Best way to get DD.MM.YY

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

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Best way to get DD.MM.YY by ikegami (Patriarch) on Dec 12, 2005 at 19:20 UTC
If this is for display purposes, you should probably use `%x` which returns the date in a locale-dependant format. `use POSIX qw(strftime); my $todays_date = strftime '%x', localtime;` [download] For me, it would display `2005/01/02` for January 2nd. For you, it will display `1.2.2005` if you configured your OS to match your preference.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Best way to get DD.MM.YY by shiza (Hermit) on Dec 12, 2005 at 19:07 UTC
Using Date::Simple you could do: `use Date::Simple ('today'); my $today = today(); my $year = $today->year; my $month = $today->month; my $day = $today->day;` [download] It's a few more lines, but you get the added benefit of having an object and its various methods. It's especially usefull if you're doing date calculations. Read more... (401 Bytes) Using Time::Piece you could do: `use Time::Piece; my $t = localtime; my $todays_date = $t->mdy('.');` [download] Read more... (756 Bytes)	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Best way to get DD.MM.YY by ambrus (Abbot) on Dec 12, 2005 at 19:52 UTC
`strftime` is probably the simplest solution. I like to use Date::Manip as it's an easy-to use date/time module, although not the fastest or most complete one. With it, you can do this: `use Date::Manip; $todays_date = UnixDate("now", "%d.%m.%y");` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Best way to get DD.MM.YY by BigLug (Chaplain) on Dec 12, 2005 at 23:18 UTC
The obligatory DateTime solution: `DateTime->now()->strftime('%d.%m.%y')` [download] That out of the way, let me say that either DD.MM.YY or MM.DD.YY is a crazy way of dealing with dates. Neither is sortable and the two are not distinguishable for 144 days of the year. An ISO date/time format solves this: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS However if all you're doing is displaying the date to a known audience who have either asked, or specified that this is the best display format, then go ahead. I'd still argue however that a two-digit year is fraught with danger .. remember the Y2K bug? This is it! Cheers! Rick	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Best way to get DD.MM.YY by samtregar (Abbot) on Dec 13, 2005 at 00:16 UTC
Or, better yet: `my $dmy = DateTime->now()->dmy('.');` [download] I discovered the mdy() method a few days ago and it's a pretty sweet time-saver. I guess dmy() would be the equivalent outside the US. -sam	[reply] [d/l]
Re^3: Best way to get DD.MM.YY by BigLug (Chaplain) on Dec 13, 2005 at 00:51 UTC
Thanks Sam! I'd completely forgotten the dmy & mdy methods!	[reply]
Re: Best way to get DD.MM.YY by Celada (Monk) on Dec 12, 2005 at 20:39 UTC
I apologize in advance for being picky... `my $todays_date = strftime '%d.%m.%y', localtime;` [download] Is there a better (shorter) way? Maybe not shorter, but certainly better: `my $todays_date = strftime '%d.%m.%Y', localtime;` [download] The current year is 2005, not 5. See also Markus Kuhn's excellent ISO 8601 page for en even better format.	[reply] [d/l] [select]