sub makeDate{
   @days = ("Sun","Mon","Tues","Wed","Thurs","Fri","Sat");
   @mons = ("Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug","Sept",
            "Oct","Nov","Dec­­");

   (undef,undef,undef,$mday,$mon,$year,$wday,undef,undef) = localtime(time);
   $year = 2000 + ($year - 100);
   $date = "$days[$wday] $mons[$mon] $mday $year";
   return $date;
}

$date = makeDate();

# ... do a lot of other things ...

print "<p>Hello, currently it's $date!</p>\n";