TIME

Display or set the system time.

Syntax
      TIME [new_time]

      TIME

      TIME /T

key
   new_time : The time as HH:MM

   TIME with no parameters will display the current time and prompt 
   for a new value. Pressing ENTER will keep the same time.

  /T : Just display the time, formatted according to the current Regional settings.

Time Formatting

In Control Panel, Regional settings a Time Appearance can be set. This can be used to change the separator, and the number of characters used to display hours and minutes.

To display the time including Seconds and Hundredths of a second:

ECHO:| TIME

The time Separator, Country Code and Time format can be read from the registry using REG as follows:

@Echo off
FOR /F "TOKENS=3" %%D IN ('REG QUERY ^"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International^" /v iCountry ^| find ^"REG_SZ^"') DO (
        SET _country_code=%%D)
Echo Country Code %_country_code%

FOR /F "TOKENS=3" %%D IN ('REG QUERY ^"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International^" /v sTime ^| find ^"REG_SZ^"') DO (
        SET _time_sep=%%D)
Echo Separator %_time_sep%

FOR /F "TOKENS=3" %%D IN ('REG QUERY ^"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International^" /v sTimeFormat ^| find ^"REG_SZ^"') DO (
        SET _time_format=%%D)
Echo Format %_time_format%

Country Codes/Formats

The default time formats for different country codes are below.
Thses values are user changeable so it is not safe to assue the default will be correct for any particular user.

   Country/language   Date format  Time format  Country
                                                Code
   United States       MM/dd/yyyy   H:mm:ss.tt  001
  
   Czechoslovakia      dd.MM.yyyy  HH:mm:ss     042
   France              dd.MM.yyyy  HH:mm:ss     033
   Germany             dd.MM.yyyy  HH:mm:ss     049
   Latin America       dd/MM/yyyy   H:mm:ss.tt  003
   Intl. English       dd/MM/yyyy  HH:mm:ss.tt  061
   Portugal            dd-MM-yyyy  HH:mm:ss     351
   Finland               d.M.yyyy  HH.mm.ss     358
   Switzerland         dd.MM.yy    HH mm.ss     041
   Norway              dd.MM.yy    HH:mm:ss     047
   Belgium             dd/MM/yy    HH:mm:ss     032
   Brazil              dd/MM/yy    HH:mm:ss     055
   Italy               dd/MM/yy    HH.mm.ss     039
   United Kingdom      dd/MM/yy    HH:mm:ss     044
   Denmark             dd-MM-yy    HH.mm.ss     045
   Netherlands         dd-MM-yy    HH:mm:ss     031
   Spain                d/MM/yy    HH:mm:ss     034
   Hungary             yyyy.MM.dd  HH:mm:ss     036
   Canadian-French     yyyy-MM-dd  HH:mm:ss     002
   Poland              yyyy-MM-dd  HH:mm:ss     048
   Sweden              yyyy-MM-dd  HH.mm.ss     046

yyyy = 4 digit year
  yy = 2 digit year
  dd = 2 digit day
   d = 1/2 digit day
  HH = 2 digit Hour
   H = 1/2 digit hour
  mm = 2 digit minutes
  ss = 2 digit seconds
  tt = AM/PM indicator
   t = a/p indicator

Errorlevels

If the time was successfully changed (or not given) %ERRORLEVEL% = 0
If it fails, e.g. the user lacks the privilege %ERRORLEVEL% = 1

TIME is an internal command. If Command Extensions are disabled TIME will not support the /T switch

“Time is like money, the less we have of it to spare, the further we make it go” - Josh Billings

Related:

%TIME% - variable containing current time HH:mm:ss.
DATE - Display or change the date.
NOW - Display Message with Current Date and Time.
W32TM - Time Service.
TZUTIL - Time Zone Utility.
Timethis - Time how long it takes the system to run a command. (Win 2K ResKit).
Uptime - Time since last reboot. (Win 2K ResKit).
GetTime.cmd - Script to get current time.
GMT.cmd - Current time in GMT (World Time).
Custom date and time format strings - Microsoft.com
Powershell: Get-Date - Get current date and time.
Equivalent bash command (Linux): date - Display or change the date & time.