  'This form of date$()       	produces this format

  print date$()			' Nov 30, 1999
  print date$("mm/dd/yyyy")	' 11/30/1999
  print date$("mm/dd/yy")	' 11/30/99
  print date$("yyyy/mm/dd")	' 1999/11/30
  print date$("days")		' 36127         days since Jan 1, 1901
  print date$("4/1/2002")		' 36980         days since Jan 1, 1901 for given date
  print date$(36980)		' 04/01/2002    mm/dd/yyyy string returned when given days since Jan 1, 1901

You can assign a variable to the result:
  d$ = date$( )

NOTE:  All the above forms return a string except for date$("days"), and date$("4/1/02")