diff --git a/pacman-zfs-snapshot.sh b/pacman-zfs-snapshot.sh
index 6297028..e43e3c2 100755
--- a/pacman-zfs-snapshot.sh
+++ b/pacman-zfs-snapshot.sh
@@ -151,11 +151,10 @@ function find_max_dataset_name_length () {
     done
     sev_suffix_string="$(head -c "${longest_sev_suffix}" '/dev/zero' | tr '\0' '_')"
 
-    local max_dataset_name_length example_date_string dataset_name_no_pkgs
+    local max_dataset_name_length dataset_name_no_pkgs
     max_dataset_name_length='0'
-    example_date_string="$(date +"${snap_date_format}")"
     for dataset in "${snappable_datasets[@]}"; do
-        dataset_name_no_pkgs="${dataset}"'@'"${snap_name_prefix}${snap_field_separator}${example_date_string}${snap_field_separator}"'op:'"${op_suffix_string}${snap_field_separator}"'sev:'"${sev_suffix_string}${snap_field_separator}"'pkgs:'
+        dataset_name_no_pkgs="${dataset}"'@'"${snap_name_prefix}${snap_field_separator}${date_string}${snap_field_separator}"'op:'"${op_suffix_string}${snap_field_separator}"'sev:'"${sev_suffix_string}${snap_field_separator}"'pkgs:'
         if [[ "${#dataset_name_no_pkgs}" -gt "${max_dataset_name_length}" ]]; then
             max_dataset_name_length="${#dataset_name_no_pkgs}"
         fi
@@ -216,7 +215,8 @@ function main () {
     local pkg_list_oneline
     write_pkg_list_oneline
 
-    local max_zfs_snapshot_name_length max_dataset_name_length
+    local date_string max_zfs_snapshot_name_length max_dataset_name_length
+    date_string="$(date +"${snap_date_format}")"
     max_zfs_snapshot_name_length='255'
     find_max_dataset_name_length