How to get current time and date in C++? - c++

Question

Is there a cross-platform way to get the current date and time in C++?

Answer 1

Since C++ 11 you can use std::chrono::system_clock::now()
Example (copied from en.cppreference.com):
#include <iostream>
#include <chrono>
#include <ctime>
int main()
{
auto start = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
// Some computation here
auto end = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
std::chrono::duration<double> elapsed_seconds = end-start;
std::time_t end_time = std::chrono::system_clock::to_time_t(end);
std::cout << "finished computation at " << std::ctime(&end_time)
<< "elapsed time: " << elapsed_seconds.count() << "s"
<< std::endl;
}
This should print something like this:
finished computation at Mon Oct 2 00:59:08 2017
elapsed time: 1.88232s

Answer 2

C++ shares its date/time functions with C. The tm structure is probably the easiest for a C++ programmer to work with - the following prints today's date:
#include <ctime>
#include <iostream>
int main() {
std::time_t t = std::time(0); // get time now
std::tm* now = std::localtime(&t);
std::cout << (now->tm_year + 1900) << '-'
<< (now->tm_mon + 1) << '-'
<< now->tm_mday
<< "\n";
}

Answer 3

You can try the following cross-platform code to get current date/time:
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
// Get current date/time, format is YYYY-MM-DD.HH:mm:ss
const std::string currentDateTime() {
time_t now = time(0);
struct tm tstruct;
char buf[80];
tstruct = *localtime(&now);
// Visit http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/chrono/c/strftime
// for more information about date/time format
strftime(buf, sizeof(buf), "%Y-%m-%d.%X", &tstruct);
return buf;
}
int main() {
std::cout << "currentDateTime()=" << currentDateTime() << std::endl;
getchar(); // wait for keyboard input
}
Output:
currentDateTime()=2012-05-06.21:47:59
Please visit here for more information about date/time format

Answer 4

std C libraries provide time().
This is seconds from the epoch and can be converted to date and H:M:S using standard C functions. Boost also has a time/date library that you can check.
time_t timev;
time(&timev);

Answer 5

New answer for an old question:
The question does not specify in what timezone. There are two reasonable possibilities:
In UTC.
In the computer's local timezone.
For 1, you can use this date library and the following program:
#include "date.h"
#include <iostream>
int
main()
{
using namespace date;
using namespace std::chrono;
std::cout << system_clock::now() << '\n';
}
Which just output for me:
2015-08-18 22:08:18.944211
The date library essentially just adds a streaming operator for std::chrono::system_clock::time_point. It also adds a lot of other nice functionality, but that is not used in this simple program.
If you prefer 2 (the local time), there is a timezone library that builds on top of the date library. Both of these libraries are open source and cross platform, assuming the compiler supports C++11 or C++14.
#include "tz.h"
#include <iostream>
int
main()
{
using namespace date;
using namespace std::chrono;
auto local = make_zoned(current_zone(), system_clock::now());
std::cout << local << '\n';
}
Which for me just output:
2015-08-18 18:08:18.944211 EDT
The result type from make_zoned is a date::zoned_time which is a pairing of a date::time_zone and a std::chrono::system_clock::time_point. This pair represents a local time, but can also represent UTC, depending on how you query it.
With the above output, you can see that my computer is currently in a timezone with a UTC offset of -4h, and an abbreviation of EDT.
If some other timezone is desired, that can also be accomplished. For example to find the current time in Sydney , Australia just change the construction of the variable local to:
auto local = make_zoned("Australia/Sydney", system_clock::now());
And the output changes to:
2015-08-19 08:08:18.944211 AEST
Update for C++20
This library is now largely adopted for C++20. The namespace date is gone and everything is in namespace std::chrono now. And use zoned_time in place of make_time. Drop the headers "date.h" and "tz.h" and just use <chrono>.
#include <chrono>
#include <iostream>
int
main()
{
using namespace std::chrono;
auto local = zoned_time{current_zone(), system_clock::now()};
std::cout << local << '\n'; // 2021-05-03 15:02:44.130182 EDT
}
As I write this, partial implementations are just beginning to emerge on some platforms.

Answer 6

the C++ standard library does not provide a proper date type. C++ inherits the structs and functions for date and time manipulation from C, along with a couple of date/time input and output functions that take into account localization.
// Current date/time based on current system
time_t now = time(0);
// Convert now to tm struct for local timezone
tm* localtm = localtime(&now);
cout << "The local date and time is: " << asctime(localtm) << endl;
// Convert now to tm struct for UTC
tm* gmtm = gmtime(&now);
if (gmtm != NULL) {
cout << "The UTC date and time is: " << asctime(gmtm) << endl;
}
else {
cerr << "Failed to get the UTC date and time" << endl;
return EXIT_FAILURE;
}

Answer 7

auto time = std::time(nullptr);
std::cout << std::put_time(std::localtime(&time), "%F %T%z"); // ISO 8601 format.
Get the current time either using std::time() or std::chrono::system_clock::now() (or another clock type).
std::put_time() (C++11) and strftime() (C) offer a lot of formatters to output those times.
#include <iomanip>
#include <iostream>
int main() {
auto time = std::time(nullptr);
std::cout
// ISO 8601: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S, e.g. 2017-07-31 00:42:00+0200.
<< std::put_time(std::gmtime(&time), "%F %T%z") << '\n'
// %m/%d/%y, e.g. 07/31/17
<< std::put_time(std::gmtime(&time), "%D");
}
The sequence of the formatters matters:
std::cout << std::put_time(std::gmtime(&time), "%c %A %Z") << std::endl;
// Mon Jul 31 00:00:42 2017 Monday GMT
std::cout << std::put_time(std::gmtime(&time), "%Z %c %A") << std::endl;
// GMT Mon Jul 31 00:00:42 2017 Monday
The formatters of strftime() are similar:
char output[100];
if (std::strftime(output, sizeof(output), "%F", std::gmtime(&time))) {
std::cout << output << '\n'; // %Y-%m-%d, e.g. 2017-07-31
}
Often, the capital formatter means "full version" and lowercase means abbreviation (e.g. Y: 2017, y: 17).
Locale settings alter the output:
#include <iomanip>
#include <iostream>
int main() {
auto time = std::time(nullptr);
std::cout << "undef: " << std::put_time(std::gmtime(&time), "%c") << '\n';
std::cout.imbue(std::locale("en_US.utf8"));
std::cout << "en_US: " << std::put_time(std::gmtime(&time), "%c") << '\n';
std::cout.imbue(std::locale("en_GB.utf8"));
std::cout << "en_GB: " << std::put_time(std::gmtime(&time), "%c") << '\n';
std::cout.imbue(std::locale("de_DE.utf8"));
std::cout << "de_DE: " << std::put_time(std::gmtime(&time), "%c") << '\n';
std::cout.imbue(std::locale("ja_JP.utf8"));
std::cout << "ja_JP: " << std::put_time(std::gmtime(&time), "%c") << '\n';
std::cout.imbue(std::locale("ru_RU.utf8"));
std::cout << "ru_RU: " << std::put_time(std::gmtime(&time), "%c");
}
Possible output (Coliru, Compiler Explorer):
undef: Tue Aug 1 08:29:30 2017
en_US: Tue 01 Aug 2017 08:29:30 AM GMT
en_GB: Tue 01 Aug 2017 08:29:30 GMT
de_DE: Di 01 Aug 2017 08:29:30 GMT
ja_JP: 2017年08月01日 08時29分30秒
ru_RU: Вт 01 авг 2017 08:29:30
I've used std::gmtime() for conversion to UTC. std::localtime() is provided to convert to local time.
Heed that asctime()/ctime() which were mentioned in other answers are marked as deprecated now and strftime() should be preferred.

Answer 8

(For fellow googlers)
There is also Boost::date_time :
#include <boost/date_time/posix_time/posix_time.hpp>
boost::posix_time::ptime date_time = boost::posix_time::microsec_clock::universal_time();

Answer 9

#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
int main ()
{
time_t rawtime;
struct tm * timeinfo;
time ( &rawtime );
timeinfo = localtime ( &rawtime );
printf ( "Current local time and date: %s", asctime (timeinfo) );
return 0;
}

Answer 10

Yes and you can do so with formatting rules specified by the currently-imbued locale:
#include <iostream>
#include <iterator>
#include <string>
class timefmt
{
public:
timefmt(std::string fmt)
: format(fmt) { }
friend std::ostream& operator <<(std::ostream &, timefmt const &);
private:
std::string format;
};
std::ostream& operator <<(std::ostream& os, timefmt const& mt)
{
std::ostream::sentry s(os);
if (s)
{
std::time_t t = std::time(0);
std::tm const* tm = std::localtime(&t);
std::ostreambuf_iterator<char> out(os);
std::use_facet<std::time_put<char>>(os.getloc())
.put(out, os, os.fill(),
tm, &mt.format[0], &mt.format[0] + mt.format.size());
}
os.width(0);
return os;
}
int main()
{
std::cout << timefmt("%c");
}
Output: Fri Sep 6 20:33:31 2013

Answer 11

you could use C++ 11 time class:
#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
using namespace std;
int main() {
time_t now = chrono::system_clock::to_time_t(chrono::system_clock::now());
cout << put_time(localtime(&now), "%F %T") << endl;
return 0;
}
out put:
2017-08-25 12:30:08

Answer 12

There's always the __TIMESTAMP__ preprocessor macro.
#include <iostream>
using namespace std
void printBuildDateTime () {
cout << __TIMESTAMP__ << endl;
}
int main() {
printBuildDateTime();
}
example: Sun Apr 13 11:28:08 2014

Answer 13

std::ctime
Why was ctime only mentioned in the comments so far?
#include <ctime>
#include <iostream>
int main()
{
std::time_t result = std::time(nullptr);
std::cout << std::ctime(&result);
}
Output
Tue Dec 27 17:21:29 2011

Answer 14

You can use the following code to get the current system date and time in C++ :
#include <iostream>
#include <time.h> //It may be #include <ctime> or any other header file depending upon
// compiler or IDE you're using
using namespace std;
int main() {
// current date/time based on current system
time_t now = time(0);
// convert now to string form
string dt = ctime(&now);
cout << "The local date and time is: " << dt << endl;
return 0;
}
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Answer 15

You can also directly use ctime():
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
int main ()
{
time_t rawtime;
struct tm * timeinfo;
time ( &rawtime );
printf ( "Current local time and date: %s", ctime (&rawtime) );
return 0;
}

Answer 16

I found this link pretty useful for my implementation:
C++ Date and Time
Here's the code I use in my implementation, to get a clear "YYYYMMDD HHMMSS" output format. The param in is for switching between UTC and local time. You can easily modify my code to suite your need.
#include <iostream>
#include <ctime>
using namespace std;
/**
* This function gets the current date time
* #param useLocalTime true if want to use local time, default to false (UTC)
* #return current datetime in the format of "YYYYMMDD HHMMSS"
*/
string getCurrentDateTime(bool useLocalTime) {
stringstream currentDateTime;
// current date/time based on current system
time_t ttNow = time(0);
tm * ptmNow;
if (useLocalTime)
ptmNow = localtime(&ttNow);
else
ptmNow = gmtime(&ttNow);
currentDateTime << 1900 + ptmNow->tm_year;
//month
if (ptmNow->tm_mon < 9)
//Fill in the leading 0 if less than 10
currentDateTime << "0" << 1 + ptmNow->tm_mon;
else
currentDateTime << (1 + ptmNow->tm_mon);
//day
if (ptmNow->tm_mday < 10)
currentDateTime << "0" << ptmNow->tm_mday << " ";
else
currentDateTime << ptmNow->tm_mday << " ";
//hour
if (ptmNow->tm_hour < 10)
currentDateTime << "0" << ptmNow->tm_hour;
else
currentDateTime << ptmNow->tm_hour;
//min
if (ptmNow->tm_min < 10)
currentDateTime << "0" << ptmNow->tm_min;
else
currentDateTime << ptmNow->tm_min;
//sec
if (ptmNow->tm_sec < 10)
currentDateTime << "0" << ptmNow->tm_sec;
else
currentDateTime << ptmNow->tm_sec;
return currentDateTime.str();
}
Output (UTC, EST):
20161123 000454
20161122 190454

Answer 17

This works with G++ I'm not sure if this helps you.
Program output:
The current time is 11:43:41 am
The current date is 6-18-2015 June Wednesday
Day of month is 17 and the Month of year is 6,
also the day of year is 167 & our Weekday is 3.
The current year is 2015.
Code :
#include <ctime>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
using namespace std;
const std::string currentTime() {
time_t now = time(0);
struct tm tstruct;
char buf[80];
tstruct = *localtime(&now);
strftime(buf, sizeof(buf), "%H:%M:%S %P", &tstruct);
return buf;
}
const std::string currentDate() {
time_t now = time(0);
struct tm tstruct;
char buf[80];
tstruct = *localtime(&now);
strftime(buf, sizeof(buf), "%B %A ", &tstruct);
return buf;
}
int main() {
cout << "\033[2J\033[1;1H";
std:cout << "The current time is " << currentTime() << std::endl;
time_t t = time(0); // get time now
struct tm * now = localtime( & t );
cout << "The current date is " << now->tm_mon + 1 << '-'
<< (now->tm_mday + 1) << '-'
<< (now->tm_year + 1900)
<< " " << currentDate() << endl;
cout << "Day of month is " << (now->tm_mday)
<< " and the Month of year is " << (now->tm_mon)+1 << "," << endl;
cout << "also the day of year is " << (now->tm_yday)
<< " & our Weekday is " << (now->tm_wday) << "." << endl;
cout << "The current year is " << (now->tm_year)+1900 << "."
<< endl;
return 0;
}

Answer 18

This compiled for me on Linux (RHEL) and Windows (x64) targeting g++ and OpenMP:
#include <ctime>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <locale>
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
// Reports a time-stamped update to the console; format is:
// Name: Update: Year-Month-Day_of_Month Hour:Minute:Second
//
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
//
// [string] strName : name of the update object
// [string] strUpdate: update descripton
//
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
void ReportTimeStamp(string strName, string strUpdate)
{
try
{
#ifdef _WIN64
// Current time
const time_t tStart = time(0);
// Current time structure
struct tm tmStart;
localtime_s(&tmStart, &tStart);
// Report
cout << strName << ": " << strUpdate << ": " << (1900 + tmStart.tm_year) << "-" << tmStart.tm_mon << "-" << tmStart.tm_mday << " " << tmStart.tm_hour << ":" << tmStart.tm_min << ":" << tmStart.tm_sec << "\n\n";
#else
// Current time
const time_t tStart = time(0);
// Current time structure
struct tm* tmStart;
tmStart = localtime(&tStart);
// Report
cout << strName << ": " << strUpdate << ": " << (1900 + tmStart->tm_year) << "-" << tmStart->tm_mon << "-" << tmStart->tm_mday << " " << tmStart->tm_hour << ":" << tmStart->tm_min << ":" << tmStart->tm_sec << "\n\n";
#endif
}
catch (exception ex)
{
cout << "ERROR [ReportTimeStamp] Exception Code: " << ex.what() << "\n";
}
return;
}

Answer 19

The ffead-cpp provides multiple utility classes for various tasks, one such class is the Date class which provides a lot of features right from Date operations to date arithmetic, there's also a Timer class provided for timing operations. You can have a look at the same.

Answer 20

http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/ctime/strftime/
This built-in seems to offer a reasonable set of options.

Answer 21

localtime_s() version:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <time.h>
int main ()
{
time_t current_time;
struct tm local_time;
time ( &current_time );
localtime_s(&local_time, &current_time);
int Year = local_time.tm_year + 1900;
int Month = local_time.tm_mon + 1;
int Day = local_time.tm_mday;
int Hour = local_time.tm_hour;
int Min = local_time.tm_min;
int Sec = local_time.tm_sec;
return 0;
}

Answer 22

#include <iostream>
#include <chrono>
#include <string>
#pragma warning(disable: 4996)
// Ver: C++ 17
// IDE: Visual Studio
int main() {
using namespace std;
using namespace chrono;
time_point tp = system_clock::now();
time_t tt = system_clock::to_time_t(tp);
cout << "Current time: " << ctime(&tt) << endl;
return 0;
}

Answer 23

Here is the non-deprecated modern C++ solution for getting a timestamp as a std::string for use with e.g. filenames:
std::string get_file_timestamp()
{
const auto now = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
const auto in_time_t = std::chrono::system_clock::to_time_t(now);
std::stringstream output_stream;
struct tm time_info;
const auto errno_value = localtime_s(&time_info, &in_time_t);
if(errno_value != 0)
{
throw std::runtime_error("localtime_s() failed: " + std::to_string(errno_value));
}
output_stream << std::put_time(&time_info, "%Y-%m-%d.%H_%M_%S");
return output_stream.str();
}

Answer 24

You could use boost and chrono library:
#include <iostream>
#include <chrono>
#include <boost/date_time/posix_time/posix_time.hpp>
using boost::posix_time::to_iso_extended_string;
using boost::posix_time::from_time_t;
using std::chrono::system_clock;
int main()
{
auto now = system_clock::now();
std::cout << to_iso_extended_string(from_time_t(system_clock::to_time_t(now)));
}

Answer 25

#include <Windows.h>
void main()
{
//Following is a structure to store date / time
SYSTEMTIME SystemTime, LocalTime;
//To get the local time
int loctime = GetLocalTime(&LocalTime);
//To get the system time
int systime = GetSystemTime(&SystemTime)
}

Answer 26

I needed a way to insert current date-time at every update of a list.
This seems to work well, simply.
#include<bits/stdc++.h>
#include<unistd.h>
using namespace std;
int main()
{ //initialize variables
time_t now;
//blah..blah
/*each time I want the updated stamp*/
now=time(0);cout<<ctime(&now)<<"blah_blah";
}