time and date

In computing, time and date are commands in DOS, OS/2 and Windows that are used to display and set the current system time and date of the operating system. Both commands are available in command line interpreters (shells) such as COMMAND.COM, cmd.exe, 4DOS and 4NT.

In Unix, the date command displays and sets both the time and date, in a similar manner. Unix also has an unrelated time command, used to measure the time spent by other commands. In Windows PowerShell, date is a short form for the Get-Date Cmdlet which returns the current system time object. The Set verb of the Cmdlet is used to set both date and time.

Syntax

The syntax of both commands differs depending on the specific platform and implemenation:

Microsoft Windows (cmd.exe)

 time [/t] [/time] [hours:[minutes[:seconds[.hundredths]]][{A|P}]]

 date [/T | date]

Note: When these commands are called from the command line or a batch script, they will display the time or date and wait for the user to type a new time or date and press RETURN. The parameter '/t' will bypass asking the user to reset the time or date.

The format of the date parameter is dependent upon regional settings.

4DOS and 4NT

TIME [/T] [hh[:mm[:ss]]] [AM | PM]
 
hh:  The hour (0 - 23).
mm:  The minute (0 - 59).
ss:  The second (0 - 59), set to 0 if omitted.
 
/T:  (display only)

DATE [/T] [mm-dd-yy]
 
/T:  (Display only)
mm:  The month (1 - 12).
dd:  The day (1 - 31).
yy:  The year (00 - 99, or a 4-digit year).

Windows PowerShell

Get-Date [[-Date] <DateTime>] [-Year <Int32>] [-Month <Int32>]
          [-Day <Int32>] [-Hour <Int32>] [-Minute <Int32>] [-Second <Int32>] ...

Set-Date [-Date] <DateTime> ...
Set-Date [-Adjust] <TimeSpan> ...

OS/2 (cmd.exe)

TIME [hh-mm-ss] [/N]

DATE [mm-dd-yy] or [dd-mm-yy] or [yy-mm-dd] or [yy-dd-mm]

Note: /N means no prompt for TIME. This parameter is not available in the DATE command.

Examples

Microsoft Windows (cmd.exe)

• To set the computer clock to 3:42 P.M., either of the following commands can be used:

C:\> time 15:42
C:\> time 3:42P

• To change the date to November 16, 1982, any of the following can be entered at the prompt:

C:\> date
11.16.82
11-16-82
11/16/82

• To display the current system date, type the following command:

date /t

4DOS and 4NT

• Display the current system time:

C:\PROGRAM FILES\JPSOFT\4DOS>time /t
19:30:42

• Display the system date:

C:\PROGRAM FILES\JPSOFT\4DOS>date /t
Wed  7.05.2008

Windows PowerShell

• Adjust the current system time by -5 minutes:

PS C:\>Set-Date -Adjust (New-TimeSpan -Minutes -5)
 
Wednesday, May 07, 2008 7:25:42 PM

• Return the number of days between now and a given date:

PS C:\>((date) - (date 16 November 1982)).Days
9304

• Return the current system time and display it in a localized date and time format:

PS C:\>$culture = new-object Globalization.CultureInfo 'de-DE'
PS C:\>(date).ToString($culture)
07.05.2008 19:30:42

OS/2 (cmd.exe)

• Display the current system time:

[C:\]time
Current time is:  3:25 PM
Enter the new time:

• Display the system date:

[C:\]date
Current date is: Wed  2.12.2010
Enter the new date: (dd.mm.yy)

See also

• List of DOS commands
• Date and time notation

References

• Microsoft TechNet Time article
• Microsoft TechNet Date article