C++ Exercises: Current date and time

Last update on August 15 2025 12:41:35 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

1. Current Date and Time

Write a C++ program to get the current date and time.

Sample Solution-1:

C++ Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <ctime> // Including the C Standard Library header for time functions
using namespace std;

int main() 
{
   // current date and time in current system using time_t data type
   time_t current_dt = time(0); // Get the current system time in seconds since epoch (Jan 1, 1970)

   // convert date time to string format using ctime function
   char* result = ctime(&current_dt); // Convert the time_t value to a string representing local time
   // Display the current date and time in string format
   cout << "The current date and time is:\n" << result << endl;
}

Sample Output:

The current date and time is:
Tue Mar 15 14:28:05 2022

N.B.: The result may vary for your current system date and time.

Flowchart:

Sample Solution-2:

C++ Code:

#include <iostream>
#include <ctime>
using namespace std;

int main() {
    time_t crtime; // Declare a variable to hold the current time as seconds since epoch
    struct tm* time_info; // Declare a pointer to a structure to hold time information
    char result[80]; // Declare an array to store formatted time as a string

    time(&crtime); // Get the current system time in seconds since epoch and store it in crtime

    time_info = localtime(&crtime); // Convert the time_t value into a local time representation using localtime function

    // Format the time_info into a string according to the specified format "%d-%m-%Y %H:%M:%S"
    strftime(result, sizeof(result), "%d-%m-%Y %H:%M:%S", time_info); 

    cout << result; // Output the formatted time string
    return 0;
}

Sample Output:

15-03-2022 12:15:31

N.B.: The result may vary for your current system date and time.

Flowchart:

For more Practice: Solve these Related Problems:

Write a C++ program that retrieves the current system date and time using the chrono library and formats the output in ISO 8601 format.
Write a C++ program to display the current date and time in both local time and UTC using standard C++ time functions.
Write a C++ program that prints the current date and time and also displays a countdown timer until a user-specified future time.
Write a C++ program to get the current date and time, then output it in a custom format (e.g., "Day-Month-Year Hour:Minute:Second").

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