my ($min, $hour, $day, $mon, $year) = (localtime(time))[1..5]; #### (undef, $min, $hour, $day, $mon, $year) = localtime(time); #### $starttime = "$mon"."$day"."$hour"."$min"."$year"; #### $starttime = "$mon$day$hour$min$year"; #### my $starttime = sprintf '%4d%02d%02d%02d%02d', sub { $_[5]+1900, $_[4]+1, $_[3], $_[2], $_[1] }->(localtime); }