capture system date to $date

JJB has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: capture system date to $date by Limbic~Region (Chancellor) on Jun 20, 2004 at 15:10 UTC
JJB, Might I suggest using localtime instead: `print HISTORY scalar localtime; my $date = localtime;` [download] To answer your original question, you need to use backticks or qx; my $date = `date`; [download] Cheers - L~R	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: capture system date to $date by jeffa (Bishop) on Jun 20, 2004 at 15:11 UTC
localtime `my $date = scalar localtime;` [download] Although i prefer to use Time::Piece. `use Time::Piece; my $date = localtime->cdate;` [download] jeffa L-LL-L--L-LL-L--L-LL-L-- -R--R-RR-R--R-RR-R--R-RR B--B--B--B--B--B--B--B-- H---H---H---H---H---H--- (the triplet paradiddle with high-hat)	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: capture system date to $date by mpeppler (Vicar) on Jun 20, 2004 at 15:13 UTC
`$date = localtime;` [download] is the simplest, although you could also use $date = `date`; [download] if you really wanted to (you might need to chomp that last one to get rid of the trailing \n). Michael	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: capture system date to $date by vek (Prior) on Jun 20, 2004 at 18:13 UTC
`system` only returns success or failure, not the results of the actual command. As others have pointed out, if you really want to shell out you could have used backticks instead. Having said that, you really don't need to use the shell at all. `localtime` will give you exactly what you need. -- vek --	[reply] [d/l] [select]