### 8.83 `FDATE` — Get the current time as a string

Description:
  `FDATE(DATE)` returns the current date (using the same format as `CTIME`) in DATE. It is equivalent to `CALL CTIME(DATE, TIME())`.

  This intrinsic is provided in both subroutine and function forms; however, only one form can be used in any given program unit.

Standard:
  GNU extension
Class:
  Subroutine, function
Syntax:

  `CALL FDATE(DATE)`.
  `DATE = FDATE()`.

Arguments:

  DATE | The type shall be of type `CHARACTER` of the default kind. It is an `INTENT(OUT)` argument. If the length of this variable is too short for the date and time string to fit completely, it will be blank on procedure return.

Return value:
  The current date and time as a string.
Example:

                program test_fdate
                    integer(8) :: i, j
                    character(len=30) :: date
                    call fdate(date)
                    print *, 'Program started on ', date
                    do i = 1, 100000000 ! Just a delay
                        j = i * i - i
                    end do
                    call fdate(date)
                    print *, 'Program ended on ', date
                end program test_fdate

See also:
  DATE_AND_TIME, CTIME