Batch script or set of commands to extract the fields of date

Question

I am trying to create a batch file to backup my data at regular intervals in Windows using a batch script.

I need date parameter and the fields from the displayed format (Month, day and year). everything works fine when I am using delimiters initially. But when I change the date format from dd-mm-yyyy to yyyy-mm-dd everything fails.

So is there any generic format to extract the fields(mm,dd,yyyy) even-though the format varies.

Thanks.

Answer 1

The only safe way to get a kind of generic date is the following (hopefully independent of local settings):

@echo off &setlocal
for /f "tokens=2*" %%a in ('reg query "HKCU\Control Panel\International" /v sShortDate^|find "REG_SZ"') do set "ssShortDate=%%b"
reg add "HKCU\Control Panel\International" /f /v sShortDate /d "dd MM yyyy" >nul
set "cdate=%date%"
reg add "HKCU\Control Panel\International" /f /v sShortDate /d "%ssShortDate%" >nul
for /f "tokens=1-3" %%i in ("%cdate%") do set "day=0%%i"&set "month=0%%j"&set "year=%%k"
set "day=%day:~-2%"
set "month=%month:~-2%"
echo.%year%-%month%-%day%
endlocal