Get-Date

Gets the current date and time.

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

-Date

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
-Day

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
-DisplayHint

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
-Format

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
-Hour

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
-InformationAction

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
-InformationVariable

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
-Millisecond

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
-Minute

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
-Month

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
-Second

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
-UFormat

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
-Year

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 of Get-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 PM

          r : 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)