sub get_date
  {

                # The subroutine begins by defining some local working
                # variables

  local ($sec,$min,$hour,$mday,$mon,$year,$wday,$yday,$isdst,$date);
  local (@days, @months);

  @days = ('Sunday','Monday','Tuesday','Wednesday','Thursday',      
           'Friday','Saturday');
  @months = ('January','February','March','April','May','June','July',
             'August','September','October','November','December');

                # Next, it uses the localtime command to get the current
                # time, from the value returned by the time
                # command, splitting it into variables.

  ($sec,$min,$hour,$mday,$mon,$year,$wday,$yday,$isdst) = localtime(time);

                # Then the script formats the variables and assign them to
                # the final $date variable.  Note that $current_century
                # is defined in web_store.setup.  Since the 20th centruy
                # is really 1900-1999, we'll need to subtract 1 from this
                # value in order to format the year correctly.

  if ($hour < 10)                   
    {
    $hour = "0$hour";
    }
  if ($min < 10)
    {
    $min = "0$min";
    }
  if ($sec < 10)
    { $sec = "0$sec";
    }
  $year = 1900 + $year;
  $date = "$days[$wday], $months[$mon] $mday, $year at $hour\:$min\:$sec";
  return $date;
  }