PowerShell cmdLet Get-Date

The cmdLet get-date returns a System.DateTime struct.

Formatting dates into strings

The -format option allows to format a date in strftime like fashion.

In the following example, the format specifiers, except K, are imho self explanotary. The K stands for the Time zone offset from UTC

$formattedDate = get-date -format 'yyyy-MM-dd HH-mm-ss (K)'
write-output "formattedDate = $formattedDate"

Github repository about-PowerShell, path: /cmdlets/date/get/format.ps1

These commands might print something like

formattedDate = 2019-11-25 10-36-12 (+01:00)

A complete list of format specifiers is found at .NET documentation.

Subtracting one date from another

Subtracting one System.DateTime from another returns a System.TimeSpan struct.

This is useful to determine the elapsed time between two point in times:

$now  = get-date

write-output "Day: $($now.day), month: $($now.month), year: $($now.year)"
#
#  Day: 14, month: 10, year: 2019
#

write-output "Hour: $($now.hour), minute: $($now.minute), second: $($now.second)"
#
#  Hour: 8, minute: 2, second: 55
#

#
#  Use ISO 8601 format to specify a given (fixed) date:
#
$then = get-date '2019-08-28T14:15:16'

#
#  Determine difference between now and then
#
$diff = $now - $then
$diff.GetType().FullName
#
#  System.TimeSpan
#

write-output "Days between then and now: $($diff.days)"
#
#  Days between then and now: 46
#

Github repository about-PowerShell, path: /cmdlets/date/get/basic.ps1

Adding a System.TimeSpan to a date

Conversely, its possible to add a System.TimeSpan to a System.DateTime object to obtain a new point in time.

A time span is explicitly created with the new-timeSpan.

$now       = get-date
$duration  = new-timeSpan -days 2 -hours 3 -minutes 14 -seconds 22

$now + $duration

Github repository about-PowerShell, path: /cmdlets/date/get/add-explicit.ps1

A time span can also be created implicitly with a string in dd.hh:mm:ss format:

$now = get-date

$now + '2.03:14:22'

Github repository about-PowerShell, path: /cmdlets/date/get/add-implicit.ps1

PowerShell cmdLet Get-Date

Formatting dates into strings

Subtracting one date from another

Adding a System.TimeSpan to a date

See also