Wikipedia:Overview of date formatting guidelines: Difference between revisions

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Which format should be used in a particular situation is controlled by the (somewhat confusing) interaction of three provisions: MOS:DATEUNIFY, MOS:DATETIES, and MOS:DATERET. The priority between these provisions can be summarised as follows:
 
#'''Consistency ([[MOS:DATEUNIFY]]):''' Each article should use either DMY or MDY format consistently, ''except'' that in references, access/archive dates (and in some cases publication dates) may use YMD-formatted dates.
#'''Strong national ties to a topic ([[MOS:DATETIES]]):''' Articles on topics with strong ties to a particular English-speaking country should generally use the date format most commonly used in that nation. This generally means:
#*Articles on US topics use MDY format, ''except'' articles on modern US military topics use DMY in line with modern military usage;
#*Articles on Canadian topics may use either DMY or MDY;
#*Articles on topics relating to other English-speaking countries use DMY.
#:There may be other exceptions for particular topic areas.
#:Note that because this is the English language Wikipedia, MOS:DATETIES does ''not'' apply to topics related to non-English-speaking countries. For example, articles on French topics do not need to follow DMY format even though this is the predominant format in France.
#'''Retaining existing format ([[MOS:DATERET]]):''' If an article has evolved using predominantly one format, don't change it ''unless'':
#*to conform with strong national ties (in accordance with MOS:DATETIES, as discussed in 2 above); or