Template:Start date and age

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This template is used on approximately 165,000 pages.
To avoid major disruption and server load, any changes should be tested in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. The tested changes can be added to this page in a single edit. Consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

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

Common usage: {{Start date and age|yyyy|mm|dd}} to display formatted as:; {{#if:|2010-3-25 (2010-03-25); 5897 days ago; {{Start date and age|yyyy|mm|dd|df=yes}} to display formatted as:; {{#if:yes|2010-3-25 (2010-03-25); 5897 days ago

Full syntax: {{Start date and age|yyyy|mm|dd|df=yes|p=yes|br=yes}} to display formatted as:; {{#if:yes|2010-3-25 (2010-03-25); 5897 days ago

Parameters

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 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.

"df" (day first) and "mf" (month first)

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

Default separator: semicolon

Syntax	Result
Full date (year, month, day)
`{{Start date and age\|2010\|01\|02}}`	2010-1-2 (2010-01-02); 5979 days ago
`{{Start date and age\|2008\|Jan\|09\|df=no}}`	2008-Expression error: Unrecognised word "jan".-9 (2008-Jan-09); 6703 days ago
`{{Start date and age\|2003\|January\|05\|mf=yes}}`	2003-Expression error: Unrecognised word "january".-5 (2003-January-05); 8533 days ago
`{{Start date and age\|2010\|1\|2\|df=yes}}`	2010-1-2 (2010-01-02); 5979 days ago
`{{Start date and age\|2008\|Jan\|9\|df=y}}`	2008-Expression error: Unrecognised word "jan".-9 (2008-Jan-09); 6703 days ago
`{{Start date and age\|2003\|January\|5\|df=1}}`	2003-Expression error: Unrecognised word "january".-5 (2003-January-05); 8533 days ago
100 days ago: `{{Start date and age\|2026\|2\|6}}`	2026-2-6 (2026-02-06); 100 days ago
Yesterday: `{{Start date and age\|2026\|5\|16}}`	2026-5-16 (2026-05-16); 1 day ago
Today: `{{Start date and age\|2026\|5\|17}}`	2026-5-17 (2026-05-17); 0 days ago
Year and month
`{{Start date and age\|2001\|9}}`	2001-9-Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{". (2001-09-00); Error: Need valid year, month, day Expression error: Unexpected < operator. ago
`{{Start date and age\|2002\|09}}`	2002-9-Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{". (2002-09-00); Error: Need valid year, month, day Expression error: Unexpected < operator. ago
`{{Start date and age\|2003\|Sep}}`	2003-Expression error: Unrecognised word "sep".-Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{". (2003-Sep-00); Error: Need valid year, month, day Expression error: Unexpected < operator. ago
`{{Start date and age\|2004\|September}}`	2004-Expression error: Unrecognised word "september".-Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{". (2004-September-00); Error: Need valid year, month, day Expression error: Unexpected < operator. ago
Year only
`{{Start date and age\|2005}}`	2005-Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{".-Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{". (2005-00-00); Error: Need valid year, month, day Expression error: Unexpected < operator. ago

Optional separator: parentheses

Syntax	Result
Full date (year, month, day)
`{{Start date and age\|2003\|02\|15\|p=yes}}`	2003-2-15 (2003-02-15); 8492 days ago
`{{Start date and age\|2003\|02\|15\|df=y\|p=y}}`	2003-2-15 (2003-02-15); 8492 days ago
Year and month
`{{Start date and age\|2003\|02\|p=1}}`	2003-2-Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{". (2003-02-00); Error: Need valid year, month, day Expression error: Unexpected < operator. ago
Year only
`{{Start date and age\|2003\|paren=yes}}`	2003-Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{".-Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{". (2003-00-00); Error: Need valid year, month, day Expression error: Unexpected < operator. ago

Line break with semicolon

Syntax	Result
Full date (year, month, day)
`{{Start date and age\|2003\|02\|15\|br=yes}}`	2003-2-15 (2003-02-15); 8492 days ago
`{{Start date and age\|2003\|02\|15\|df=y\|br=y}}`	2003-2-15 (2003-02-15); 8492 days ago
Year and month
`{{Start date and age\|2003\|02\|br=1}}`	2003-2-Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{". (2003-02-00); Error: Need valid year, month, day Expression error: Unexpected < operator. ago
Year only
`{{Start date and age\|2003\|br=yes}}`	2003-Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{".-Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{". (2003-00-00); Error: Need valid year, month, day Expression error: Unexpected < operator. ago

Line break with parentheses

Syntax	Result
Full date (year, month, day)
`{{Start date and age\|2003\|02\|15\|p=yes\|br=yes}}`	2003-2-15 (2003-02-15); 8492 days ago
`{{Start date and age\|2003\|02\|15\|df=y\|p=y\|br=y}}`	2003-2-15 (2003-02-15); 8492 days ago
Year and month
`{{Start date and age\|2003\|02\|p=1\|br=1}}`	2003-2-Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{". (2003-02-00); Error: Need valid year, month, day Expression error: Unexpected < operator. ago
Year only
`{{Start date and age\|2003\|paren=yes\|br=yes}}`	2003-Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{".-Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "{". (2003-00-00); Error: Need valid year, month, day Expression error: Unexpected < operator. ago

Use in microformats

This template also returns the date, hidden by CSS, in the ISO 8601 format needed by one or more of the following microformats:

hAtom (class="updated")
hAudio (class="published")
hCalendar (class="dtstart")
hCard (class="bday")

usually, but not always, within infobox or similar templates, or tables.

Its use in hCard is for organizations, venues and similar; use {{Birth date}} or {{Birth date and age}} for people.

Similarly, {{End date}} returns the date as hCalendar's (class="dtend").

See the microformats project for further details.

Limitation

This template has no provision to deal with a date in a non-Gregorian calendar. Also, ISO 8601 requires mutual agreement among those exchanging information before using years outside the range 1583–9999 CE. Therefore, use of this template for non-Gregorian dates or dates outside that range constitutes a false claim of conformance to the ISO 8601 standard.

Any editor encountering such usage should change the date to plain text with no template; or if not confident in doing so, raise the matter on this template's talk page.

Example

{{Start date and age|2016|12|31}} → {{#if:|2016-12-31; 3424 days ago

{{#if:|2016-12-31<span style="display:none;">&nbsp;(<span class="bday">2016-12-31</span>)</span><span class="noprint">; 3424 days ago</span>

Supporting templates

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").

TemplateData

TemplateData documentation used by VisualEditor and other tools

See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Start date and age in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for Start date and age

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

[Edit template data]
Template parameters
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Year	`1`	A four-digit number indicating the year Example 2017	Number	required
Month	`2`	A number between 1 and 12 indicating the month Example 12	Number	suggested
Day	`3`	A number between 1 and 31 indicating the day of the month Example 31	Number	suggested
Display date first	`df`	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	Boolean	optional
Display with parentheses	`paren` `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	Boolean	optional
Line break between date and age	`br`	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	Boolean	optional
Use microformat for end date	`end`	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	Boolean	optional

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:Start date and age/doc.
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