Date - Display or change date

Date - Display or change date - Windows CMD

Display or change the date.

Syntax

   To display the date:
      DATE /T

   To set the system date:
      DATE
   or
      DATE date_today

The default output from DATE /T in the United States is "mm/dd/yyyy", e.g. "1/17/2032" but this varies by country/locale.
The default short date and time formats for a selection of countries are as follows:

Country/language	CountryCode	Locale	Date_format	Time_format
Argentina-Spanish	054	2C0A	17/01/2032	9:45:30 pm
Australia	061	0C09	17/01/2032	9:45:30 PM
Austria	043	0C07	17.01.2032	09:45:30
Brazil-Portuguese	055	0416	17/01/2032	09:45:30
Belgium-French	032	080C	17/01/2032	09:45:30
Belgium-Dutch	032	0813	17/01/2032	9:45:30
Canada-French	002	0C0C	2032-01-17	09:45:30
Canada-English	002	1009	01/17/2032	9:45:30 PM
China/PRC-Chinese	086	0804	2032/1/17	9:45:30
China/HK-Chinese Trad	852	0C04	17/1/2032	9:45:30
Czech Republic	042	0405	17.1.2032	9:45:30
Denmark	045	0406	17-01-2032	09.45.30
Finland	358	040B	17.1.2032	9:45:00
France	033	040C	17/01/2032	09:45:30
Germany	049	0407	17.01.2032	09:45:30
Greece	030	0408	17/01/2032	9:45:30 μμ
Hungary	036	040E	2032.01.17.	9:45:30
India-Hindi	091	0439	17-01-2032	09:45:30
India-Bengali	091	0445	17-01-32	09.35.00
India-Telugu	091	044A	17-01-32	09:45:30
Italy	039	0410	17/01/2032	09.45.30
Japan	081	0411	2032/01/17	9:45:30
Netherlands	031	0413	17-01-2032	9:45:30
Norway	047	0414	17.01.2032	09:45:30
Poland	048	0415	2032-01-17	09:45:30
Portugal	351	0816	17-01-2032	09:45:30
Spain	034	0C0A	17/01/2032	9:45:30
Sweden	046	041D	2032-01-17	09.45.30
Switzerland-French	041	100C	17.01.2032	09:45:30
Switzerland-German	041	0807	17.01.2032	09:45:30
Switzerland-Italian	041	0810	17.01.2032	09:45:30
United Kingdom	044	0809	17/01/2032	09:45:30
United States	001	0409	1/17/2032	9:45:30 PM

                                         Bold = 24 hour time

Prior to the year 2000, the default short date format for many countries used a 2 digit year.

Other date and time formats

The dates and time above are only default settings, in the Control Panel users can change the date and time format including the date separator, 12/24 hour time and leading/trailing characters. Take care not make cultural assumptions about the users chosen date or time format.

The ISO standard 8601 defines a date and time format that can be used internationally: YYYY-MM-DD to avoid the confusion that is often caused by differences in language and local custom. ISO 8601 also recommends that 24 hour times have a leading zero (09:45), but not all countries follow this convention.

Errorlevels

If the Date was successfully changed (or not given) %ERRORLEVEL% = 0
If the user lacks admin privileges = 1

Date Formats in the registry

Short Date Format
HKCU\Control Panel\International\sShortDate

Date Separator
HKCU\Control Panel\International\sDate

Country Code
HKCU\Control Panel\International\iCountry

Locale
HKCU\Control Panel\International\Locale

DATE is an internal command. In early versions of Windows, disabling Command Extensions will disable the /T switch.

“Carpe Diem - Seize the day” ~ Horace

Related commands

%DATE% - variable containing current Date.
GetDate.cmd - Get todays Date (any region, any OS)
datetime.vbs - Get Date, Time and daylight savings (VB Script).
GetLocale - VBScript.
NOW - Display Message with Current Date and Time.
NET TIME - Display the Date in US Format (mm-dd-yy).
REG - Read, Set or Delete registry keys and values.
TIME - Display or set the system time.
TOUCH - Change file timestamps.
National Language Support Reference.
PowerShell: Get-Date -format s - Get the date in ISO 8601 standard format.
PowerShell: Set-ADUser -Country - Change a users Country Code and other settings.
PowerShell: Set-Date - Change the computer system time.
Equivalent bash command (Linux): date - Display or change the date.