- C++ Programming Examples
- C++ Programming Examples
- C++: Hello World
- C++: Get Input
- C++: Print Integer
- C++: Add two numbers
- C++: Add, Sub, Multiply, Div
- C++: Add Digits
- C++: Find Average and Percentage
- C++: Find Arithmetic Mean
- C++: Sum of n Natural Numbers
- C++: Sum of n Numbers
- C++: Square's Area and Perimeter
- C++: Rectangle's Area and Perimeter
- C++: Triangle's Area and Perimeter
- C++: Area and Circumference
- C++: Find Simple Interest
- C++: Fahrenheit to Celsius
- C++: Celsius to Fahrenheit
- C++: Print Prime Numbers
- C++: Reverse a Number
- C++: Swap Two Numbers
- C++: Print Multiplication Table
- C++: Find Factorial of a Number
- C++: Find Factors of a Number
- C++: Find HCF and LCM
- C++: Create a Calculator
- C++: Count Digits in a Number
- C++: First and Last Digit Sum
- C++: Product of Number Digits
- C++: Sum of Squares of Digits
- C++: Interchange Digits of Number
- C++ if-else Programs
- C++: Check Even or Odd
- C++: Check Prime or Not
- C++: Check Alphabet or Not
- C++: Check Vowel or Not
- C++: Check Leap Year or Not
- C++: Check Reverse equals Original
- C++: Check Perfect Number
- C++: Check Palindrome or Not
- C++: Check Armstrong or Not
- C++: Divisibility Test
- C++: Find Labor Wage
- C++: Find Discounted Price
- C++: Find Shipping Charge
- C++: Find Telephone Bills
- C++: Calculate Student Grade
- C++: Largest of Two Numbers
- C++: Largest of Three Numbers
- C++ Number Conversion
- C++: Decimal to Binary
- C++: Decimal to Octal
- C++: Decimal to Hexadecimal
- C++: Binary to Decimal
- C++: Binary to Octal
- C++: Binary to Hexadecimal
- C++: Octal to Decimal
- C++: Octal to Binary
- C++: Octal to Hexadecimal
- C++: Hexadecimal to Decimal
- C++: Hexadecimal to Binary
- C++: Hexadecimal to Octal
- C++ Pattern Programs
- C++: Pattern Programs
- C++: Print Diamond Pattern
- C++: Print Floyd's Triangle
- C++: Print Pascal's Triangle
- C++ Array Programs
- C++: 1D Array Program
- C++: Linear Search
- C++: Binary Search
- C++: Largest Element in an Array
- C++: Smallest Element in an Array
- C++: Find Second Largest Element
- C++: Find Second Smallest Element
- C++: Sum of All Elements
- C++: Multiply All Elements
- C++: Element in Even Position
- C++: Element in Odd Position
- C++: Print Even Numbers in Array
- C++: Print Odd Numbers in Array
- C++: Count Even or Odd Numbers
- C++: Sum of Even or Odd Numbers
- C++: Count Positive, Negative, Zero
- C++: Reverse an Array
- C++: Insert an Element
- C++: Delete an Element
- C++: Merge two Arrays
- C++: Bubble Sort
- C++: Selection Sort
- C++: Insertion Sort
- C++: Common Elements
- C++: 2D Array Programs
- C++: Add Two Matrices
- C++: Subtract Two Matrices
- C++: Transpose Matrix
- C++: Multiply Two Matrices
- C++: 3D Array Programs
- C++ String Programs
- C++: Print String
- C++: Find String Length
- C++: Compare Two Strings
- C++: Copy String
- C++: String Concatenation
- C++: Reverse a String
- C++: Delete Vowels from a String
- C++: Delete a Word from a String
- C++: Count Characters in a String
- C++: Count Words in a String
- C++: Frequency of Words
- C++: Remove Spaces from Strings
- C++: Sort a String
- C++: Uppercase to Lowercase
- C++: Lowercase to Uppercase
- C++: Swap Two Strings
- C++: Check the Anagram or Not
- C++: Capitalize All Words in a String
- C++: Get Numbers from a String
- C++ File Programs
- C++: Read a File
- C++: Write Content to a File
- C++: Append Data to a File
- C++: Read and Display File
- C++: Copy a File
- C++: Merge Two Files
- Count Characters in a File
- C++: Capitalize Every Word
- C++: List Files in Directory
- C++: Delete a File
- C++: Encrypt and Decrypt a File
- C++ Misc Programs
- C++: Print ASCII Value
- C++: Add Binary Numbers
- C++: Generate Random Numbers
- C++: Print a Smiling Face
- C++: Days into Years and Months
- C++: Add Two Numbers using Pointer
- C++: Print Fibonacci Series
- C++: Generate Armstrong Numbers
- C++: Find nCr and nPr
- C++: Get IP Address
- C++: Print Date and Time
- C++: Shutdown and Restart Computer
- C++ Programming Tutorial
- C++ Tutorial
C++ program to print date and time
In this article, you will learn and get code to print date and time in default and custom formats using a C++ program. Here is the list of programs available in this article:
- Print the current date and time in the standard format
- Print the date in DD-MM-YYYY format
- Print the time in the HH:MM:SS format
- Print the date and time in your preferred format
Print the current date and time in the standard format
This program prints the current date and time in the default format. The question is, "Write a program in C++ to print date and time." Here is its answer:
#include<iostream> #include<ctime> using namespace std; int main() { time_t tmNow = time(0); char *dt = ctime(&tmNow); cout<<"Current Date/Time: "<<dt; cout<<endl; return 0; }
This program was built and runs under the Code::Blocks IDE. Here is its sample output:
As you can see, this program produces the current local date and time in its default format. Here is the snapshot, which shows the local date and time in my computer system right now (at the same time while executing the above program):
In this program, the time_t is not a primitive (primary) data type. It is defined to store a system's time value. The system's time values are returned from time(), a standard library function. So the following C++ statement:
time_t tmNow = time(0);
initializes the number of seconds elapsed since 00:00 hours, Jan 1, 1970 UTC. That is, after executing the above statement, the variable, tmNow holds the total number of seconds elapsed since 1st January, 1970. The number of seconds since then is approximately 1608536102.
If you want to convert this number of seconds into years, then here is a step-by-step conversion:
1608536102 seconds = (1608536102/60) minutes = 26808935 minutes = (26808935/60) hours = 446815 hours = (446815/24) days = 18617 days = (18617/365.24) years = 50.97 years
So if we add 50.97 years to 1970, we'll get 1970+50.97, or 2020.97. That is almost equal to 2021. The date when this program is executed.
Note: To satisfy this condition, we've added 1970 to the year in every program given below.
Note: To understand why I've divided by 365.24 instead of 365 to convert days into years, refer to Leap Year Formula Explained to get every required detail about the topic.
The function ctime() returns a string that represents the local time. This function is defined in the ctime header file.
Print the current date in DD-MM-YYYY format
Because the previous program prints dates in default format, let's print the dates first in our required format. Later on, I wrote a program to print time in a custom format.
#include<iostream> #include<ctime> using namespace std; int main() { time_t tmNow; tmNow = time(NULL); struct tm t = *localtime(&tmNow); cout<<"Current Date: "<<t.tm_mday<<"-"<<t.tm_mon+1<<"-"<<t.tm_year+1900; cout<<endl; return 0; }
Here is its sample output:
In the above program, the function localtime() returns the local time of the system. It is defined in the ctime header file. It accepts a parameter that represents the pointer to the time_t object and returns a pointer to a struct tm object. Now using the structure, the object tm can access the following data members:
- tm_mday
- tm_mon
- tm_year
Note: Since by default, 0 indicates January, I've added 1 to tm_mon before printing the month number.
Print the current time in the format HH:MM:SS
Now let's print the time in HH:MM:SS format. Here, HH indicates hours, MM indicates minutes, and SS indicates seconds.
#include<iostream> #include<ctime> using namespace std; int main() { time_t tmNow; tmNow = time(NULL); struct tm t = *localtime(&tmNow); cout<<"Current Time: "<<t.tm_hour<<":"<<t.tm_min<<":"<<t.tm_sec; cout<<endl; return 0; }
The snapshot given below shows the sample output produced by this program:
Print the current date and time in your preferred format
This is the last program that formats the date in custom form. That is, we've used switch() to match and print the month name instead of the month number.
#include<iostream> #include<ctime> using namespace std; int main() { time_t tmNow; tmNow = time(NULL); struct tm t = *localtime(&tmNow); int mon; cout<<"Today's Date: "<<t.tm_mday<<" "; mon = t.tm_mon+1; switch(mon) { case 1: cout<<"Jan, "; break; case 2: cout<<"Feb, "; break; case 3: cout<<"Mar, "; break; case 4: cout<<"Apr, "; break; case 5: cout<<"May, "; break; case 6: cout<<"June, "; break; case 7: cout<<"July, "; break; case 8: cout<<"Aug, "; break; case 9: cout<<"Sept, "; break; case 10: cout<<"Oct, "; break; case 11: cout<<"Nov, "; break; case 12: cout<<"Dec, "; break; } cout<<t.tm_year+1900; cout<<"\nToday's Time: "; if(t.tm_hour>=12) { if(t.tm_hour==12) cout<<"12"; else cout<<t.tm_hour-12; cout<<":"<<t.tm_min<<":"<<t.tm_sec<<" PM"; } else cout<<t.tm_hour<<":"<<t.tm_min<<":"<<t.tm_sec<<" AM"; cout<<endl; return 0; }
Here is its sample output:
The same program in different languages
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