# Adding date and time stamp to create writer

**URL:** <https://discourse.processing.org/t/adding-date-and-time-stamp-to-create-writer/45192>\
**Category:** Electronics (Arduino, etc.)\
**Created:** [October 16, 2024, 11:53am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/adding-date-and-time-stamp-to-create-writer/45192 "2024-10-16T11:53:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SteveH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@SteveH](https://discourse.processing.org/u/SteveH)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2024, 11:53am UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/adding-date-and-time-stamp-to-create-writer/45192/1 "2024-10-16T11:53:24Z")

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Hi All,

I am new to processing 4.3, so please forgive me if what I am asking is very basic. I have been programming using Adruino IDE for some time now and have come across and interesting project in the link below:

> **[GitHub - kitschpatrol/BrainGrapher: Processing-based visualizer for NeuroSky EEG...](https://github.com/kitschpatrol/BrainGrapher)**
>
> Processing-based visualizer for NeuroSky EEG brainwave data output from the Arduino Brain library.

What I would like to do is output the incoming serial data into to a file that I can import into Excel. Along with this I would like each line of data to have a date and time stamp.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Steve

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**Author:** ![svan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@svan](https://discourse.processing.org/u/svan)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2024, 12:51pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/adding-date-and-time-stamp-to-create-writer/45192/2 "2024-10-16T12:51:58Z")

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The last time I did something like this I believe I used comma separated values, ie ‘csv’. Save data to a file named ‘myData.csv’ and then import into Excel. (It’s been a while, but to the best of my recollection.) Hardware needs to have microSD to store data.

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**Author:** ![RichardDL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@RichardDL](https://discourse.processing.org/u/RichardDL)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2024, 2:25pm UTC](https://discourse.processing.org/t/adding-date-and-time-stamp-to-create-writer/45192/3 "2024-10-16T14:25:26Z")

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Hi @SteveH, Have a look at [this](https://discourse.processing.org/t/saving-live-information-to-excel-file-every-half-hour/43061/60) post and maybe other parts of the (long) topic. I think it has all you want to get date and time on your text lines.