diff --git a/doc_src/history.txt b/doc_src/history.txt
index fa0cef87f..a2c73201d 100644
--- a/doc_src/history.txt
+++ b/doc_src/history.txt
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ The following options are available:
 
 - `-p` or `--prefix` searches or deletes items in the history that begin with the specified text string. This is not currently supported by the `--delete` flag.
 
-- `-t` or `--with-time` prefixes the output of each displayed history entry with the time it was recorded in the format "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S" in your local timezone.
+- `-t` or `--with-time` outputs the date and time ("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S") history items were recorded at on a line starting with "#" before each history entry. 
 
 \subsection history-examples Example
 
diff --git a/src/history.cpp b/src/history.cpp
index 13fde6715..12e0ef1ef 100644
--- a/src/history.cpp
+++ b/src/history.cpp
@@ -1402,9 +1402,9 @@ static bool format_history_record(const history_item_t &item, const bool with_ti
         const time_t seconds = item.timestamp();
         struct tm timestamp;
         if (!localtime_r(&seconds, &timestamp)) return false;
-        char timestamp_string[22];
-        if (strftime(timestamp_string, 22, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S  ", &timestamp) != 21) return false;
-        streams.out.append(str2wcstring(timestamp_string));
+        wchar_t timestamp_string[24];
+        if (std::wcsftime(timestamp_string, 23, L"# %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S\n", &timestamp) == 0) return false;
+        streams.out.append(timestamp_string);
     }
     streams.out.append(item.str());
     streams.out.append(L"\n");
diff --git a/tests/history.expect b/tests/history.expect
index d1fcaf355..9e3269ee0 100644
--- a/tests/history.expect
+++ b/tests/history.expect
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ expect_prompt -re {\r\necho start1.*\r\necho start2} {
 # ==========
 # Verify implicit searching with a request for timestamps includes the timestamps.
 send "history -t echo start\r"
-expect_prompt -re {\r\n\d\d\d\d-\d\d-\d\d \d\d:\d\d:\d\d  echo start1; builtin history;.*\r\n\d\d\d\d-\d\d-\d\d \d\d:\d\d:\d\d  echo start2; builtin history} {
+expect_prompt -re {\r\n# \d\d\d\d-\d\d-\d\d \d\d:\d\d:\d\d\r\necho start1; builtin history;.*\r\n# \d\d\d\d-\d\d-\d\d \d\d:\d\d:\d\d\r\necho start2; builtin history} {
     puts "history function implicit search with timestamps succeeded"
 } unmatched {
     puts stderr "history function implicit search with timestamps failed"