What's the easiest way to zip/rar/arj a directory with a timestamp for a name?

Question

What would be the easiest way of zipping/raring/arjing a directory with a timestamp for a name?

Answer 1

On the console you can do

rar a -r "backup-%DATE%.rar" "C:\Path\To\Directory"

If you also want the the time in the archive name, things get more complicated since %TIME% usually contains characters illegal for a file name (like :). To remove the colons form %TIME%, you could use some wired for-loop syntax:

FOR /F "tokens=1,2,3 delims=:" %i IN ("%TIME%") DO (
      rar a -r "backup-%DATE%-%i.%j.%k.rar" "C:\Path\To\Directory"
   )

(See for /? for details on what this does.)

Answer 2

Assuming you want a quick Explorer-based pointy-clicky solution, here's the way I'd use:

1. First, for quick zipping, use WinZip's Add To Zip Explorer context menu option on the folder.
2. Then, use Synesis Software's Shell Extensions Date Renamer context menu option on the resulting zip archive:

I would imagine there are other solutions that are equally short but use different shell extensions.