now

Current date and time as serial date number

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Syntax

t = now

Description

example

t = now returns the current date and time as a serial date number. A serial date number represents the whole and fractional number of days starting from a fixed, preset date (January 0, 0000).

Examples

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Open Live Script

Change the output display for numbers to long, fixed-decimal format. Then return the current date and time as a serial date number.

format longG
t = now
t = 
          738020.671880229

The whole part of t corresponds to the date, and the fractional part corresponds to the time of day. One way to show the date and time is to convert t using the datetime function.

d = datetime(t,'ConvertFrom','datenum')
d = datetime
   17-Aug-2020 16:07:30

To represent the date alone, without the time of day, use the floor function. Convert the result to a datetime value for display.

t2 = floor(t)
t2 = 
      738020


d2 = datetime(t2,'ConvertFrom','datenum')
d2 = datetime
   17-Aug-2020

Limitations

  • MATLAB® Online™ returns the current date and time in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) rather than local time.

More About

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January 0, 0000

Date specified to include a year 0 in the proleptic Gregorian calendar. For more information, see January 0 and Year zero.

Tips

  • To represent the current date and time as a serial date number, as text, or as a datetime value, use the function calls shown in the table.

    Function Call

    Output

    floor(now)

    Current date as a serial date number

    rem(now,1)

    Current time as a serial date number

    datestr(now)

    Current date and time as text

    char(datetime('now'))

    string(datetime('now'))

    datetime('now')

    Current date and time as a datetime value

    datetime(now,'ConvertFrom','datenum')

See Also

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Topics

Introduced before R2006a

MATLAB Documentation

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