TIME (command)

time
The ReactOS time command
Operating system	RT-11, VERSAdos, iRMX 86, MS-DOS, PC DOS, MSX-DOS, DR-DOS, PC-MOS, SpartaDOS X, OS/2, eComStation, ArcaOS, Windows, ROM-DOS, SISNE plus, PTS-DOS, FreeDOS, ReactOS, SymbOS, DexOS
Platform	Cross-platform
Type	Command
License	PC-MOS: GPL-3.0-only ReactOS: GPL-2.0-only

In computing, TIME is a command in DEC RT-11,¹ DOS, IBM OS/2,² Microsoft Windows³ and a number of other operating systems that is used to display and set the current system time.⁴ It is included in command-line interpreters (shells) such as COMMAND.COM, cmd.exe, 4DOS, 4OS2 and 4NT.

The command is also available in the Motorola VERSAdos,⁵ Intel iRMX 86,⁶ PC-MOS,⁷ SpartaDOS X,⁸ ReactOS,⁹ SymbOS, and DexOS operating systems as well as in the EFI shell.¹⁰ On MS-DOS, the command is available in versions 1 and later.¹¹

In Unix, the date command displays and sets both the time and date, in a similar manner.

The syntax differs depending on the specific platform and implementation:

TIME [time]

TIME [hh-mm-ss] [/N]

Note: /N means no prompt for TIME.

 TIME [/T | time]

When this command is called from the command line or a batch script, it will display the time and wait for the user to type a new time and press RETURN. Pressing RETURN without entering a new time will keep the current system time. The parameter '/T' will bypass asking the user to reset the time. The '/T' parameter is supported in Windows Vista and later and only if Command Extensions are enabled.⁴

TIME [/T] [hh[:mm[:ss]]] [AM | PM]

/T:  (display only)
hh:  The hour (0–23).
mm:  The minute (0–59).
ss:  The second (0–59), set to 0 if omitted.

• Display the current system time:

[C:\]TIME
Current time is:  3:25 PM
Enter the new time:

• To set the computer clock to 3:42 P.M., either of the following commands can be used:

C:\>TIME 15:42
C:\>TIME 3:42P

• Display the current system time:

C:\SYS\SHELL\4DOS>TIME /T
19:30:42