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--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/time/date.m
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# Copyright (C) 1995 John W. Eaton
+# 
+# This file is part of Octave.
+# 
+# Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+# under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
+# Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any
+# later version.
+# 
+# Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+# ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
+# for more details.
+# 
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with Octave; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the Free
+# Software Foundation, 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
+
+function retval = date ()
+
+# usage: date ()
+#
+# Return current date in a string, in the form `18-Jul-94'.
+
+  retval = strftime ("%d-%b-%y", localtime (time ()));
+
+endfunction