diff --git a/botconfig.py.example b/botconfig.py.example
index 2477c6e..bad3997 100644
--- a/botconfig.py.example
+++ b/botconfig.py.example
@@ -29,3 +29,6 @@ ALT_CHANNELS = ""
 ALLOWED_ALT_CHANNELS_COMMANDS = []
 
 USE_UTC = True # if True, will use the UTC time, else the local time
+# {tzname} and {tzoffset} can both be used; respectively the timezone name (like UTC) and offset in the form +0000
+# %Y is the year with century, %y is the year without, %m is the month, %d the day, %H hour, %M minute and %S seconds
+TIMESTAMP_FORMAT = "[%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S{tzoffset}]"
diff --git a/tools/__init__.py b/tools/__init__.py
index e351851..ee6a35b 100644
--- a/tools/__init__.py
+++ b/tools/__init__.py
@@ -5,14 +5,19 @@ import time
 def get_timestamp():
     """Returns a timestamp with timezone + offset from UTC."""
     if botconfig.USE_UTC:
-        return datetime.datetime.utcnow().strftime("[%Y-%m-%d] (%H:%M:%S) UTC +0000 ")
+        tmf = datetime.datetime.utcnow().strftime(botconfig.TIMESTAMP_FORMAT)
+        if tmf[-1] != " ":
+            tmf += " "
+        return tmf.format(tzname="UTC", tzoffset="+0000")
+    tmf = time.strftime(botconfig.TIMESTAMP_FORMAT)
+    if tmf[-1] != " ":
+        tmf += " "
+    tz = time.strftime("%Z")
     utctime = datetime.datetime.utcnow().strftime("%H")
     nowtime = datetime.datetime.now().strftime("%H")
-    offset = "+" if int(utctime) > int(nowtime) else "-"
-    tz = str(time.timezone // 36)
-    if len(tz) == 3:
-        tz = "0" + tz
-    return time.strftime("[%Y-%m-%d] (%H:%M:%S) %Z {0}{1} ").upper().format(offset, tz)
+    offset = "-" if int(utctime) > int(nowtime) else "+"
+    offset += str(time.timezone // 36).zfill(4)
+    return tmf.format(tzname=tz, tzoffset=offset).upper()
 
 def logger(file, write=True, display=True):
     def log(*output, write=write, display=display):