

This is all awkward and not local settings independent. Do it like this:

%CYGWIN_DIR%\bin\date +%%Y%%m%%d_%%H%%M% > date.txt
for /f "delims=" %%a in ('type "date.txt" 2^>NUL') do set datetime=%%a
echo %datetime%
del date.txt

Yes, use Cygwin date and all your problems are gone!

Answer 2

This will work for the non-US date format (dd/MM/yyyy):

set backupFilename=%DATE:~6,4%%DATE:~3,2%%DATE:~0,2%
7z a QuickBackup%backupFilename%.zip *.backup

Answer 3

Sure.

FOR %%A IN (%Date:/=%) DO SET Today=%%A
7z a QuickBackup%TODAY%.zip *.backup

That is DDMMYYYY format.

Here's YYYYDDMM:

FOR %%A IN (%Date%) DO (
    FOR /F "tokens=1-3 delims=/-" %%B in ("%%~A") DO (
        SET Today=%%D%%B%%C
    )
)
7z a QuickBackup%TODAY%.zip *.backup

Answer 4

I've used the environment variables technique covered here: http://cwashington.netreach.net/depo/view.asp?Index=19

http://cwashington.netreach.net/depo/default.asp?topic=repository&move=last&ScriptType=command&SubType=Misc

Here's the code from that site:

::~~Author~~.          Brett Middleton
::~~Email_Address~~. brettm@arches.uga.edu
::~~Script_Type~~.   nt command line batch
::~~Sub_Type~~. Misc
::~~Keywords~~. environment variables

::~~Comment~~.
::Sets or clears a group of environment variables containing components of the current date extracted from the string returned by the DATE /T command.  These variables can be used to name files, control the flow of execution, etc.

::~~Script~~.

@echo off

::-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
::  SetEnvDate1.CMD                                                     6/30/98
::-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
::  Description  :  Sets or clears a group of environment variables containing
::               :  components of the current date extracted from the string
::               :  returned by the DATE /T command.  These variables can be
::               :  used to name files, control the flow of execution, etc.
::               :
::  Requires     :  Windows NT with command extensions enabled
::               :
::  Tested       :  Yes, as demonstration
::               :
::  Contact      :  Brett Middleton <brettm@arches.uga.edu>
::               :  Animal and Dairy Science Department
::               :  University of Georgia, Athens
::-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
::  USAGE
::
::  SetEnvDate1 can be used as a model for coding date/time routines in
::  other scripts, or can be used by itself as a utility that is called
::  from other scripts.
::  
::  Run or call SetEnvDate1 without arguments to set the date variables.
::  Variables are set for the day abbreviation (DT_DAY), month number (DT_MM),
::  day number (DT_DD) and four-digit year (DT_YYYY).
::
::  When the variables are no longer needed, clean up the environment by
::  calling the script again with the CLEAR argument.  E.g.,
::
::       call SetEnvDate1 clear
::-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
::  NOTES
::
::  A time variable could be added by parsing the string returned by the
::  built-in TIME /T command.  This is left as an exercise for the reader. B-)
::
::  This script illustrates the following NT command extensions:
::
::  1.  Use of the extended IF command to do case-insensitive comparisons.
::
::  2.  Use of the extended DATE command.
::
::  3.  Use of the extended FOR command to parse a string returned by a
::      command or program.
::
::  4.  Use of the "()" conditional processing symbols to group commands
::      for conditional execution.  All commands between the parens will
::      be executed if the preceeding IF or FOR statement is TRUE.
::-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

if not "%1" == "?" goto chkarg
echo.
echo Sets or clears date/time variables in the command environment.
echo.
echo    SetEnvDate1 [clear]
echo.
echo When called without arguments, the variables are created or updated.
echo When called with the CLEAR argument, the variables are deleted.
echo.
goto endit

::-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
::  Check arguments and select SET or CLEAR routine.  Unrecognized arguments
::  are ignored and SET is assumed.
::-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

:chkarg

if /I "%1" == "CLEAR" goto clrvar
goto setvar

::-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
::  Set variables for the day abbreviation (DAY), month number (MM), 
::  day number (DD) and 4-digit year (YYYY). 
::-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

:setvar

for /F "tokens=1-4 delims=/ " %%i IN ('date /t') DO (
set DT_DAY=%%i
set DT_MM=%%j
set DT_DD=%%k
set DT_YYYY=%%l)

goto endit

::-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
::  Clear all variables from the environment.
::-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

:clrvar
for %%v in (DT_DAY DT_MM DT_DD DT_YYYY) do set %%v=
goto endit

:endit

Answer 5

If you have WSL enabled (Windows 10 only) you can do it with bash in a locale neutral way.

set dateFile=%TEMP%\currentDate.txt
bash -c "date +%Y%m%d" > %dateFile%
set /p today=<%dateFile%

Feel free to replace the file redirection with a "for" loop abomination suggested in other answers here and over at Windows batch assign output of a program to a variable

Answer 6

There is a tech recipe available here that shows how to format it to MMDDYYYY, you should be able to adapt it for your needs.

echo on
@REM Seamonkey’s quick date batch (MMDDYYYY format)
@REM Setups %date variable
@REM First parses month, day, and year into mm , dd, yyyy formats and then combines to be MMDDYYYY
FOR /F "TOKENS=1* DELIMS= " %%A IN ('DATE/T') DO SET CDATE=%%B
FOR /F "TOKENS=1,2 eol=/ DELIMS=/ " %%A IN ('DATE/T') DO SET mm=%%B
FOR /F "TOKENS=1,2 DELIMS=/ eol=/" %%A IN ('echo %CDATE%') DO SET dd=%%B
FOR /F "TOKENS=2,3 DELIMS=/ " %%A IN ('echo %CDATE%') DO SET yyyy=%%B
SET date=%mm%%dd%%yyyy%

echo %date%

EDIT: The reason did not work before was because of 'smartquotes' in the original text. I fixed them and the batch file will work if cut & pasted from this page.