Template:Dts

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Dts (date time sorting) is used to correctly sort and display dates in a sortable table (see Help:Sorting).

What it solves

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

• 1/8/2013 sorts alphanumerically before 5/3/1967, 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.

{{dts|year|month|day|BC}}

{{dts|date}}

1st parameter – Year (optional if month is given) Positive number (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 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	hidden sort key	visible output
{{dts|year}}	{{dts|1893}}	000000001893-01-01-0000	000000001893-01-01-00001893
	{{dts|-89}}	-999999999911-01-01-0000	-999999999911-01-01-000089 BC
	{{dts|-10000}}	-999999990000-01-01-0000	-999999990000-01-01-000010,000 BC
{{dts|month}}	{{dts|Oct}}	000000002024-10-01-0000	000000002024-10-01-0000Oct
{{dts|month year}}	{{dts|February 1767}}	000000001767-02-01-0000	000000001767-02-01-0000February 1767
{{dts|day month year}}	{{dts|12 Aug 1987}}	000000001987-08-12-0000	000000001987-08-12-000012 Aug 1987
{{dts|month day, year}}	{{dts|July 1, 1867}}	000000001867-07-01-0000	000000001867-07-01-0000July 1, 1867
{{dts|day month}}	{{dts|25 October}}	000000002024-10-25-0000	000000002024-10-25-000025 October
{{dts|month day}}	{{dts|Jan 1}}	000000002024-01-01-0000	000000002024-01-01-0000Jan 1
{{dts|YYYY-MM-DD}}	{{dts|2014-12-09}}	000000002014-12-09-0000	000000002014-12-09-0000December 9, 2014
{{dts|year|month}}	{{dts|1990|10}}	000000001990-10-01-0000	000000001990-10-01-0000October 1990
	{{dts|1980|Dec}}	000000001980-12-01-0000	000000001980-12-01-0000Dec 1980
	{{dts|1970|August}}	000000001970-08-01-0000	000000001970-08-01-0000August 1970
{{dts|year|month|day}}	{{dts|2024|Jun|12}}	000000002024-06-12-0000	000000002024-06-12-0000Jun 12, 2024
	{{dts|-204|11|22}}	-999999999796-11-22-0000	-999999999796-11-22-0000November 22, 204 BC
{{dts|year|month|day|era}}	{{dts|44|3|15|BC}}	-999999999956-03-15-0000	-999999999956-03-15-0000March 15, 44 BC
	{{dts|94|Oct|17|AD}}	000000000094-10-17-0000	000000000094-10-17-0000Oct 17, 94
{{dts||month}}	{{dts||May}}	000000002024-05-01-0000	000000002024-05-01-0000May
{{dts||month|day}}	{{dts||Sep|12}}	000000002024-09-12-0000	000000002024-09-12-0000Sep 12

Formatting

Using format 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	hidden sort key	visible output
	format depends on the input	{{dts|26 Jan 1788}}	000000001788-01-26-0000	000000001788-01-26-000026 Jan 1788
		{{dts|March 12, 1557}}	000000001557-03-12-0000	000000001557-03-12-0000March 12, 1557
		{{dts|1975-02-13}}	000000001975-02-13-0000	000000001975-02-13-0000February 13, 1975
dmy	displays the date in day-month-year format	{{dts|Sep 13, 1888|format=dmy}}	000000001888-09-13-0000	000000001888-09-13-000013 Sep 1888
		{{dts|1983-01-03|format=dmy}}	000000001983-01-03-0000	000000001983-01-03-00003 January 1983
dm	displays only the day and month in day-month format	{{dts|Feb 26, 1788|format=dm}}	000000001788-02-26-0000	000000001788-02-26-000026 Feb
		{{dts|2020-10-15|format=dm}}	000000002020-10-15-0000	000000002020-10-15-000015 October
mdy	displays the date in month-day-year format	{{dts|August 31, 1901|format=mdy}}	000000001901-08-31-0000	000000001901-08-31-0000August 31, 1901
		{{dts|2006-11-08|format=mdy}}	000000002006-11-08-0000	000000002006-11-08-0000November 8, 2006
md	displays only the day and month in month-day format	{{dts|26 Jun 1988|format=md}}	000000001988-06-26-0000	000000001988-06-26-0000Jun 26
		{{dts|2002-02-27|format=md}}	000000002002-02-27-0000	000000002002-02-27-0000February 27
my	displays only the month and year in month-year format	{{dts|16 November 1488|format=my}}	000000001488-11-16-0000	000000001488-11-16-0000November 1488
d	displays only the day	{{dts|6 July 1666|format=d}}	000000001666-07-06-0000	000000001666-07-06-00006
m	displays only the month	{{dts|1980-02-12|format=m}}	000000001980-02-12-0000	000000001980-02-12-0000February
y	displays only the year	{{dts|-26|Jan|18|format=y}}	-999999999974-01-18-0000	-999999999974-01-18-000026 BC
hide	hides the date	{{dts|15 October 1800|format=hide}}	000000001800-10-15-0000	000000001800-10-15-0000

Abbreviation

There are two ways of abbreviating the month name.

1. Directly input an abbreviated month name.
2. Use the abbr=on parameter.

Examples

abbreviation method	input code	hidden sort key	visible output
none	{{dts|2000-01-01}}	000000002000-01-01-0000	000000002000-01-01-0000January 1, 2000
	{{dts|2000|1|1}}	000000002000-01-01-0000	000000002000-01-01-0000January 1, 2000
	{{dts|1 January 2000}}	000000002000-01-01-0000	000000002000-01-01-00001 January 2000
	{{dts|2000|January|1}}	000000002000-01-01-0000	000000002000-01-01-0000January 1, 2000
abbreviated input	{{dts|1 Jan 2000}}	000000002000-01-01-0000	000000002000-01-01-00001 Jan 2000
	{{dts|2000|Jan|1}}	000000002000-01-01-0000	000000002000-01-01-0000Jan 1, 2000
abbr=on	{{dts|1 January 2000|abbr=on}}	000000002000-01-01-0000	000000002000-01-01-00001 Jan 2000
	{{dts|2000|January|1|abbr=on}}	000000002000-01-01-0000	000000002000-01-01-0000Jan 1, 2000
	{{dts|2000-01-01|abbr=on}}	000000002000-01-01-0000	000000002000-01-01-0000Jan 1, 2000
	{{dts|2000|1|1|abbr=on}}	000000002000-01-01-0000	000000002000-01-01-0000Jan 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
{{dts|2010-10-10|addkey=3}}	000000002010-10-10-0003	000000002010-10-10-0003October 10, 2010
{{dts|2010-10-09}}	000000002010-10-09-0000	000000002010-10-09-0000October 9, 2010
{{dts|2010-10-10|addkey=1}}	000000002010-10-10-0001	000000002010-10-10-0001October 10, 2010
{{dts|2010-10-10}}	000000002010-10-10-0000	000000002010-10-10-0000October 10, 2010
{{dts|2010-10-10|addkey=4}}	000000002010-10-10-0004	000000002010-10-10-0004October 10, 2010
{{dts|2010-10-11}}	000000002010-10-11-0000	000000002010-10-11-0000October 11, 2010
{{dts|2010-10-10|addkey=2}}	000000002010-10-10-0002	000000002010-10-10-0002October 10, 2010

Wrapping

To turn off the suppression of word wraps, use the nowrap=off parameter.

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

Entering an invalid date format will (generally) produce an error message such as the one below.

Errors are tracked in Category:Dts 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 insure 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. Transclusions using the |link= parameter are tracked in Category:Dts templates with deprecated parameters.

See also

• m:Template:dts (backlinks edit), since on Meta e.g. 09999 9999 induces numeric sort mode, "&" is prefixed to force string sort mode.
• {{sort}}, sorting by a specified key (also good for complicated numbers, e.g. scientific notation)
• {{sortname}}, full name sorting (using "last name, first name" as default sort key)
• {{tts}}, for sorting times in result tables of athletic events (only needed in certain cases - see template documentation)
• {{mss}}, for sorting times in tables of eclipses
• {{nts}}, for numbers

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:Dts/doc. (edit | history)
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox (create | mirror) and testcases (create) pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.