Template:Date table sorting

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This template is used on approximately 42,000 pages and changes may be widely noticed. Test changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

Please check that you do actually need this template before using it. Default date sorting does not work for spelled-out month–year or year–month combos and dates before the year 100, but it works in most other circumstances. For more information, see Help:Sortable tables § Date sorting problems.

This template should not be used in citation templates such as Citation Style 1 and Citation Style 2, because it includes markup that will pollute the COinS metadata they produce; see Wikipedia:COinS.

Shortcut

{{dtsTemplate:Dts}}

This template uses Lua:

Module:Date table sorting (sandbox)

Date table sorting is used to correctly sort and display dates in a sortable table (see Help:Sortable tables).

What it solves

Dates in their customary formats, if simply treated as alphanumeric text strings, sort in nonsensical ways:

1 September 1998 sorts alphanumerically before 5 March 1967, because 1 is less than 5;
February 5, 1922 sorts alphanumerically before January 3, 1922, because F comes before J.

Use of the YYYY-MM-DD format would solve this problem, but with minor exceptions that format is not used in articles (see WP:DATEFORMAT).

This template automatically attaches a "hidden key" to dates, causing them to sort correctly while still being displayed in one of the customary display formats such as February 5, 1922, or 5 Feb 1922.

Parameters

Dates

The year, month and day can either be entered separately or as a single date.
{{Date table sorting\|year\|month\|day\|BC}}	{{Date table sorting\|date}}
1st parameter – Year (optional if month is given) Positive numbers (1 to 999,999,999,999) represent years AD or BC (dependant on the fourth parameter). Negative numbers (−1 to −999,999,999,999) represent years BC (without the fourth parameter). Year numbers must not contain commas or other formatting. 2nd parameter – Month (optional if the day is not given either) Full month name – e.g. February Abbreviated month name – e.g. Feb Month number – (either zero-padded or not) e.g. 2 or 02 3rd parameter – Day (optional) Day number – (either zero-padded or not) e.g. 7 or 07 4th parameter – (optional) May be BC, AD, BCE or CE Used with a positive year number	1st parameter – the full date By default YYYY-MM-DD format becomes month-day-year format and DD-MM-YYYY format becomes day-month-year while other formats remain in the order they are input. Abbreviated months are accepted and are abbreviated in the output. Capitalisation and comma mistakes are corrected. A single number is interpreted as a year, otherwise the date is parsed by the module. The following formats are accepted: YYYY-MM-DD DD-MM-YYYY DD Month YYYY Month DD, YYYY YYYY-MM DD Month Month DD Month YYYY YYYY Month Day and month numbers may be 1 or 2 digits, and year numbers may only be 3 or 4 digits. If you need to input a number less than 1000, use leading zeroes (e.g. "0700"). BC years can only be parsed if the date is only the year number. If you need to include the day or month for BC years or years greater than 9999, you must use separate parameters for year, month and day.

Examples
input style	input code	visible output
{{Date table sorting\|year}}	`{{Date table sorting\|1893}}`	1893
	`{{Date table sorting\|-89}}`	89 BC
	`{{Date table sorting\|-10000}}`	10,000 BC
	`{{Date table sorting\|-1}}`	1 BC
	`{{Date table sorting\| 1}}`	1 (Note that year 0 does not exist and gives error message)
{{Date table sorting\|month}}	`{{Date table sorting\|Oct}}`	Oct
{{Date table sorting\|month year}}	`{{Date table sorting\|February 1767}}`	February 1767
{{Date table sorting\|day month year}}	`{{Date table sorting\|12 Aug 1987}}`	12 Aug 1987
{{Date table sorting\|month day, year}}	`{{Date table sorting\|July 1, 1867}}`	July 1, 1867
{{Date table sorting\|day month}}	`{{Date table sorting\|25 October}}`	25 October
{{Date table sorting\|month day}}	`{{Date table sorting\|Jan 1}}`	Jan 1
{{Date table sorting\|YYYY-MM-DD}}	`{{Date table sorting\|2014-12-09}}`	December 9, 2014
{{Date table sorting\|DD-MM-YYYY}}	`{{Date table sorting\|15-05-2019}}`	15 May 2019
{{Date table sorting\|year\|month}}	`{{Date table sorting\|1990\|10}}`	October 1990
	`{{Date table sorting\|1980\|Dec}}`	Dec 1980
	`{{Date table sorting\|1970\|August}}`	August 1970
{{Date table sorting\|year\|month\|day}}	`{{Date table sorting\|2024\|Jun\|12}}`	Jun 12, 2024
{{Date table sorting\|year\|month\|day}}	`{{Date table sorting\|-204\|11\|22}}`	November 22, 204 BC
{{Date table sorting\|year\|month\|day\|era}}	`{{Date table sorting\|44\|3\|15\|BC}}`	March 15, 44 BC
{{Date table sorting\|year\|month\|day\|era}}	`{{Date table sorting\|94\|Oct\|17\|AD}}`	Oct 17, 94
{{Date table sorting\|month}}	`{{Date table sorting\|\|May}}`	May
{{Date table sorting\|month\|day}}	`{{Date table sorting\|\|Sep\|12}}`	Sep 12

Formatting

Using a format in the |format= parameter, such as dmy, produces a format that depends on, but is not necessarily equal to the format of the supplied date. The |format= parameter can take nine values.

Examples
value	function	input code	visible output
	format depends on the input	`{{Date table sorting\|26 Jan 1788}}`	26 Jan 1788
		`{{Date table sorting\|March 12, 1557}}`	March 12, 1557
		`{{Date table sorting\|1975-02-13}}`	February 13, 1975
`dmy`	displays the date in day-month-year format	`{{Date table sorting\|Sep 13, 1888\|format=dmy}}`	13 Sep 1888
`dmy`	displays the date in day-month-year format	`{{Date table sorting\|1983-01-03\|format=dmy}}`	3 January 1983
`dm`	displays only the day and month in day-month format	`{{Date table sorting\|Feb 26, 1788\|format=dm}}`	26 Feb
`dm`	displays only the day and month in day-month format	`{{Date table sorting\|2020-10-15\|format=dm}}`	15 October
`mdy`	displays the date in month-day-year format	`{{Date table sorting\|August 31, 1901\|format=mdy}}`	August 31, 1901
`mdy`	displays the date in month-day-year format	`{{Date table sorting\|2006-11-08\|format=mdy}}`	November 8, 2006
`md`	displays only the day and month in month-day format	`{{Date table sorting\|26 Jun 1988\|format=md}}`	Jun 26
`md`	displays only the day and month in month-day format	`{{Date table sorting\|2002-02-27\|format=md}}`	February 27
`my`	displays only the month and year in month-year format	`{{Date table sorting\|16 November 1488\|format=my}}`	November 1488
`d`	displays only the day	`{{Date table sorting\|6 July 1666\|format=d}}`	6
`m`	displays only the month	`{{Date table sorting\|1980-02-12\|format=m}}`	February
`y`	displays only the year	`{{Date table sorting\|-26\|Jan\|18\|format=y}}`	26 BC
`hide`	hides the date	`{{Date table sorting\|15 October 1800\|format=hide}}`

Abbreviation

There are two ways of abbreviating the month name.

Directly input an abbreviated month name.
Use the |abbr=on parameter. It can be placed before or after the date in the template. This allows one to abbreviate the month later if the table becomes too wide. It is easy to use find-and-replace in a text editor, or the wikitext editor, to replace {{Date table sorting| with {{Date table sorting|abbr=on|

Examples
abbreviation method	input code	visible output
none	`{{Date table sorting\|2000-01-01}}`	January 1, 2000
	`{{Date table sorting\|2000\|1\|1}}`	January 1, 2000
	`{{Date table sorting\|1 January 2000}}`	1 January 2000
	`{{Date table sorting\|2000\|January\|1}}`	January 1, 2000
abbreviated input	`{{Date table sorting\|1 Jan 2000}}`	1 Jan 2000
abbreviated input	`{{Date table sorting\|2000\|Jan\|1}}`	Jan 1, 2000
`abbr=on`	`{{Date table sorting\|1 January 2000\|abbr=on}}`	1 Jan 2000
	`{{Date table sorting\|2000\|January\|1\|abbr=on}}`	Jan 1, 2000
	`{{Date table sorting\|2000-01-01\|abbr=on}}`	Jan 1, 2000
	`{{Date table sorting\|2000\|1\|1\|abbr=on}}`	Jan 1, 2000

Additional sort key

In case two dates in a table are identical they may be ordered using the addkey parameter.

Examples
input code	hidden sort key	visible output
`{{Date table sorting\|2010-10-10\|addkey=3}}`		October 10, 2010
`{{Date table sorting\|2010-10-09}}`		October 9, 2010
`{{Date table sorting\|2010-10-10\|addkey=1}}`		October 10, 2010
`{{Date table sorting\|2010-10-10}}`		October 10, 2010
`{{Date table sorting\|2010-10-10\|addkey=4}}`		October 10, 2010
`{{Date table sorting\|2010-10-11}}`		October 11, 2010
`{{Date table sorting\|2010-10-10\|addkey=2}}`		October 10, 2010

Wrapping

Wrapping of the date can help narrow a column and table. To allow wrapping use the |nowrap=off parameter. For further narrowing use the |abbr=on parameter as described elsewhere. Both of these parameters help with wide tables, narrow screens, cell phones, etc..

TemplateData

Date table sorting is used to correctly sort and display dates in a sortable table.

Template parameters[Edit template data]
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Full date or year	`1`	Full date if second to fourth parameters are not specfied, otherwise year. Full date can be either in "YYYY-MM-DD", "DD-MM-YYYY", "DD Month YYYY", "Month DD, YYYY", "YYYY-MM", "DD Month", "Month DD", "Month YYYY" or "Month" format. Year is either a positive number or a negative number. If fourth parameter is not specified negative numbers are interpreted as years of BC era. Parameter is optional if the second parameter is specified. Example "1893", "-89", "-10000", "Oct", "February 1767", "12 Aug 1987", "July 1, 1867", "25 October", "Jan 1", "2014-12-09"	String	required
Month	`2`	Full or abbreviated month name or alternatively, a month number which can be zero-padded. Parameter is optional if the third parameter is not specified. Example February, Feb, 2 or 02	String	optional
Day	`3`	Day, optionally zero-padded Example 7 or 07	Number	optional
Era	`4`	BC, AD, BCE or CE. Takes effect only if the first parameter is a positive number.	String	optional
Format	`format`	Controls the output format. Can be "dmy", "dm", "mdy", "md", "my", "d", "m", "y" or "hide".	String	optional
Abbreviation	`abbr`	Abbreviates the month name Default off Example on	String	optional
Additional sort key	`addkey`	Adds another sort key to resolve conflicts between rows with the same date Example 3	Number	optional
Wrapping	`nowrap`	To allow wrapping use the ''nowrap=off'' parameter. Default on Example off	Boolean	optional

Notes

Sorting for incomplete dates

Whole months or years: A whole year or month (and year) is sorted according to its first day.
Missing years: If the year is not specified, the date will be sorted as if the year were the current year.
Blank dates: For no date input at all, the maximum possible sort key is used, so the entry will sort last.

Error handling

Errors are tracked in Category:Date table sorting templates with errors.

Calendar choice

The template is not capable of distinguishing Julian and Gregorian calendar dates. Also, it is not capable of taking a date in one calendar as input and outputting a date in the other calendar. Thus, to ensure proper sorting, editors must either use one calendar for all dates, or pick a specific changeover date (for example, deciding that 4 October 1582 is Julian and all later dates are Gregorian); this would be done on an article-by article basis. Editors are also responsible for explaining to the reader whether the visible dates are Julian or Gregorian, if there is any possibility of confusion.

Linking

The template formerly linked dates automatically, with |link=off used to suppress linking. In accordance with current guidelines, linking of dates is no longer supported and instances of |link=off should be removed.

input style	input code	visible output
{{Date table sorting\|year}}	`{{Date table sorting\|1893}}`	1893
	`{{Date table sorting\|-89}}`	89 BC
	`{{Date table sorting\|-10000}}`	10,000 BC
	`{{Date table sorting\|-1}}`	1 BC
	`{{Date table sorting\| 1}}`	1 (Note that year 0 does not exist and gives error message)
{{Date table sorting\|month}}	`{{Date table sorting\|Oct}}`	Oct
{{Date table sorting\|month year}}	`{{Date table sorting\|February 1767}}`	February 1767
{{Date table sorting\|day month year}}	`{{Date table sorting\|12 Aug 1987}}`	12 Aug 1987
{{Date table sorting\|month day, year}}	`{{Date table sorting\|July 1, 1867}}`	July 1, 1867
{{Date table sorting\|day month}}	`{{Date table sorting\|25 October}}`	25 October
{{Date table sorting\|month day}}	`{{Date table sorting\|Jan 1}}`	Jan 1
{{Date table sorting\|YYYY-MM-DD}}	`{{Date table sorting\|2014-12-09}}`	December 9, 2014
{{Date table sorting\|DD-MM-YYYY}}	`{{Date table sorting\|15-05-2019}}`	15 May 2019
{{Date table sorting\|year\|month}}	`{{Date table sorting\|1990\|10}}`	October 1990
	`{{Date table sorting\|1980\|Dec}}`	Dec 1980
	`{{Date table sorting\|1970\|August}}`	August 1970
{{Date table sorting\|year\|month\|day}}	`{{Date table sorting\|2024\|Jun\|12}}`	Jun 12, 2024
{{Date table sorting\|year\|month\|day}}	`{{Date table sorting\|-204\|11\|22}}`	November 22, 204 BC
{{Date table sorting\|year\|month\|day\|era}}	`{{Date table sorting\|44\|3\|15\|BC}}`	March 15, 44 BC
{{Date table sorting\|year\|month\|day\|era}}	`{{Date table sorting\|94\|Oct\|17\|AD}}`	Oct 17, 94
{{Date table sorting\|month}}	`{{Date table sorting\|\|May}}`	May
{{Date table sorting\|month\|day}}	`{{Date table sorting\|\|Sep\|12}}`	Sep 12