How to Use R Code to Show the Date and Time

Introduction

This article describes how to write R code to create automatically updating text boxes, where the text updates when data changes.

Requirements

A Displayr document.

Method 1 - Showing the date

1. From the toolbar, go to Calculation > Custom Code.
2. Paste the following code into the R CODE box in the object inspector:
   

format(Sys.time())

 3. Press Calculate and you will now see the date in the universal time zone:

Method 2 - Showing the time

1. From the toolbar, go to Calculation > Custom Code.
2. Paste the following code into the R CODE box in the object inspector:
   

format(Sys.time(),'%A, %B %d, %Y %H:%M:%S')

 3. Press Calculate and you will now see the date and time in the universal time zone:

Method 3 - Creating more complicated text

You can embed the date and time into a sentence:

1. From the toolbar, go to Calculation > Custom Code.
2. Paste the following code into the R CODE box in the object inspector:
   

paste0("Today's date and time is: ", 
format(Sys.time(),'%A, %B %d, %Y %H:%M:%S'),
".")

 3. Press Calculate and you will now see the date and time in the universal time zone embedded into a sentence:

You can customize the text by updating "Today's date and time is: " to the text that you desire.