If EXPR is omitted, "localtime()" uses the current time (as returned by time(3)). In scalar context, "localtime()" returns the ctime(3) value: $now_string = localtime; # e.g., "Thu Oct 13 04:54:34 1994" This scalar value is not locale-dependent but is a Perl builtin. For GMT instead of local time use the "gmtime" builtin.