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If you use the following code:
set CurrentTime to (time string of (current date))
The CurrentTime will be set in the following format:
12:02:38 PM
However, I want CurrentTime to be:
12:02 PM
So, I want to remove the characters in the 6, 7, and 8 positions in the string.
How can this be accomplished in AppleScript? Thank you.
You can use something like this:
set CurrentTime to (do shell script "date +\"%l:%M %p\" | awk '{$1=$1;print}'")
There's more info about date and its modifiers at cyberciti.
%l - hour (1..12)
%M - minute (00..59)
%p - locale’s equivalent of either AM or PM; blank if not known
Here is an AppleScript subroutine I found doing a Google search that does what you asked.
on getTimeInHoursAndMinutes()
-- Get the "hour"
set timeStr to time string of (current date)
set Pos to offset of ":" in timeStr
set theHour to characters 1 thru (Pos - 1) of timeStr as string
set timeStr to characters (Pos + 1) through end of timeStr as string
-- Get the "minute"
set Pos to offset of ":" in timeStr
set theMin to characters 1 thru (Pos - 1) of timeStr as string
set timeStr to characters (Pos + 1) through end of timeStr as string
--Get "AM or PM"
set Pos to offset of " " in timeStr
set theSfx to characters (Pos + 1) through end of timeStr as string
return (theHour & ":" & theMin & " " & theSfx) as string
end getTimeInHoursAndMinutes
set CurrentTime to getTimeInHoursAndMinutes()
One AppleScript-only option is:
# your line
set CurrentTime to (time string of (current date))
# place all the words of the time string into a list
set EveryWord to every word of CurrentTime
# do a very basic test on what we got and assemble the string using the parts plus separators
if length of EveryWord = 4 then
# if we have 4 words, there must be a form of AM/PM
set CurrentTime to item 1 of EveryWord & ":" & item 2 of EveryWord & " " & item 4 of EveryWord
else
# 24-hour clock
set CurrentTime to item 1 of EveryWord & ":" & item 2 of EveryWord
end if
else branch will probably never trigger as I believe the time element of current date is not presented in 24 hour time and there will always be an AM or PM. Although I guess one might be able to change the defaults from where current date get its information.
Nov 14, 2016 at 0:29
current date will return the date and time in the currently set localization. I got to know that painfully when I relied on it to respond in the US-way and my script stopped working on a colleague's computer. During tests, I found that when setting the system clock to a 24-hour time it changed the output. On the contrary hours of (current date) will always return the hours passed since midnight (= 24-hour way). So, I recommend using the date & time parts when verifying the current date & time. You additionally have the benefit of outputting it the way you like with that.
current date outputs e.g. "Monday, November 14, 2016 9:44:45 AM" whether or not I have the [] Use 24-hour clock checkbox checked or not and is why I made the first comment. On my system the else branch never triggers.
Nov 14, 2016 at 14:45
This is simplistic, but I used it to solve a similar problem and it works for your example. It just takes off the AM or PM, deletes the characters you don't want, then adds the AM or PM on again. The last line uses display dialog to show the result.
set CurrentTime to (time string of (current date))
set revisedTime to CurrentTime as string
set myAMPM to text -1 thru -3 of revisedTime
set revisedTime to text 1 thru -7 of revisedTime
set revisedTime to revisedTime & myAMPM
display dialog revisedTime
