Template:Dts/doc

From Timelines
< Template:Dts
Revision as of 04:58, 8 April 2014 by Jimp (talk)
Jump to: navigation, search

Dts/doc stands for Date Table Sorting and is used to correctly sort and display dates in a sortable table (see Help:Sorting).

What it solves

Normally, for proper sorting, dates must be entered in YYYY-MM-DD format. However, that format does not conform to the Manual of Style for date display. This template automatically creates the hidden <span style="display:none">1776-07-04</span> for sorting purposes and then displays the date like this: July 4, 1776.

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.

Parameters

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)
    • Year number – number in the range -9999 through 9999: the numbers -9999 through 0 are used without "bc" and represent astronomical years -9999 through 0, the numbers 1 through 9999 represent that year AD, or BC with the fourth parameter set to bc or BC
  • 2nd parameter – Month (optional if the day is not given either)
    • Full month name – February or february
    • Abbreviated month name – Feb or feb
    • Month number – 2 or 02
  • 3rd parameter – Day (optional)
    • Day number – 7 or 07
  • 4th parameter – optional with value BC or bc
    • Used with a positive year number

Thus e.g. for the year 5 BC we can use "5|bc" or "-4".

A time period (year or month and year) is sorted according to its start, and time periods with the same starting moment are in order of descending length: a year comes before its first month; a month comes before its first day.

  • 1st parameter – the full date in international, US or YYYY-MM-DD format
    • It uses {{#time:}} and so is limited to what the parser function can handle (e.g. it won't go before 100 AD).
    • International format is left as it is. YYYY-MM-DD format defaults to US format.
    • Abbreviated months are accepted.
    • Capitalisation and comma mistakes are corrected.

Input

{{dts|year|month|day|BC}}

  • {{dts|1776|July|4}}

{{dts|date}}

  • {{dts|1776-07-04}}
  • {{dts|July 4, 1776}}
  • {{dts|4 July 1776}}

When supplying a single parameter for the date, it is accepted and interpreted according to the php date/time format, except that a single number is interpreted as a year. By default the date is shown as supplied. If the first parameter is not just the year, but no format parameter is supplied, due to a call of function #time the maximum number of calls of this template on a page is 1200.

Also see the examples below.

Output

Output sent to table

  • <span style="display:none">01776-07-04-0000</span> July 4, 1776 or
  • <span style="display:none">01776-07-04-0000</span> 4 July 1776

Output displayed to user

  • July 4, 1776 or
  • 4 July 1776

Linking

The template formerly linked dates automatically. To turn linking off the parameter link=off was used. In accordance with current guidelines linking is no longer supported. Please do not use this parameter. Please remove it from existing transclusions.

Formatting

Using format produces a format that depends on, but is not necessarily equal to the format of the supplied date. This requires multiple calls of function #time, reducing the maximum number of calls of this template on a page in the worst case to 88, see below. The format parameter can take nine values.

value function example code example output
dmy displays the date in day-month-year format {{dts|26 Jan 1888|format=dmy}} 26 Jan 1888
dm displays only the day and month in day-month format {{dts|26 Jan 1888|format=dm}} 26 Jan
mdy displays the date in month-day-year format (default) {{dts|26 Jan 1888|format=mdy}} Jan 26, 1888
md displays only the day and month in month-day format {{dts|26 Jan 1888|format=md}} Jan 26
my displays only the month and year in month-year format {{dts|26 Jan 1888|format=my}} Jan 1888
d displays only the day {{dts|26 Jan 1888|format=d}} 26
m displays only the month {{dts|26 Jan 1888|format=m}} Jan
y displays only the year {{dts|26 Jan 1888|format=y}} 1888
hide hides the date {{dts|26 Jan 1888|format=hide}}

Abbreviation

There are two ways of abbreviating the month name.

  1. Directly input the desired format.
  2. Use the abbr parameter.
All-numeric input

If the month is input as a number, the default is to spell it out in full.

  • {{dts|2000-01-01}} gives "January 1, 2000"
  • {{dts|2000|1|1}} gives "January 1, 2000"

In this case the month can be abbreviated by setting abbr to on<code>.

  • {{<code>dts|2000-01-01|abbr=on}} gives "Jan 1, 2000"
  • {{dts|2000|1|1|abbr=on}} gives "Jan 1, 2000"
Non-numeric input

When the month is entered either in abbreviated form or fully spelt out, the default is to output the input form.

  • {{dts|1 January 2000}} gives "1 January 2000"
  • {{dts|1 Jan 2000}} gives "1 Jan 2000"
  • {{dts|2000|January|1}} gives "January 1, 2000"
  • {{dts|2000|Jan|1}} gives "Jan 1, 2000"

Setting abbr to on<code> overrides this.

  • {{<code>dts|1 January 2000|abbr=on}} gives "1 Jan 2000"
  • {{dts|2000|January|1|abbr=on}} gives "Jan 1, 2000"

Examples

Template syntax Hidden code Visible date
{{dts|2001}} 2001
{{dts|2001}} 2001
{{dts||1|1}} January 1
{{dts|50|July}} July 50
{{dts|1000|July|4}} July 4, 1000
{{dts|5|July|4|BC}} July 4, 5 BC
{{dts|40|July|4|BC}} July 4, 40 BC
{{dts|1|July|4|BC}} July 4, 1 BC
{{dts|88|July|4}} July 4, 88
{{dts|2007|7|11}} July 11, 2007
{{dts|2001|sep|11}} Sep 11, 2001
{{dts|2001|format=dmy}} 2001
{{dts||1|1|format=dmy}} 1 January
{{dts|50|July|format=dmy}} July 50
{{dts|July|format=dmy}} July
{{dts||July|format=dmy}} July
{{dts|1000|July|4|format=dmy}} 4 July 1000
{{dts|5|July|4|BC|format=dmy}} 4 July 5 BC
{{dts|40|July|4|BC|format=dmy}} 4 July 40 BC
{{dts|1|July|4|BC|format=dmy}} 4 July 1 BC
{{dts|88|July|4|format=dmy}} 4 July 88
{{dts|2007|7|11|format=dmy}} 11 July 2007
{{dts|2001|sep|11|format=dmy}} 11 Sep 2001
{{dts|2001}} 2001
{{dts|1 January}} 1 January
{{dts|July 19}} July 19
{{dts|July 1923}} July 1923
{{dts|10 July 1994}} 10 July 1994
{{dts|July 4, 1555}} July 4, 1555
{{dts|24 Sep 2004}} 24 Sep 2004
{{dts|1 July 1893|format=mdy}} July 1, 1893
{{dts|July 4, 1688|format=dmy}} 4 July 1688
{{dts|2007-7-11|format=dmy}} 11 July 2007
{{dts|2001-11-11}} November 11, 2001

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

See also

  • {{dtsh}}, hides the template's output
  • {{TBA}}, allows quarters, and allows sorting of time periods by end date.
  • m:Template:dts (backlinks edit), since on Meta e.g. 09999 9999 induces numeric sort mode, "&" is prefixed to force string sort mode.
  • {{sort}}, sorting by a specified key (also good for complicated numbers, e.g. scientific notation)
  • {{sortname}}, full name sorting (using "last name, first name" as default sort key)
  • {{tts}}, for sorting times in result tables of athletic events (only needed in certain cases - see template documentation)
  • {{mss}}, for sorting times in tables of eclipses