Add date to git commit message automatically

Question

so I have an sh script that throws together some files then commits them to a git repo. How can I dynamically add the date to my commit message?

My .sh looks something like

// do things to files...
git add -u;
git commit -m 'generated files on <date here?>';
git push origin master;

Answer 1

Just format the output of the date command and Bob's your uncle:

// do things to files...
git add -u;
git commit -m "generated files on `date +'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S'`";
git push origin master

Answer 2

Why not use prepare-commit-msg or commit-msg git hooks? You can find stubs in your .git/hooks directory.