os.date

s = os.date (format, time)

Returns a string with the date and time formatted according to the format given. If no time is supplied defaults to the current time.

The format string can consist of "*t" on its own, or literal strings, mixed with the following directives:

%a - Abbreviated weekday name (eg. Wed)
%A - Full weekday name (eg. Wednesday)
%b - Abbreviated month name (eg. Sep)
%B - Full month name (eg. September)
%c - Date and time representation appropriate for locale (eg. 23/04/07 10:20:41)
         (Standard date and time string ) - see below for using os.setlocale to get the correct locale.
%d - Day of month as decimal number (01 - 31)
%H - Hour in 24-hour format (00 - 23)
%I - Hour in 12-hour format (01 - 12)
%j - Day of year as decimal number (001 - 366)
%m - Month as decimal number (01 - 12)
%M - Minute as decimal number (00 - 59)
%p - Current locale’s A.M./P.M. indicator for 12-hour clock (eg. AM/PM)
%S - Second as decimal number (00 - 59)
%U - Week of year as decimal number, with Sunday as first day of week 1 (00 - 53)
%w - Weekday as decimal number (0 - 6; Sunday is 0)
%W - Week of year as decimal number, with Monday as first day of week 1 (00 - 53)
%x - Date representation for current locale (Standard date string)
%X - Time representation for current locale (Standard time string)
%y - Year without century, as decimal number (00 - 99)  (eg. 07)
%Y - Year with century, as decimal number (eg. 2007)
%Z - Time-zone name or abbreviation; no characters if time zone is unknown
%% - Percent sign

If you use "*t" you get a table consisting of:

• sec (0 to 59)
• min (0 to 59)
• hour (0 to 23)
• day (1 to 31)
• month (1 to 12)
• year (1900 onwards)
• wday (Sunday is 1, Monday is 2 etc.)
• yday (January 1st is 1, etc.)
• isdst (true if Daylight Savings Time)

Examples:

print (os.date ("%x")) --> 25/04/07
print (os.date ("%c")) --> 25/04/07 10:10:05
print (os.date ("%A, %m %B %Y")) --> Wednesday, 04 April 2007

t = os.date ("*t") --> produces a table like this:

  t.sec=18
  t.min=13
  t.hour=10
  t.day=25
  t.month=4
  t.year=2007
  t.wday=4
  t.yday=115
  t.isdst=false

Locale note - it seems that doing this helps set the locale appropriately:

os.setlocale ("", "time")