/sys$common/syshlp/helplib.hlb FORTRAN, Intrinsic Procedures, DATE  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

  CALL DATE (buf)

  buf  Is a 9-byte variable, array, array element,
       or character substring.

  A subroutine that gets the current date as set within the system.
  The date is returned as a 9-byte ASCII character string as follows:

    dd-mmm-yy

  If "buf" is numeric type and smaller than 9 bytes, data corruption
  can occur.

  If "buf" is character type, its associated length is passed to the
  subroutine.  If "buf" is smaller than 9 bytes, the subroutine
  truncates the date to fit in the specified length.  Note that if a
  CHARACTER array is passed, the subroutine stores the date in the
  first array element, using the element length, not the length of
  the entire array.  For example, consider the following:

  CHARACTER*1 DAY(9)
     .
     .
     .
  CALL DATE(DAY)

  The length of the first array element in CHARACTER array DAY is
  passed to the DATE subroutine.  The subroutine then truncates the
  date to fit into the one-character element, producing an incorrect
  result.