Split

Question

Is there a way to split the %date% in a batch file (say, in 3 environment variables), but regardless of Regional Settings? Today\'s date would be 3/13/201

Answer 1

Below there is a pure Batch solution that just use DATE command and %DATE% variable, so it works on any Windows version. To make this program really universal, just add the name of the day and month parts shown by second line of DATE command in other languages, enclosed in slashes. For example, let's suppose that in German the day part is shown as TT, so you just need to modify this value: set DayNames=/dd/tt/ in order to also use this program in German language Windows (besides all the languages that use DD for the day part).

@echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

rem GetStdDate.bat: Get date in standard format independently of Regional Settings
rem Antonio Perez Ayala

rem Set Day and Month names shown by second line of DATE command, enclosed in slashes (add any missing language):
set DayNames=/dd/
set MonthNames=/mm/

rem Get date NAMES from second line of date COMMAND, enclosed in parentheses
for /F "skip=1 tokens=2 delims=()" %%n in ('date ^< NUL') do (
   rem Separate and store date names
   for /F "tokens=1-3 delims=/-.:" %%a in ("%%n") do (
      set one=%%a& set two=%%b& set three=%%c
      rem Get date VALUES from %date% VARIABLE
      for /F "tokens=1-3 delims=/-.:" %%x in ("%date%") do (
         rem Assign date values to date names
         set %%a=%%x& set %%b=%%y& set %%c=%%z
      )
   )
)

rem Identify locale date format and assemble StdDate=YYYY/MM/DD
if "!DayNames:/%one%/=!" neq "%DayNames%" (
   rem Locale format is DD/MM/YYYY
   set StdDate=!%three%!/!%two%!/!%one%!
) else if "!MonthNames:/%one%/=!" neq "%MonthNames%" (
   rem Locale format is MM/DD/YYYY
   set StdDate=!%three%!/!%one%!/!%two%!
) else (
   rem Locale format is YYYY/MM/DD
   set StdDate=!%one%!/!%two%!/!%three%!
)

echo Standard date: %StdDate%