Signature:

Arguments:

• format - A string describing the formatting of time values (as in the ANSI C strftime()function), or *t to return the time as a table; optionally preceded by ! for Coordinated Universal Time instead of the local time zone; omitted for a date printed in the default format (string)
• time - Time value to be formatted (see time() for description); if omitted, uses the current time (number)

Returns:

• dateValue - A formatted date/time string, (string or table)

date()
-- returns (e.g.) "Sun Jun 14 01:31:41 2009"

date("*t")
-- returns { hour=1, min=31, sec=41, wday=1, day=14, month=6, year=2009, yday=165, isdst=true }