Get-Date
Syntax
Get-Date
[[-Date] <DateTime>]
[-Year <Int32>]
[-Month <Int32>]
[-Day <Int32>]
[-Hour <Int32>]
[-Minute <Int32>]
[-Second <Int32>]
[-Millisecond <Int32>]
[-DisplayHint <DisplayHintType>]
[-Format <String>]
[<CommonParameters>]
Get-Date
[[-Date] <DateTime>]
[-Year <Int32>]
[-Month <Int32>]
[-Day <Int32>]
[-Hour <Int32>]
[-Minute <Int32>]
[-Second <Int32>]
[-Millisecond <Int32>]
[-DisplayHint <DisplayHintType>]
[-UFormat <String>]
[<CommonParameters>]
Description
The
Get-Date
cmdlet gets a
DateTime
object that represents the current date or a date that you specify.
It can format the date and time in several Windows and UNIX formats.
You can use
Get-Date
to generate a date or time character string, and then send the string to other cmdlets or programs.
Examples
Example 1
Get-Date -DisplayHint Date
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
This command gets a
DateTime
object, but it displays only the date.
It uses the
-DisplayHint
parameter to indicate that only the date is to be displayed.
Example 2
Get-Date -Format g
6/13/2006 12:43 PM
This command gets the current date and time and formats it in short-date and short-time format.
It uses the .NET Framework "
g
" format specifier (General [short date and short time]) to specify the format.
Example 3
Get-Date -UFormat "%Y / %m / %d / %A / %Z"
2006 / 06 / 13 / Tuesday / -07
This command gets the current date and time and formats it as specified by the command.
In this case, the format includes the full year (
%Y
), the two-digit numeric month (
%m
), the date (
%d
), the full day of the week (
%A
), and the offset from UTC ("Zulu").
Example 4
(Get-Date -Year 2000 -Month 12 -Day 31).DayOfYear
366
This command displays the day of the year for the current date. For example, December 31 is the 365th day of 2006, but it is the 366th day of 2000.
Example 5
$a = Get-Date
$a.IsDaylightSavingTime()
True
These commands tell you whether the current date and time are adjusted for daylight savings time in the current locale.
The first command creates a variable named $a and then assigns the object retrieved by
Get-Date
to the $a variable.
Then, it uses the
IsDaylightSavingTime
method on the object in
$a
.
To see the properties and methods of the
DateTime
object, type:
Get-Date | Get-Member
Example 6
$a = Get-Date
$a.ToUniversalTime()
Tuesday, June 13, 2006 8:09:19 PM
These commands convert the current date and time to UTC time.
The first command creates a variable named $a and then assigns the object retrieved by
Get-Date
to the $a variable.
Then, it uses the
ToUniversalTime
method on the object in $a.
Example 7
$a = Get-WmiObject Win32_Bios -Computer Server01
$a | Format-List -Property Name, @{Label="BIOS Age";Expression={(Get-Date) - $_.ConvertToDateTime($_.ReleaseDate)}}
Name : Default System BIOS
BIOS Age : 1345.17:31:07.1091047
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) uses a different date-time object than the .NET Framework date-time object that
Get-Date
returns.
To use date-time information from WMI in a command with date-time information from
Get-Date
, you have to use the
ConvertToDateTime
method to convert WMI
CIM_DATETIME
objects to .NET Framework
DateTime
objects.
The commands in this example display the name and age of the BIOS on a remote computer, Server01.
The first command uses the
Get-WmiObject
cmdlet to get an instance of the
Win32_BIOS
class on Server01 and then stores it in the
$a
variable.
The second command uses the pipeline operator (
|
) to send the WMI object stored in $a to the Format-List cmdlet.
The
-Property
parameter of
Format-List
specifies two properties to display in the list, "Name" and "BIOS Age".
The "BIOS Age" property is specified in a hash table.
The table includes the
Label
key, which specifies the name of the property, and the
Expression
key, which contains the expression that calculates the BIOS age.
The expression uses the
ConvertToDateTime
method to convert each instance of ReleaseDate to a .NET Framework DateTime object.
Then, the value is subtracted from the value of the
Get-Date
cmdlet, which, without parameters, gets the current date.
The backtick character (
`
) is the line continuation character in Windows PowerShell.
Example 8
Get-Date
Tuesday, June 13, 2006 12:43:42 PM
This command gets a
DateTime
object and displays the current date and time in the long date and long time formats for the system locale, as though you typed "
Get-Date -Format F
".
Example 9
Get-Date
Tuesday, September 26, 2006 11:25:31 AM
(Get-Date).ToString()
9/26/2006 11:25:31 AM
Get-Date | Add-Content Test.txt
# Adds 9/26/2006 11:25:31 AM
Get-Date -Format F | Add-Content Test.txt
# Adds Tuesday, September 26, 2006 11:25:31 AM
These commands demonstrate how to use
Get-Date
with
Add-Content
and other cmdlets that convert the
DateTime
object that
Get-Date
generates to a string.
The first command shows that the default display from a "
Get-Date
" command is in long-date and long-time format.
The second command shows that the default display from the
ToString()
method of the
DateTime
object is in short-date and short-time format.
The third command uses a pipeline operator to send the
DateTime
object to the
Add-Content
cmdlet, which adds the content to the Test.txt file.
Because
Add-Content
uses the ToString() method of the
DateTime
object, the date that is added is in short-date and short-time format.
The fourth command uses the
-Format
parameter of
Get-Date
to specify the format.
When you use the
-Format
or
-UFormat
parameters,
Get-Date
generates a string, not a
DateTime
object.
Then, when you send the string to
Add-Content
, it adds the string to the Test.txt file without changing it.
Example 10
Get-Date -Format o
2012-03-08T10:55:55.6083839-08:00
$timestamp = Get-Date -Format o | foreach {$_ -replace ":", "."}
mkdir C:\ps-test\$timestamp
Directory: C:\ps-test
Mode LastWriteTime Length Name
---- ------------- ------ ----
d---- 3/8/2012 11:01 AM 2012-03-08T11.00.24.4192623-08.00
The first command uses the
-Format
parameter with a value of "
o
" to generate a timestamp string.
The second command prepares the timestamp to be used in a directory name. The command replaces the colon characters (
:
) in the string with dots (
.
) and saves the result in the
$timestamp
variable. Replacing the colons prevents the characters that precede each colon from being interpreted as a drive name.
The third command uses the Mkdir function to create a directory with the name in the
$timestamp
variable.
This example shows how to use the
Get-Date
cmdlet to create a timestamp and how to use the timestamp in or as part of a directory name.
Optional Parameters
Specifies a date and time.
By default,
Get-Date
gets the current system date and time.
Type the date in a format that is standard for the system locale, such as dd-MM-yyyy (German [Germany]) or MM/dd/yyyy (English [United States]).
Type: | DateTime |
Aliases: | LastWriteTime |
Position: | 0 |
Default value: | Current date |
Accept pipeline input: | True (ByPropertyName, ByValue) |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Specifies the day of the month that is displayed. Enter a value from 1 to 31. The default is the current day.
If you specify a value that is greater than the number of days in the month, Windows PowerShell adds the number of days to the month and displays the result.
For example, "
Get-Date -Month 2 -Day 31
" displays "March 3", not "February 31".
Type: | Int32 |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Determines which elements of the date and time are displayed.
Valid values are:
- Date : displays only the date
- Time : displays only the time
- DateTime : displays the date and time
DateTime
is the default.
This parameter does not affect the
DateTime
object that
Get-Date
gets.
Type: | DisplayHintType |
Parameter Sets: | Date, Time, DateTime |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Displays the date and time in the Microsoft .NET Framework format indicated by the format specifier. Enter a format specifier. For a list of available format specifiers, see DateTimeFormatInfo Class in the MSDN (Microsoft Developer Network) library.
When you use the
-Format
parameter, Windows PowerShell gets only the properties of the
DateTime
object that it needs to display the date in the format that you specify.
As a result, some of the properties and methods of
DateTime
objects might not be available.
Starting in Windows PowerShell 5.0, you can use the following additional formats as values for the
-Format
parameter.
-
FileDate. A file or path-friendly representation of the current date in local time. It is in the form of yyyyMMdd (case-sensitive, using a 4-digit year, 2-digit month, and 2-digit day). An example of results when you use this format is 20150302.
-
FileDateUniversal. A file or path-friendly representation of the current date in universal time (UTC). It is in the form of yyyyMMddZ (case-sensitive, using a 4-digit year, 2-digit month, 2-digit day, and the letter "Z" as the UTC indicator). An example of results when you use this format is 20150302Z.
-
FileDateTime. A file or path-friendly representation of the current date and time in local time, in 24-hour format. It is in the form of yyyyMMddTHHmmssffff (case-sensitive, using a 4-digit year, 2-digit month, 2-digit day, the letter "T" as a time separator, 2-digit hour, 2-digit minute, 2-digit second, and 4-digit millisecond). An example of results when you use this format is 20150302T1240514987.
-
FileDateTimeUniversal. A file or path-friendly representation of the current date and time in universal time (UTC), in 24-hour format. It is in the form of yyyyMMddTHHmmssffffZ (case-sensitive, using a 4-digit year, 2-digit month, 2-digit day, the letter "T" as a time separator, 2-digit hour, 2-digit minute, 2-digit second, 4-digit millisecond, and the letter "Z" as the UTC indicator). An example of results when you use this format is 20150302T0840539947Z.
Type: | String |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Specifies the hour that is displayed. Enter a value from 0 to 23. The default is the current hour.
Type: | Int32 |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Type the date in a format that is standard for the system locale, such as dd-MM-yyyy (German [Germany]) or MM/dd/yyyy (English [United States]).
Type: | ActionPreference |
Aliases: | infa |
Parameter Sets: | SilentlyContinue, Stop, Continue, Inquire, Ignore, Suspend |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Type the date in a format that is standard for the system locale, such as dd-MM-yyyy (German [Germany]) or MM/dd/yyyy (English [United States]).
Type: | String |
Aliases: | iv |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Specifies the milliseconds in the date. Enter a value from 0 to 999. The default is the current number of milliseconds.
This parameter is introduced in Windows PowerShell 3.0.
Type: | Int32 |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Specifies the minute that is displayed. Enter a value from 0 to 59. The default value is the current minutes.
Type: | Int32 |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Specifies the month that is displayed. Enter a value from 1 to 12. The default is the current month.
Type: | Int32 |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Specifies the second that is displayed. Enter a value from 0 to 59. The default is the current second.
Type: | Int32 |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Displays the date and time in UNIX format. For a list of the format specifiers, see the Notes section.
When you use the
-UFormat
parameter, Windows PowerShell gets only the properties of the
DateTime
object that it needs to display the date in the format that you specify.
As a result, some of the properties and methods of
DateTime
objects might not be available.
Type: | String |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Specifies the year that is displayed. Enter a value from 1 to 9999. The default is the current year.
Type: | Int32 |
Position: | Named |
Default value: | None |
Accept pipeline input: | False |
Accept wildcard characters: | False |
Inputs
None
You cannot pipe input to this cmdlet.
Outputs
System.DateTime or System.String
When you use the
-Format
or
-UFormat
parameters,
Get-Date
returns a string.
Otherwise, it returns a
DateTime
object.
Notes
-
By default, the date-time is displayed in long-date and long-time formats for the system locale.
When you pipe a date to cmdlets that expect string input, such as the Add-Content cmdlet, Windows PowerShell converts the DateTime object to a string before adding it to the file. The default
ToString()
format is short date and long time. To specify an alternate format, use the-Format
or-UFormat
parameters ofGet-Date
.-
Uformat Values:
The following are the values of the
-UFormat
parameter. The format for the command is:Get-Date -UFormat %\<value\>
For example,
Get-Date -UFormat %d
-
Date-Time:
Date and time - full
(default) : (Friday, June 16, 2006 10:31:27 AM)
c
: Date and time - abbreviated (Fri Jun 16 10:31:27 2006)-
Date:
D
: Date in mm/dd/yy format (06/14/06)x
: Date in standard format for locale (09/12/07 for English-US) -
Year:
C
: Century (20 for 2006)Y
: Year in 4-digit format (2006)y
: Year in 2-digit format (06)G
: Same as 'Y'g
: Same as 'y' -
Month:
b
: Month name - abbreviated (Jan)B
: Month name - full (January)h
: Same as 'b'm
: Month number (06) -
Week:
W
: Week of the year (00-52)V
: Week of the year (01-53)U
: Same as 'W' -
Day:
a
: Day of the week - abbreviated name (Mon)A
: Day of the week - full name (Monday)u
: Day of the week - number (Monday = 1)d
: Day of the month - 2 digits (05)e
: Day of the month - digit preceded by a space ( 5)j
: Day of the year - (1-366)w
: Same as 'u' -
Time:
p
: AM or PMr
: Time in 12-hour format (09:15:36 AM)R
: Time in 24-hour format - no seconds (17:45)T
: Time in 24 hour format (17:45:52)X
: Same as 'T'Z
: Time zone offset from Universal Time Coordinate (UTC) (-07) -
Hour:
H
: Hour in 24-hour format (17)I
: Hour in 12 hour format (05)k
: Same as 'H'l
: Same as 'I' (Upper-case I = Lower-case L) -
Minutes & Seconds:
M
: Minutes (35)S
: Seconds (05)s
: Seconds elapsed since January 1, 1970 00:00:00 (1150451174.95705) -
Special Characters:
n
: newline character (\n)t
: Tab character (\t)
-
-
-