In many operations within PowerShell we need time and date information.
When date and time values are being returned that is done with the [datetime] data type.
The format that’s being returned depends on the cultural settings of the computer.
General
To get the current date and time, use the Get-Date command.
Get-Date
Result:
Monday, March 14, 2022 4:40:48 PM
Date and time parts
To get specific values from the command we can use the properties in the [datetime] type.
$today = Get-Date
Write-Host "Full Date: `t$today"
Write-Host "Date: `t`t$($today.Date)"
Write-Host "Year: `t`t$($today.Year)"
Write-Host "Month: `t`t$($today.Month)"
Write-Host "Day: `t`t$($today.Day)"
Write-Host "Day of the Week: $($today.DayOfWeek)"
Write-Host "Day of the Year: $($today.DayOfYear)"
Write-Host "Hour: `t`t$($today.Hour)"
Write-Host "Minute: `t$($today.Minute)"
Write-Host "Second: `t$($today.Second)"
Write-Host "Millisecond: $($today.Millisecond)"
Result:
Full Date: 03/14/2022 20:25:15
Date: 03/14/2022 00:00:00
Year: 2022
Month: 3
Day: 14
Day of the Week: Monday
Day of the Year: 73
Hour: 20
Minute: 25
Second: 15
Millisecond: 322
Formatting dates
Sometimes we need to format the date. This can be done with the -f parameter.
This parameter takes in a string and replaces the placeholders with the values from the [datetime] type.
$date = Get-Date
$date
$date -f "yyyyMMdd"
Result:
Monday, March 14, 2022 4:47:03 PM
03/14/2022 16:47:03
Adding and subtracting
It is possible to add and subtract dates in PowerShell. The functions may seem confusing but you can add using positive numbers and subtract using negative numbers.
$today = Get-Date
$yesterday = $today.AddDays(-1)
$tomorrow = $today.AddDays(1)
Write-Host "Today: `t`t$today"
Write-Host "Yesterday: `t$yesterday"
Write-Host "Tomorrow: `t$tomorrow"
Result:
Today: 03/14/2022 20:33:43
Yesterday: 03/13/2022 20:33:43
Tomorrow: 03/15/2022 20:33:43
The same actions can be done with the other add functions like:
| Functions | Description | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Add | Method | datetime Add(timespan value) |
| AddDays | Method | datetime AddDays(double value) |
| AddHours | Method | datetime AddHours(double value) |
| AddMilliseconds | Method | datetime AddMilliseconds(double value) |
| AddMinutes | Method | datetime AddMinutes(double value) |
| AddMonths | Method | datetime AddMonths(int months) |
| AddSeconds | Method | datetime AddSeconds(double value) |
| AddTicks | Method | datetime AddTicks(long value) |
| AddYears | Method | datetime AddYears(int value) |
Set specific date and time
To Set the date and time we can use the Set-Date command.
$date = Get-Date -Date "2022-01-02 03:04:05"
$date
Result:
Sunday, January 2, 2022 3:04:05 AM
You can also set the current date but then change one part of it with for instance the month:
# Assume with this example that the current date is 2022-03-14
$date = get-date -Month 5
$date
Result:
Saturday, May 14, 2022 8:46:27 PM