The following characters are recognized to create the formatting:
| %a | abbreviated weekday name according to the current locale |
|---|---|
| %A | full weekday name according to the current locale |
| %b | abbreviated month name according to the current locale |
| %B | full month name according to the current locale |
| %c | preferred date and time representation for the current locale |
| %C | century number (the year divided by 100 and truncated to an integer, range 00 to 99) |
| %d | day of the month as a decimal number (range 01 to 31) |
| %D | same as %m/%d/%y |
| %e | day of the month as a decimal number, a single digit is preceded by a space (range ' 1' to '31') |
| %g | like %G, but without the century. |
| %G | The 4-digit year corresponding to the ISO week number (see %V). This has the same format and value as %Y, except that if the ISO week number belongs to the previous or next year, that year is used instead. |
| %h | same as %b |
| %H | hour as a decimal number using a 24-hour clock (range 00 to 23) |
| %I | hour as a decimal number using a 12-hour clock (range 01 to 12) |
| %j | day of the year as a decimal number (range 001 to 366) |
| %m | month as a decimal number (range 01 to 12) |
| %M | minute as a decimal number |
| %n | newline character |
| %p | either `am' or `pm' according to the given time value, or the corresponding value for the current locale |
| %r | time in a.m. and p.m. notation |
| %R | time in 24 hour notation |
| %S | second as a decimal number |
| %t | tab character |
| %T | current time, equal to %H:%M:%S |
| %u | weekday as a decimal number [1,7], with 1 representing Monday |
| %U | week number of the current year as a decimal number, starting with the first Sunday as the first day of the first week |
| %V | The ISO 8601:1988 week number of the current year as a decimal number, range 01 to 53, where week 1 is the first week that has at least 4 days in the current year, and with Monday as the first day of the week. (Use %G or %g for the year component that corresponds to the week number for the specified timestamp.) |
| %W | week number of the current year as a decimal number, starting with the first Monday as the first day of the first week |
| %w | day of the week as a decimal, Sunday being 0 |
| %x | preferred date representation for the current locale without the time |
| %X | preferred time representation for the current locale without the date |
| %y | year as a decimal number without a century (range 00 to 99) |
| %Y | year as a decimal number including the century |
| %Z | time zone or name or abbreviation |
| %% | a literal `%' character |