Template:Format date

Template documentation[view] [edit] [history] [purge]

Usage

This template ({{Format date}}) returns a date, or date-time, without the hidden version for use in microformats. This template is probably best used internally in other templates.

If you need the microformat support, use template {{Start date}} instead.

If you want sortable dates for a table, use {{Date table sorting}} instead.

Syntax

{{Format date|year|month|day}}
{{Format date|year|month|day|HH|MM|SS|TimeZone}} (MM and SS are optional; TimeZone may be a numerical value, or "Z" for UTC; see examples)

Examples:

{{Format date|1993}} returns "1993"
{{Format date|1993|02}} returns "February 1993"
{{Format date|1993|02|24}} returns "February 24, 1993"
{{Format date|1993|02|24|08|30}} returns "08:30, February 24, 1993"
{{Format date|1993|02|24|08|+01:00}} returns "February 24, 1993 (+01:00)"
{{Format date|1993|02|24|08|-07:00}} returns "February 24, 1993 (-07:00)"
{{Format date|1993|02|24|08|30|23}} returns "08:30:23, February 24, 1993"
{{Format date|1993|02|24|08|30|23|Z}} returns "08:30:23, February 24, 1993 (UTC)"
{{Format date|1993|02|24|08|30|23|+01:00}} returns "08:30:23, February 24, 1993 (+01:00)"
{{Format date|1993|02|24|08|30|23|-07:00}} returns "08:30:23, February 24, 1993 (-07:00)"

An optional parameter, df, can be set to "y" or "yes" (or indeed any value) to display the day before the month. This is primarily used in articles about events in parts of the world where the day precedes the month in a date.

Examples:

{{Format date|1993|02|24|df=y}} returns "24 February 1993"
{{Format date|1993|02|24|08|30|df=yes}} returns "08:30, 24 February 1993"

Note: The template will appear broken when the parameters are left blank (as seen hereinbefore).


Type	Adjustable	Current	Last	Next
Date and time	{{time}}	{{Currentdate}} (MDY) {{Plain now}} (DMY) {{Now}} (DMY in a complete sentence) {{Simple now}}
Date only	{{Dateonly}} {{Datedow}} (Has the day of the week)	{{Date}} (Chose format) {{TODAY}} (DMY)	{{Yesterday}} {{Day-1}}	{{Tomorrow}} {{Day+1}}
Month and year only		{{Monthyear}} {{DATE}} (prefixed by date=)	{{Monthyear-1}}	{{Monthyear+1}}
Time only	{{Timeonly}}	{{CURRENTTIME}} (12 h format) {{CURRENTTIME24}} (24 h format)
Banners		{{Right now}} (Blue with time and number of Wikipedia articles)
Timestamp		{{Timestamp}} (Format YYYYMMDDhhmmss)

Single units of time


Unit of time	Adjustable	Current	Last	Next
Second		{{CURRENTSECOND}}
Minute		{{CURRENTMINUTE}}
Hour		{{CURRENTHOUR}}
Week		{{CURRENTWEEK}} {{CURRENTWEEKOFMONTH}}
Day of Week	{{DAYOFWEEK}}	{{CURRENTDAYNAME}} {{CURRENTWEEKDAYABBREV}} {{CURRENTWEEKDAY}}
Month	{{MONTHNAME}} {{MONTHABBREV}} {{MONTHNUMBER}} {{MONTH}} (zero padded)	{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTMONTHABBREV}} {{CURRENTMONTH1}} {{CURRENTMONTHDAYS}}	{{LASTMONTHNAME}}	{{NEXTMONTHNAME}}
Day of Month		{{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTDAY2}} (zero padded)
Year		{{CURRENTYEARCC}} {{CURRENTYEARYY}} {{CURRENTISOYEAR}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}	{{LASTYEAR}}	{{NEXTYEAR}}
Day of Year		{{CURRENTDAYOFYEAR}}
Decade	{{DECADE}}	{{CURRENTDECADE}}
Century	{{Century}}	{{CURRENTCENTURY}}
MILLENNIUM	{{MILLENNIUM}}

Date and time templates made for substitution:

Month:
{{Lmonth}} produces Jul
{{Nmonth}} produces Sep
{{Last month}} produces July 2025
{{Next month}} produces September 2025

Parser functions

mw:Special:MyLanguage/time permits a custom time specifier string, similar to the C date and time functions

Individual templates

Categories of templates

No description.

Template parameters[Edit template data]
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Year	`1` `year`	The year to render in the date Example 1997 Auto value	Number	suggested
Month	`2` `month`	The month to render in the date Example January Auto value	String	suggested
Day	`3` `day`	The day of the month to format in the date Example 20 Auto value	String	suggested
Hour (HH)	`4` `hour` `hh`	the hour to format in the date (if desired) Example 03 Auto value	String	optional
Minute (MM)	`5` `minute` `mm`	The minute to format in the date (if desired) Example 21	String	optional
Second (SS)	`6` `second` `ss` `sec`	The second to format in the date (if desired) Example 10 Auto value	String	optional
Time zone	`7` `timezone` `TimeZone` `tz`	A numerical offset from UTC, or 'Z' Example +5	String	optional
Day first?	`df` `dayfirst`	If 'y' or 'yes', displays the day before the month	String	optional
Time joiner	`time_joiner`	if included, replaces comma in "<time>, <date>" with the value given Example on	String	optional
Hour format	`hour_format`	Formats hours and whether to render AM/PM or a.m./p.m. Example g (7 ... p.m.), G (07 ... PM), h (19), or H (19)	String	optional

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:Format date/doc.
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox and testcases pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.