The function that retrieves and then displays the date and time from your computer is the:

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Summary 

If you need to display the current date and time in a worksheet, you can use the NOW function. The date and time will update whenever the worksheet is recalculated or opened.

Explanation 

The NOW function takes no arguments; it is entered with empty parentheses. When you enter the NOW function in a cell, it will display the current date and time. Each time the worksheet is recalculated or opened, the date and time will be updated. To display only the time component, format the cell using a time format. If you want to display the only the date, you can format the cell with a date format that does not display time, or you can use the TODAY function, which only inserts the date component.

Fixed time

If you need to insert the current date and time in a way that will not change, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + '

This shortcut will insert the current time in a cell as a value that will not automatically change. If you need to insert both the date and time in a cell, use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + ; Then enter a space character and press Ctrl + Shift + ;

Related functions 

The Excel NOW function returns the current date and time, updated continuously when a worksheet is changed or opened. The NOW function takes no arguments. You can format the value returned by NOW as a date, or as a date with time by applying a...

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GetTickCount function (sysinfoapi.h)

• Article
• 06/29/2021
• 2 minutes to read

In this article

Retrieves the number of milliseconds that have elapsed since the system was started, up to 49.7 days.

Syntax

DWORD GetTickCount();

Return value

The return value is the number of milliseconds that have elapsed since the system was started.

Remarks

The resolution of the GetTickCount function is limited to the resolution of the system timer, which is typically in the range of 10 milliseconds to 16 milliseconds. The resolution of the GetTickCount function is not affected by adjustments made by the GetSystemTimeAdjustment function.

The elapsed time is stored as a DWORD value. Therefore, the time will wrap around to zero if the system is run continuously for 49.7 days. To avoid this problem, use the GetTickCount64 function. Otherwise, check for an overflow condition when comparing times.

If you need a higher resolution timer, use a multimedia timer or a high-resolution timer.

To obtain the time elapsed since the computer was started, retrieve the System Up Time counter in the performance data in the registry key HKEY_PERFORMANCE_DATA. The value returned is an 8-byte value. For more information, see Performance Counters.

To obtain the time the system has spent in the working state since it was started, use the QueryUnbiasedInterruptTime function.

Note  The QueryUnbiasedInterruptTime function produces different results on debug ("checked") builds of Windows, because the interrupt-time count and tick count are advanced by approximately 49 days. This helps to identify bugs that might not occur until the system has been running for a long time. The checked build is available to MSDN subscribers through the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site.

Examples

// calculate a 't' value that will linearly interpolate from 0 to 1 and back every 20 seconds
DWORD currentTime = GetTickCount();
if ( m_startTime == 0 )
{
    m_startTime = currentTime;
}
float t = 2 * (( currentTime - m_startTime) % 20000) / 20000.0f;
if (t > 1.0f)
{
    t = 2 - t;
}

Requirements

See also

Time Functions

Windows Time

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