Template:Start date and age

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Template documentation


The {{Start date and age}} template displays the date that an event or entity started or was created. It also includes a duplicate, machine-readable date in the ISO 8601 format (which is hidden by CSS), for use inside other templates which emit microformats. The hidden date degrades gracefully when CSS is not available.

Usage[edit]

Common usage
{{Start date and age|yyyy|mm|dd}} to display formatted as:
March 25, 2010; 13 years ago (2010-03-25)
{{Start date and age|yyyy|mm|dd|df=yes}} to display formatted as:
25 March 2010; 13 years ago (2010-03-25)
Full syntax
{{Start date and age|yyyy|mm|dd|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}} to display formatted as:
25 March 2010
(13 years ago)
 (2010-03-25)

Parameters[edit]

Parameter Status Description
1 required A four-digit number indicating the year.
2 optional A number between 1 and 12 indicating the month (leading zeros in the number are ignored). The month may also be specified as a name or abbreviation (e.g. "August" or "Aug").
3 optional A number between 1 and 31 indicating the day of the month (leading zeros in the number are ignored).
df= optional If the parameter df equals yes, y, or 1, the date will be displayed in DMY format: 4 March 2010. When this parameter is not included or set to some other value, the date will be displayed in MDY format: March 4, 2010.
p=
paren=
optional If the parameter p or paren equals yes, y, or 1, the age will be displayed within parentheses. When this parameter is not included or set to some other value, the date and age are separated by a semicolon and a breaking space.
br= optional If the parameter br equals yes, y, or 1, a line break will be inserted between the date and the age. When this parameter is not included or set to some other value, a breaking space will be inserted between the date and the age. This does not change the separating characters between the date and age which are either a semicolon (default setting) or parentheses (if p=yes).
end= optional This template includes hidden microformat <span>, similar to Template:Start date. If the parameter end equals yes, y, or 1, the template will instead use <span>, similar to Template:End date. This parameter is used by Template:End date and age. For more details, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Microformats.

"df" (day first) and "mf" (month first)[edit]

The default output of this template is to display the month before the day (MDY). This default may not be appropriate for articles about events or entities in parts of the world where dates are commonly given with the day preceding the month (DMY). To display the day first, assign the df parameter a value of yes, y, or 1 (e.g. df=yes).

If the default format is preferred, the parameter df may be used with value of no, n, or 0 (e.g. df=no). These values can assist bots or other automated processing to detect the intended date format; omitting the df parameter may lead an editor or bot to change the format to an unintended value.

The preference to display the month first may also be indicated via the parameter mf (e.g. mf=yes). While not actually used by the template, this is another method of indicating that the default format is intended. Do not specify both "df" and "mf" parameters in the same use of the template.

Examples[edit]

Default separator: semicolon[edit]

Syntax Result
Full date (year, month, day)
{{Start date and age|2010|01|02}} January 2, 2010; 14 years ago (2010-01-02)
{{Start date and age|2008|Jan|09|df=no}} January 9, 2008; 16 years ago (2008-01-09)
{{Start date and age|2003|January|05|mf=yes}} January 5, 2003; 21 years ago (2003-01-05)
{{Start date and age|2010|1|2|df=yes}} 2 January 2010; 14 years ago (2010-01-02)
{{Start date and age|2008|Jan|9|df=y}} 9 January 2008; 16 years ago (2008-01-09)
{{Start date and age|2003|January|5|df=1}} 5 January 2003; 21 years ago (2003-01-05)
100 days ago:
{{Start date and age|2023|12|3}}
December 3, 2023; 3 months ago (2023-12-03)
Yesterday:
{{Start date and age|2024|3|11}}
March 11, 2024; 1 day ago (2024-03-11)
Today:
{{Start date and age|2024|3|12}}
March 12, 2024; 0 days ago (2024-03-12)
Year and month
{{Start date and age|2001|9}} September 2001; 22 years ago (2001-09)
{{Start date and age|2002|09}} September 2002; 21 years ago (2002-09)
{{Start date and age|2003|Sep}} September 2003; 20 years ago (2003-09)
{{Start date and age|2004|September}} September 2004; 19 years ago (2004-09)
Year only
{{Start date and age|2005}} 2005; 19 years ago (2005)

Optional separator: parentheses[edit]

Syntax Result
Full date (year, month, day)
{{Start date and age|2003|02|15|p=yes}} February 15, 2003 (21 years ago) (2003-02-15)
{{Start date and age|2003|02|15|df=y|p=y}} 15 February 2003 (21 years ago) (2003-02-15)
Year and month
{{Start date and age|2003|02|p=1}} February 2003 (21 years ago) (2003-02)
Year only
{{Start date and age|2003|paren=yes}} 2003 (21 years ago) (2003)

Line break with semicolon[edit]

Syntax Result
Full date (year, month, day)
{{Start date and age|2003|02|15|br=yes}} February 15, 2003;
21 years ago
 (2003-02-15)
{{Start date and age|2003|02|15|df=y|br=y}} 15 February 2003;
21 years ago
 (2003-02-15)
Year and month
{{Start date and age|2003|02|br=1}} February 2003;
21 years ago
 (2003-02)
Year only
{{Start date and age|2003|br=yes}} 2003;
21 years ago
 (2003)

Line break with parentheses[edit]

Syntax Result
Full date (year, month, day)
{{Start date and age|2003|02|15|p=yes|br=yes}} February 15, 2003
(21 years ago)
 (2003-02-15)
{{Start date and age|2003|02|15|df=y|p=y|br=y}} 15 February 2003
(21 years ago)
 (2003-02-15)
Year and month
{{Start date and age|2003|02|p=1|br=1}} February 2003
(21 years ago)
 (2003-02)
Year only
{{Start date and age|2003|paren=yes|br=yes}} 2003
(21 years ago)
 (2003)

Use in microformats[edit]

Template:UF-hcal-part

Example[edit]

Template:Nowiki template demo

Supporting templates[edit]

  • Template:MONTHNAME – display name of month for a given number 1 (January) through 12 (December).
  • Template:Time ago – display number of days, months, or years ago (for dates given as |yyyy|mm|dd).
  • Template:Years or months ago – display number of months or years ago (for dates given as |yyyy|mm or |yyyy).
  • Template:Yesno – allows optional formatting parameters to accept values other than "yes" (such as "y" or "1").

See also[edit]

Template:Birth, death and age templates

TemplateData[edit]

TemplateData documentation used by VisualEditor and other tools

TemplateData for Start date and age

The Start date and age template displays the date that an event or entity started or was created.

Template parameters[Edit template data]

ParameterDescriptionTypeStatus
Year1

A four-digit number indicating the year

Example
2017
Numberrequired
Month2

A number between 1 and 12 indicating the month

Example
12
Numbersuggested
Day3

A number between 1 and 31 indicating the day of the month

Example
31
Numbersuggested
Display date firstdf

If the parameter df equals yes, y, or 1, the date will be displayed in DMY format: 4 March 2010. When this parameter is not included or set to some other value, the date will be displayed in MDY format: March 4, 2010.

Default
no
Example
no
Booleanoptional
Display with parenthesesparen p

If the parameter p or paren equals yes, y, or 1, the age will be displayed within parentheses. When this parameter is not included or set to some other value, the date and age are separated by a semicolon and a breaking space.

Default
no
Example
yes
Booleanoptional
Line break between date and agebr

If the parameter br equals yes, y, or 1, a line break will be inserted between the date and the age. When this parameter is not included or set to some other value, a breaking space will be inserted between the date and the age. This does not change the separating characters between the date and age which are either a semicolon (default setting) or parentheses (if paren=yes).

Default
no
Example
yes
Booleanoptional
Use microformat for end dateend

This template includes hidden microformat <span class="bday dtstart published updated">, similar to Template:Start date. If the parameter end equals yes, y, or 1, the template will instead use <span class="dtend">, similar to Template:End date. This parameter is used by Template:End date and age. For more details, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Microformats.

Default
no
Example
yes
Booleanoptional