my (@time) = (localtime)[4,3,5];
      my ($date) = sprintf ("%d/%02d/%02d", $time[0]+1900, $time[1]+1, $time[2]);

      # Or if you don't care about formatting:
      my ($date) = join ('/', $time[0]+1900, $time[1]+1, $time[2]);

      # Or if you want to combine with your print, which would
      # avoid having to declare $date:
      printf GRAVE ("# consigned to the graveyard on %d/%d/%d\n",
                    $date[0]+1900,
                    $date[1]+1,
                    $date[2]);