I'm writing a batch file that will run overnight on NT 4.0. I am redirecting the output from that file to a log.txt file. I would like to have the batch file write the current date to the screen (and thus be redirected to my log file). Hopefully there is a simple solution that requires no user interaction. I have tried the date command, but it prompts the user for the new date value, halting the script, and defeating the whole purpose of automating this task. Please respond if you can help. Thanks, Doug

If Command Extensions are enabled the DATE command supports the /T switch which tells the command to just output the current date, without prompting for a new date. Hope this works for you.

Q. How can I append the date and time to a file? A. You can use the batch file below which will rename a file to filename_YYYYMMDDHHMM. @Echo OFF TITLE DateName REM DateName.CMD REM takes a filename as %1 and renames as %1_YYMMDDHHMM REM REM ------------------------------------------------------------- IF %1.==. GoTo USAGE Set CURRDATE=%TEMP%\CURRDATE.TMP Set CURRTIME=%TEMP%\CURRTIME.TMP DATE /T > %CURRDATE% TIME /T > %CURRTIME% Set PARSEARG="eol=; tokens=1,2,3,4* delims=/, " For /F %PARSEARG% %%i in (%CURRDATE%) Do SET YYYYMMDD=%%l%%k%%j Set PARSEARG="eol=; tokens=1,2,3* delims=:, " For /F %PARSEARG% %%i in (%CURRTIME%) Do Set HHMM=%%i%%j%%k Echo RENAME %1 %1_%YYYYMMDD%%HHMM% RENAME %1 %1_%YYYYMMDD%%HHMM% GoTo END :USAGE Echo Usage: DateName filename Echo Renames filename to filename_YYYYMMDDHHMM GoTo END :END REM TITLE Command Prompt Example: D:\Exchange> datetype logfile.log RENAME logfile.log logfile.log_199809281630 Other date options include LOGTIME.exe which enables you to specify a string and then writes the time followed by the string to the file logtime.log at the current default directory. The other option is NOW.exe which just replaces itself with the date and time, e.g. D:\temp>now Batch complete Mon Sep 28 15:54:19 1998 -- Batch complete Both of the above utilities are part of the resource kit. Another way is by using the following FOR command, a log file can be created using real dates. rem created unique log filename, e.g. Wed0804 FOR /F "tokens=1-4 delims=/" %%i in ('date/t') do set file=%%i%%j%%k Set LOG=drive:\directory\filename-%file%.log The result is a file named filename-date.log. But how do you redirect the output from a batch-file into a logfile ??

Thanks for the help, that works fine. To answer the last question, I redirect to a log file by simply using the > symbol like this. c:\>batchfile > log.txt Any text that batchfile would normally print to the screen goes into log.txt instead. If you do that with one > symbol, it overwrites log.txt. If you do that with two >> symbols, it appends to log.txt. Both ways will create the file if it doesn't exist. Since I'm doing this through the NT Scheduler, I just appended the redirection to the command that NT has scheduled in the properties of that scheduled task. Doug

A simple and basic DOS command for this: echo.|date >filename.txt Note: there's a period after the "echo"; there are no spaces around that period.

create three batch files create three batchfiles batchfile 1 rem batchfile 1 exe. rem this is the one you run echo.| date| find "Current" > holddate.bat call "holddate.bat" current << this is the batchfiles name rem batch "current.bat" rename =recovend.txt %4%.txt holddate.bat<< this is the third batchfile Current date is Wed 02-23-2000