diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ce9cefa..d7a4c41 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,14 +1,19 @@
 # bashbot-lib
-bashbot-lib provides generic functionality for telegram bots made in bash<br>
-with this library you will be able to run a telegram bot with few dependencies<br>
-**IMPORTANT**: bashbot-lib uses the getUpdates method with tcp_keepalive, not webhooks<br>
-**IMPORTANT**: bashbot-lib is not made for asynchronous use, only one message is received at a time and is done so in order<br>
+bashbot-lib provides generic functionality for telegram bots made in bash
+
+with this library you will be able to run a telegram bot with few dependencies
+
+**IMPORTANT**: bashbot-lib uses the getUpdates method with tcp_keepalive, not webhooks
+
+**IMPORTANT**: bashbot-lib is not made for asynchronous use, only one message is received at a time and is done so in order
+
 [TOC2]
+
 ## license
 this program is licensed under the **Affero GNU Public License v3**, you can read the copy that comes along with this program or read it at [gnu.org's website](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html)
 
 ## dependencies
-the following is all that's needed
+the following is all that's needed:
 * bash 4+
 * GNU coreutils (sed, grep, tail, head, etc.)
 * curl
@@ -17,7 +22,7 @@ the following is all that's needed
 Bash 4+ is obligatory for this library to work as features introduced at this point are heavily used. 
 
 ## installation
-drop it wherever you like, although I recommend either of these options
+drop it wherever you like, although I recommend either of these options:
 * copying the files to /usr/lib/bashbot-lib/
 * add it as a submodule in your project (git submodules are very annoying to deal with)
 * simply keep it in a subfolder in your project
@@ -28,7 +33,7 @@ source the library, and optionally the viewer, in your bash shellscript
 . /usr/lib/bashbot-lib/bashbot-lib.sh
 . /usr/lib/bashbot-lib/viewer.sh
 ```
-you will also need the following
+you will also need the following:
 * a variable named api_url with the following content (mind the trailing forward slash): `api_url="https:/api.telegram.org/bot${YOUR_TOKEN_HERE}/"`
 * the following files to read and write from: `updates.txt` `sentmsgs.txt` `delmsgs.txt`
   * these files must be placed in the same directory you run your bot from or in the directory defined in the following bullet poiint
@@ -51,7 +56,7 @@ with every update, getupd calculates the new offset required to request new upda
 ### reading message contents
 use the `getmsg_content` function to parse the contents of a message and save them to a bash associative array
 
-the `getmsg_content` receives two arguments
+the `getmsg_content` receives two arguments:
 * the **name** (not a reference to) of a bash associative array
 * the filename of a file with telegram JSON responses formatted by this library's functions
 
@@ -80,6 +85,7 @@ the bash associative array will hold the following contents
 | msg_id          | a number to reference this message     |
 | text            | may contain special symbols            |
 | callback        | callback_data, empty if there is none  |
+| timestamp       | timestamp in dd/mm/yy hh:mm format     |
 
 if you sourced the viewer, you can view these contents with `view_content "curmsg"` where `curmsg` is the name of the bash associative array populated by `getmsg_content`
 
diff --git a/bashbot-lib.sh b/bashbot-lib.sh
index ae0fc5a..2fe8493 100755
--- a/bashbot-lib.sh
+++ b/bashbot-lib.sh
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@ getupd() {
   [ ! -z "${update}" ] && printf "%s\n" "${update}" >> "${bot_tmpdir}updates.txt"
 }
 
+# when another comment refers to "getX functions", the following are what is being refered to
+# $1 is the filename of a file with telegram JSON responses to the getupd function
+# if ${bot_tmpdir} is set, it will be appended before the filename
 getmsg_id() {
   tail -n1 "${bot_tmpdir}${1}" | grep -om1\
   "\"message\":{\"message_id\":[0-9]\+\|^\"message_id\":[0-9]\+" | grep -om1 "[0-9]\+"
@@ -108,6 +111,12 @@ getcbk_data() {
    [ ! -z "${callbacks}" ] && utf-16-surrogate-pair-decode "${callbacks:8:-2}"
 }
 
+gettimestamp() {
+  local timestamp="$(tail -n 1 "${bot_tmpdir}${1}"\
+   | grep "\"date\"" | grep -om1 "\"date\":[0-9]\+,")"
+   [ ! -z "${timestamp}" ] && printf "%s" "${timestamp:7:-1}"
+}
+
 # $1 is name of a bash array with the number of columns in every row such as ( 1 1 3 ) for a 3 row keyboard in which the first and second row have 1 column, and the third has 3
 # $2 is name of a bash array with as many text entries as there are columns, they are added left to right, up to down, to the rows/columns configuration passed as first arg
 # $3 is name of a bash array with as many data entries as there are columns, they are added left to right, up to down, to the rows/columns configuration passed as first arg
@@ -199,6 +208,7 @@ delmsg() {
 }
 
 # $1 is the name of a bash associative array to be filled with the message contents
+# $2 is the filename to be passed to the getX functions
 getmsg_content(){
   local -n _REF="${1}"
   _REF[user_id]="$(getusr_id "${2}")"
@@ -209,4 +219,5 @@ getmsg_content(){
   _REF[msg_id]="$(getmsg_id "${2}")"
   _REF[text]="$(gettext "${2}")"
   _REF[callback]="$(getcbk_data "${2}")"
+  _REF[timestamp]="$(gettimestamp "${2}")"
 }