Output the date/time in PowerShell

Question

I want to output the date time in various places in my script for logging so I am doing this:

$b = Get-Date
Write-Output "Backups complete at $b"

# more code here

$c = Get-Date
Write-Output "Backups complete at $c"

I am having to use multiple letters of the alphabet to get the most current date/time.

Is there an easier way of doing this or do I have to reestablish the date each time I want to use it again?

score 48 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 21 '16 at 20:32

48

Once you assign the current datetime to a variable, you are capturing the date and time at the moment you ran Get-Date.

Every time you want a new date and time, you need to run it again. You could avoid using a variable:

Write-Output "Backups complete at $(Get-Date)"

answered Jul 21 '16 at 20:32

briantist

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ok I tried it without the () and it didn't work. I get it now. Thank you! – ErocM Jul 21 '16 at 20:33
21

*cough* make dates sortable with year-month-day-hour-minute-second ordering `Write-Output "Backups complete at $(Get-Date -Format u)"` *cough* – TessellatingHeckler Jul 22 '16 at 05:08

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 22 '16 at 06:32

10

Another way to do this is using a format string and since you are using this for logging purpose I would recommend you to write a function because this will allow you to change the format of all log messages in a single place:

function Log-Message
{
    [CmdletBinding()]
    Param
    (
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true, Position=0)]
        [string]$LogMessage
    )

    Write-Output ("{0} - {1}" -f (Get-Date), $LogMessage)
}

Now you can simple log using:

Log-Message "Starting Backups"
Log-Message "Backups Completed"

Output:

22.07.2016 08:31:15 - Starting Backups
22.07.2016 08:31:15 - Backups Completed

answered Jul 22 '16 at 06:32

Martin Brandl

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you should use Write-Information instead of Write-Output – MovGP0 Nov 16 '20 at 10:43
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@MovGP0 you should state WHY you think that, not just state it. What are the benefits of doing so? – Yann Duran Mar 20 '22 at 06:58

score 7 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 17 '20 at 02:07

7

Here is simple 1 which allow you format date time in your desire format

$currentTime = Get-Date -format "dd-MMM-yyyy HH:mm:ss"
Write-Host $currentTime " Other log string message "

OUTPUT

17-Aug-2020 10:06:19  other log string message

answered Aug 17 '20 at 02:07

HO LI Pin

1,441
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1

well `echo $(Get-Date -format "dd-MMM-yyyy HH:mm:ss")` also work. simpler and more powerful :) – Benyamin Limanto Mar 13 '22 at 17:12

Output the date/time in PowerShell

3 Answers3