Template:Dts

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This template is used on many 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.

Preview message: Transclusion count updated automatically (see documentation).

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. Furthermore, this template litters the text content of tables, and data-sort-value should generally be preferred. For more information, see Help:Sorting § Date sorting problems.

This template uses Lua:

Module:Dts

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 August 2013 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.
{{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	visible output
{{dts\|year}}	`{{dts\|1893}}`	1893
	`{{dts\|-89}}`	89 BC
	`{{dts\|-10000}}`	10,000 BC
{{dts\|month}}	`{{dts\|Oct}}`	Oct
{{dts\|month year}}	`{{dts\|February 1767}}`	February 1767
{{dts\|day month year}}	`{{dts\|12 Aug 1987}}`	12 Aug 1987
{{dts\|month day, year}}	`{{dts\|July 1, 1867}}`	July 1, 1867
{{dts\|day month}}	`{{dts\|25 October}}`	25 October
{{dts\|month day}}	`{{dts\|Jan 1}}`	Jan 1
{{dts\|YYYY-MM-DD}}	`{{dts\|2014-12-09}}`	December 9, 2014
{{dts\|year\|month}}	`{{dts\|1990\|10}}`	October 1990
	`{{dts\|1980\|Dec}}`	Dec 1980
	`{{dts\|1970\|August}}`	August 1970
{{dts\|year\|month\|day}}	`{{dts\|2024\|Jun\|12}}`	Jun 12, 2024
{{dts\|year\|month\|day}}	`{{dts\|-204\|11\|22}}`	November 22, 204 BC
{{dts\|year\|month\|day\|era}}	`{{dts\|44\|3\|15\|BC}}`	March 15, 44 BC
{{dts\|year\|month\|day\|era}}	`{{dts\|94\|Oct\|17\|AD}}`	Oct 17, 94
{{dts\|month}}	`{{dts\|\|May}}`	May
{{dts\|month\|day}}	`{{dts\|\|Sep\|12}}`	Sep 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	visible output
	format depends on the input	`{{dts\|26 Jan 1788}}`	26 Jan 1788
		`{{dts\|March 12, 1557}}`	March 12, 1557
		`{{dts\|1975-02-13}}`	February 13, 1975
`dmy`	displays the date in day-month-year format	`{{dts\|Sep 13, 1888\|format=dmy}}`	13 Sep 1888
`dmy`	displays the date in day-month-year format	`{{dts\|1983-01-03\|format=dmy}}`	3 January 1983
`dm`	displays only the day and month in day-month format	`{{dts\|Feb 26, 1788\|format=dm}}`	26 Feb
`dm`	displays only the day and month in day-month format	`{{dts\|2020-10-15\|format=dm}}`	15 October
`mdy`	displays the date in month-day-year format	`{{dts\|August 31, 1901\|format=mdy}}`	August 31, 1901
`mdy`	displays the date in month-day-year format	`{{dts\|2006-11-08\|format=mdy}}`	November 8, 2006
`md`	displays only the day and month in month-day format	`{{dts\|26 Jun 1988\|format=md}}`	Jun 26
`md`	displays only the day and month in month-day format	`{{dts\|2002-02-27\|format=md}}`	February 27
`my`	displays only the month and year in month-year format	`{{dts\|16 November 1488\|format=my}}`	November 1488
`d`	displays only the day	`{{dts\|6 July 1666\|format=d}}`	6
`m`	displays only the month	`{{dts\|1980-02-12\|format=m}}`	February
`y`	displays only the year	`{{dts\|-26\|Jan\|18\|format=y}}`	26 BC
`hide`	hides the date	`{{dts\|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.

Examples
abbreviation method	input code	visible output
none	`{{dts\|2000-01-01}}`	January 1, 2000
	`{{dts\|2000\|1\|1}}`	January 1, 2000
	`{{dts\|1 January 2000}}`	1 January 2000
	`{{dts\|2000\|January\|1}}`	January 1, 2000
abbreviated input	`{{dts\|1 Jan 2000}}`	1 Jan 2000
abbreviated input	`{{dts\|2000\|Jan\|1}}`	Jan 1, 2000
`abbr=on`	`{{dts\|1 January 2000\|abbr=on}}`	1 Jan 2000
	`{{dts\|2000\|January\|1\|abbr=on}}`	Jan 1, 2000
	`{{dts\|2000-01-01\|abbr=on}}`	Jan 1, 2000
	`{{dts\|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
`{{dts\|2010-10-10\|addkey=3}}`		October 10, 2010
`{{dts\|2010-10-09}}`		October 9, 2010
`{{dts\|2010-10-10\|addkey=1}}`		October 10, 2010
`{{dts\|2010-10-10}}`		October 10, 2010
`{{dts\|2010-10-10\|addkey=4}}`		October 10, 2010
`{{dts\|2010-10-11}}`		October 11, 2010
`{{dts\|2010-10-10\|addkey=2}}`		October 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.

Error in Template:Dts: days must be an integer between 1 and 31

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.

input style	input code	visible output
{{dts\|year}}	`{{dts\|1893}}`	1893
	`{{dts\|-89}}`	89 BC
	`{{dts\|-10000}}`	10,000 BC
{{dts\|month}}	`{{dts\|Oct}}`	Oct
{{dts\|month year}}	`{{dts\|February 1767}}`	February 1767
{{dts\|day month year}}	`{{dts\|12 Aug 1987}}`	12 Aug 1987
{{dts\|month day, year}}	`{{dts\|July 1, 1867}}`	July 1, 1867
{{dts\|day month}}	`{{dts\|25 October}}`	25 October
{{dts\|month day}}	`{{dts\|Jan 1}}`	Jan 1
{{dts\|YYYY-MM-DD}}	`{{dts\|2014-12-09}}`	December 9, 2014
{{dts\|year\|month}}	`{{dts\|1990\|10}}`	October 1990
	`{{dts\|1980\|Dec}}`	Dec 1980
	`{{dts\|1970\|August}}`	August 1970
{{dts\|year\|month\|day}}	`{{dts\|2024\|Jun\|12}}`	Jun 12, 2024
{{dts\|year\|month\|day}}	`{{dts\|-204\|11\|22}}`	November 22, 204 BC
{{dts\|year\|month\|day\|era}}	`{{dts\|44\|3\|15\|BC}}`	March 15, 44 BC
{{dts\|year\|month\|day\|era}}	`{{dts\|94\|Oct\|17\|AD}}`	Oct 17, 94
{{dts\|month}}	`{{dts\|\|May}}`	May
{{dts\|month\|day}}	`{{dts\|\|Sep\|12}}`	Sep 12

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Template:Dts

What it solves

Parameters

Dates

Formatting

Abbreviation

Additional sort key

Wrapping

Notes

Sorting for incomplete dates

Error handling

Calendar choice

Linking

See also

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Template:Dts

What it solves

Parameters

Dates

Formatting

Abbreviation

Additional sort key

Wrapping

Notes

Sorting for incomplete dates

Error handling

Calendar choice

Linking

See also

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