User:Aaronmg2/sandbox/Date format by country
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Work in progress; comments welcomeThe Gregorian calendar date can be written in multiple ways.
Date Format
[edit]Fully-written dates
[edit]The date may be written in a variety of ways, the most common of which in English[1] are:
- DMY – Day, Month, Year – e.g. 17 November 2024
- MDY – Month, Day, Year – e.g. November 17, 2024
In some other languages, notably East Asian languages, the date is written:
- YMD – Year, Month, Day – e.g. 2024 November 17
In English, the United States and Canada usually use MDY, while most other countries use DMY.
International organisations tend to use DMY, e.g. the UN[2] and WHO.[3] However, some use MDY e.g. the World Bank.[4]
Most modern style guides advise against the use of ordinal numbers (e.g. 1st January or 1st January)[5], though they may still be seen.
All-numeric dates
[edit]Due to the lack of uniformity across the globe, confusion can arise when dates are put into a purely numerical value. Take for example 01 February – in English, it may be written 01/02 or 02/01. The most common solutions to this are either avoiding all-numeric dates altogether or using the ISO 8601 date format.[6]
Date Separators
[edit]In an all-numeric date, the days, months and years can be separated in a variety of ways.
The most common of these in English is the slash:
31/12/1999
Other punctuation marks used include:
31.12.1999 (dot)
31-12-1999 (hyphen)
31 12 1999 (space)
ISO 8601
[edit]The ISO 8601 date format is written all-numerically, YMD with hyphens – e.g. 2024-11-17.
It was created to ease international data communication. This style is most common in computing e.g. in databases. It is not used in prose writing.
Table
[edit]Below is a table showing the predominant format used in prose writing. Note that the ISO format is common in almost all countries regarding computing, databases, tabular information etc.
References
[edit]- ^ "How to Write Dates Correctly in English". 7 June 2017.
- ^ "Numbers, dates and time | Department for General Assembly and Conference Management".
- ^ https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/sg13_web_v4%20pdf%20-%20adobe%20reader.pdf
- ^ https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/33367/33304.pdf?sequence=2
- ^ https://www.ox.ac.uk/sites/files/oxford/media_wysiwyg/University%20of%20Oxford%20Style%20Guide.pdf
- ^ http://expectedly.org/inclusivetech/date-time/
- ^ https://www.stylemanual.gov.au/grammar-punctuation-and-conventions/numbers-and-measurements/dates-and-time
- ^ "Duden | Datum".
- ^ "Canada.ca Content Style Guide". 5 October 2017.
- ^ "Guide de rédaction du contenu du site Canada.ca". 12 April 2016.
- ^ https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/contenu/Media/Files/autour-de-la-loi/legislatif-et-reglementaire/charte_typographique_jo_janvier_2021.pdf
- ^ https://www.academie-francaise.fr
- ^ "Duden | Datum".
- ^ "Gov.ie style guide". 6 October 2019.
- ^ https://www.data.govt.nz/about/about-data-govt-nz/our-style-guide/numbers-dates-and-times/
- ^ https://www.gcis.gov.za/sites/default/files/docs/resourcecentre/guidelines/Editorial_Style_Guide.pdf
- ^ https://www.rae.es
- ^ https://swiss.github.io/styleguide/en/form-elements.html
- ^ "Duden | Datum".
- ^ https://www.gov.uk/guidance/style-guide/a-to-z-of-gov-uk-style
- ^ https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-STYLEMANUAL-2016/pdf/GPO-STYLEMANUAL-2016.pdf