Replacing text with shortened date and time -- functions

-- replace characters
on replace_chars(this_text, search_string, replacement_string)
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the search_string
    set the item_list to every text item of this_text
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the replacement_string
    set this_text to the item_list as string
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
    return this_text
end replace_chars

-- split text

on splitText(theText, theDelimiter)
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to theDelimiter
    set theTextItems to every text item of theText
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
    return theTextItems
end splitText


-- Actions

-- Action 1: Replace the word TIME with the Date and Time.

set shortDate to weekday &amp; ", " &amp; month &amp; " " &amp; days &amp; " at "
set shortTime to hours &amp; ":" &amp; minutes

set pasteboard to the clipboard

set datePrint to shortDate &amp; " at " &amp; shortTime

set finalProduct to replace_chars(pasteboard, "TIME", datePrint)

set the clipboard to finalProduct


This copies nothing to the clipboard. Whereas if you swap out the following

set shortDate to date string of (current date)
set shortTime to time string of (current date)


I get returned "Thursday, May 24, 2018 at 1:42:47 PM"

My end objective is to replace the word "TIME" with the "Date without the year" &amp; " at " &amp; "Time without the seconds"

I'd also like to find some way to keep the AM or PM aspect of of the time but it might just be easier to find some way to trim off that last section.

Any input on this at all would be great. If theres anyone who has a notion as to why the first set of code doesn't work but the second set does I'd love to hear it.
It should be like this:

set curr to current date
set dateprint to curr's weekday &amp; ", " &amp; curr's month &amp; " " &amp; curr's day &amp; ¬
" at " &amp; curr's hours &amp; ":" &amp; curr's minutes as string


Or to meet your actual goal:

tell date string of (current date)
set ds to text 1 thru -7
end tell
tell time string of (current date)
set ts to text 1 thru -7 &amp; text -3 thru -1
end tell
set dateprint to ds &amp; " at " &amp; ts as string


Since AppleScript is not case sensitive your script will also replace "time" or "Time" ... so you will need the considering statement:

considering case
set theTime to "TIME"
set finalProduct to replace_chars(pasteboard, theTime, datePrint)
end considering