Recommend a theme function to modify the 'Submitted by' line for a node? I would like to theme the 'submitted' by date without editing the node.tpl.php file. In other words, in the template.php file.

I know this has been answered thousands of times before, but for the life of me I cannot find a good solution when searching.

Can someone suggest a theme function that uses format_date() or other means to manipulate this however I see fit? Specifically, I simply need to say Submitted by: admin 2012/10/10 but I would like something to keep in my toolbox as this problem comes up on every single project I do.
You can alter the node info using template_preprocess_node
function template_preprocess_node(&amp;$variables) {
 // your code
}


The $variables array contains the following arguments:
$node
$view_mode
$page

This is the default value
$variables['submitted'] = t('Submitted by !username on !datetime', array('!username' =&gt; 
  $variables['name'], '!datetime' =&gt; $variables['date']));

You can override is as you wish. Give a try.