Output the date/time in PowerShell

powershell powershell-4.0
ErocM picture ErocM · Jul 21, 2016 · Viewed 45.6k times · Source

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?

Answer

briantist picture briantist · Jul 21, 2016

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)"

Related questions

How to run the .reg file using PowerShell?

I want to run the .reg file (registry file) using PowerShell Script but I am not able to run it. When i run it manually it creates the respective nodes in registry but i want it execute using powershell script. …

Read More
How do I get PowerShell 4 cmdlets such as Test-NetConnection to work on Windows 7?

The situation. On a Windows 7 SP1 machine, I have updated with Windows6.1-KB2819745-x64-MultiPkg.msu. Furthermore, in PowerShell $PSVersionTable now reports ‘PSVersion 4.0’. At present, my conclusion is that many PowerShell 4 cmdlets such Test-NetConnection, will only work on Windows 8.1. However, …

Read More
Setup default date format like yyyy-mm-dd in Powershell?

A simple & short question: How can I setup a default date format in powershell like yyyy-mm-dd ? so any date output will be like this format? or How to setup a date format globally in one script ? Is there a …

Read More