Template:Format date/sandbox

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).

See also

• {{Date}} (an alternative to this template, using a different syntax)
• {{Start date}} (using the same syntax, but with the support for microformats)
• {{Start-date}} (an alternative to the template {{Start date}})
• {{Format time}} for formatting times only

For the magic words with the same or similar names, see MediaWikiWiki:Help:Magic words § Date and time.

Multiple units of time

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) {{DATE}} (prefixed by date=) {{TODAY}} (DMY)	{{Yesterday}} {{Day-1}}	{{Tomorrow}} {{Day+1}}
Month and year only		{{Monthyear}}	{{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 May
{{Nmonth}} produces Jul
{{LastMonth}} produces May 2025
{{NextMonth}} produces July 2025

---

Individual templates

• {{Calendar}}
• {{Calendar clock with Wikipedia stats}}
• {{Clock}}
• {{Digital clock}}
• {{Digital clock and date}}

Categories of templates

• Category:Time, date and calendar templates
• Category:Date-computing templates
• Category:Date-computing templates based on current time
• Category:ISO date templates
• Category:Calendar templates

No description.

Template parameters

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. (edit | history)
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox (edit | diff) and testcases (edit) pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.