The Perl localtime() function is useful for getting the current system time. It returns a nine element array of values which can then be translated into different formats, such as the YYYY-MM-DD date format used for Oracle and MySQL databases. It is useful for situations where you need to do more than echo variables such as LAST_MODIFIED for modification dates.
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Today is Saturday
The month is May
This is day 138 of the year 2024
The time this statement was executed (24 hour clock): 04:38:39
Todays date in typical database format: 2024-05-18
This convenient time stamp is the result of using: scalar localtime
Sat May 18 04:38:39 2024
A similar Perl function gmtime() returns elements in the standard Greenwich time zone. GMT timestamp:
Sat May 18 11:38:39 2024
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