Template:Date table sort

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Documentation

Date table sorting is used to correctly sort and display dates in a sortable table.

Template copied from Wikipedia. Additional documentation is available there.

What it solves[edit source]

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

  • 1 September 1998 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.

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[edit source]

Dates[edit source]

The year, month and day can either be entered separately or as a single date.
{{Date table sort|year|month|day|BC}} {{Date table sort|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 and DD-MM-YYYY format becomes day-month-year 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.

TemplateData[edit source]

Date table sorting is used to correctly sort and display dates in a sortable table.

Template parameters[Edit template data]

ParameterDescriptionTypeStatus
Full date or year1

Full date if second to fourth parameters are not specfied, otherwise year. Full date can be either in "YYYY-MM-DD", "DD-MM-YYYY", "DD Month YYYY", "Month DD, YYYY", "YYYY-MM", "DD Month", "Month DD", "Month YYYY" or "Month" format. Year is either a positive number or a negative number. If fourth parameter is not specified negative numbers are interpreted as years of BC era. Parameter is optional if the second parameter is specified.

Example
"1893", "-89", "-10000", "Oct", "February 1767", "12 Aug 1987", "July 1, 1867", "25 October", "Jan 1", "2014-12-09"
Stringoptional
Month2

Full or abbreviated month name or alternatively, a month number which can be zero-padded. Parameter is optional if the third parameter is not specified.

Example
February, Feb, 2 or 02
Stringoptional
Day3

Day, optionally zero-padded

Example
7 or 07
Numberoptional
Era4

BC, AD, BCE or CE. Takes effect only if the first parameter is a positive number.

Stringoptional
Formatformat

Controls the output format. Can be "dmy", "dm", "mdy", "md", "my", "d", "m", "y" or "hide".

Stringoptional
Abbreviationabbr

Abbreviates the month name

Default
off
Example
on
Stringoptional
Additional sort keyaddkey

Adds another sort key to resolve conflicts between rows with the same date

Example
3
Numberoptional
Wrappingnowrap

To turn off the suppression of word wraps, use the "off" parameter

Default
off
Example
off
Booleanoptional

Notes[edit source]

Sorting for incomplete dates[edit source]

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[edit source]

Errors are tracked in Category:Date table sorting templates with errors.

Calendar choice[edit source]

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[edit source]

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.