use Mail::IMAPClient; my $now = time(); my $num_days = 5; # season to taste my $timestamp_n_daysago = $now - $num_days * 86400; #86400 secs/day my $zone = '-0400'; # EDT, season to taste, defaults to '+0000' (GMT0) my $date = Mail::IMAPClient->Rfc2060_datetime($timestamp_n_daysago, $zone);