DATE

Display or change the date.

Syntax

to display the date   
      DATE /T

to set the system date
      DATE
or
      DATE <date_today>

The default output from DATE /T in the United States is "1/23/1997" but this is dependent on the country/locale.
The default short date and time formats for a selection of countries are as follows:

 Country/language  CountryCode Locale Date_format  Time_format

   Argentina-Spanish     054   2C0A   23/01/1997   9:45:30 am
   Australia             061   0C09   23/01/1997   9:45:30 AM
   Austria               043   0C07   23.01.1997  09:45:30
   Brazil-Portuguese     055   0416   23/01/1997  09:45:30
   Belgium-French        032   080C   23/01/1997  09:45:30
   Belgium-Dutch         032   0813   23/01/1997   9:45:30
   Canada-French         002   0C0C   1997-01-23  09:45:30
   Canada-English        002   1009   01/23/1997   9:45:30 AM
   China/PRC-Chinese     086   0804   1997/1/23    9:45:30
   China/HK-Chinese Trad 852   0C04   23/1/1997    9:45:30
   Czech Republic        042   0405   23.1.1997    9:45:30 
   Denmark               045   0406   23-01-1997  09.45.30
   Finland               358   040B   23.1.1997    9:45:00
   France                033   040C   23/01/1997  09:45:30
   Germany               049   0407   23.01.1997  09:45:30
   Greece                030   0408   23/01/1997   9:45:30 μμ
   Hungary               036   040E   1997.01.23.  9:45:30 
   India-Hindi           091   0439   23-01-1997  09:45:30
   India-Bengali         091   0445   23-01-97    09.35.00 
   India-Telugu          091   044A   23-01-97    09:45:30 
   Italy                 039   0410   23/01/1997  09.45.30 
   Japan                 081   0411   1997/01/23   9:45:30
   Netherlands           031   0413   23-01-1997   9:45:30 
   Norway                047   0414   23.01.1997  09:45:30 
   Poland                048   0415   1997-01-23  09:45:30 
   Portugal              351   0816   23-01-1997  09:45:30 
   Spain                 034   0C0A   23/01/1997   9:45:30 
   Sweden                046   041D   1997-01-23  09.45.30
   Switzerland-French    041   100C   23.01.1997  09:45:30
   Switzerland-German    041   0807   23.01.1997  09:45:30
   Switzerland-Italian   041   0810   23.01.1997  09:45:30
   United Kingdom        044   0809   23/01/1997  09:45:30
   United States         001   0409   1/23/1997    9:45:30 AM

                                      Bold = 24 hour time

Prior to the year 2000, the default short date format for many countries used a 2 digit year.

Other date and time formats

The dates and time above are only default settings, in the Control Panel users can change the date and time format including the date separator, 12/24 hour time and leading/trailing characters. Take care not make cultural assumptions about the users chosen date or time format.

The ISO standard 8601 defines a date and time format that can be used internationally: YYYY-MM-DD to avoid the confusion that is often caused by differences in language and local custom. ISO 8601 also recommends that 24 hour times have a leading zero (09:45), but not all countries follow this convention.

Errorlevels

If the Date was successfully changed (or not given) %ERRORLEVEL% = 0
If the user lacks admin privileges = 1

Date Formats in the registry

Short Date Format
HKCU\Control Panel\International\sShortDate

Date Separator
HKCU\Control Panel\International\sDate

Country Code
HKCU\Control Panel\International\iCountry

Locale
HKCU\Control Panel\International\Locale

DATE is an internal command. In early versions of Windows, disabling Command Extensions will disable the /T switch.

“Carpe Diem - Seize the day” ~ Horace

Related commands

%DATE% - variable containing current Date.
GetDate.cmd - Get todays Date (any region, any OS)
datetime.vbs - Get Date, Time and daylight savings (VB Script).
GetLocale - VBScript.
NOW - Display Message with Current Date and Time.
NET TIME - Display the Date in US Format (mm-dd-yy).
REG - Read, Set or Delete registry keys and values.
TIME - Display or set the system time.
TOUCH - Change file timestamps.
National Language Support Reference.
PowerShell: Set-ADUser -Country - Change a users Country Code and other settings.
PowerShell: Set-Date - Change the computer system time.
Equivalent bash command (Linux): date - Display or change the date.