silverbullet/website/API/os.md

API docs for Lua's os module.

os.time(table?)

Returns the current time when called without arguments, or a timestamp for a specific date when given a table. The table can contain the following fields: year (required), month (required), day (required), hour (defaults to 12), min (defaults to 0), and sec (defaults to 0).

Example:

-- Get current timestamp
print(os.time())  -- prints: current Unix timestamp

-- Get timestamp for specific date
local timestamp = os.time({
    year = 2020,
    month = 1,
    day = 1
})

os.date(format?, timestamp?)

Returns a string or table containing date and time, formatted according to the given format string. If timestamp is not provided, formats the current time.

Format specifiers:

• %Y: Full year (e.g., "2024")
• %y: Year without century (e.g., "24")
• %m: Month (01-12)
• %b: Abbreviated month name (e.g., "Jan")
• %B: Full month name (e.g., "January")
• %d: Day of month (01-31)
• %e: Day of month (1-31)
• %H: Hour (00-23)
• %I: Hour (01-12)
• %M: Minute (00-59)
• %S: Second (00-59)
• %p: AM/PM
• %A: Full weekday name (e.g., "Sunday")
• %a: Abbreviated weekday name (e.g., "Sun")
• %w: Weekday (0-6, Sunday is 0)
• %j: Day of year (001-366)
• %Z: Time zone name
• %z: Time zone offset from UTC
• %%: Literal "%"

Example:

-- Format specific date
local date = os.date("%Y-%m-%d", os.time({
    year = 2020,
    month = 1,
    day = 1
}))
print(date)  -- prints: 2020-01-01

-- Current date in different formats
print(os.date("%Y-%m-%d"))         -- prints: current date (e.g., "2024-03-14")
print(os.date("%B %d, %Y"))        -- prints: month day, year (e.g., "March 14, 2024")
print(os.date("%I:%M %p"))         -- prints: time in 12-hour format (e.g., "02:30 PM")
print(os.date("%A, %B %d, %Y"))    -- prints: full date (e.g., "Thursday, March 14, 2024")