Template:Birth date/sandbox

January 1, 1900

This is the template sandbox page for Template:Birth date (diff).
See also the companion subpage for test cases.

Template documentation[view] [edit] [history] [purge]

This template is used on approximately 401,000 pages, or roughly 1% of all 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.

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Shortcut

{{dob}}

This template uses Lua:

Module:String (sandbox)
Module:Wd (sandbox)

Template:Birth date will return a person's date of birth. Using this template rather than simply inserting the date into articles allows for the inclusion of hidden metadata about the date. This metadata can be used by web browsers and other software tools to extract the details, and display them using some other website or mapping tool, index, or search them.

For an article about a living person, consider using {{Birth date and age}} instead.

Usage

Unnamed parameters for year, month, day: {{Birth date|year of birth|month of birth|day of birth|additional parameters}}

Named parameters for year, month, day: {{Birth date|year=year of birth|month=month of birth|day=day of birth|additional parameters}}

Additional parameters

The df (day first) and mf (month first) parameters indicate the intended date format to display. The appropriate parameter should be set to "y" or "yes", e.g. |df=y or |df=yes.

The default output of this template is to display the month before the day. This default may not be appropriate for articles about people from parts of the world where the day precedes the month in a date. In such articles the parameter, "df", should be set to display the day before the month.

The parameter "mf", while not actually used by the template, will indicate that month first format is intended. Using these parameters can assist bots or other automated processing to detect which date format is intended; leaving the format as default may lead an editor or bot to change the format to an unintended value.

Do not specify both "df" and "mf" parameters in the same use of the template, as these formats are mutually exclusive.

hCard microformat

This template also returns the date, hidden by CSS, in the ISO 8601 standard.^[1] ^[2] For example:

(<span class="bday">1993-02-24</span>)

Note: For the "foundation", "built" and similar set-up dates of companies, buildings etc., use {{start date}} (this will work for year-only or month-year dates). Because the ISO 8601 standard requires the Gregorian calendar, this template should not be used if the date is given in the Julian calendar.

For further information, visit the microformats project.

References

^ "Date Design Pattern". Microformats Wiki. April 7, 2013.
^ "hCalendar closed issues". Microformats Wiki. August 28, 2009. Specifically rejects supporting the Julian calendar.

Notes

Do not use with non-Gregorian dates because the resulting hCard hidden date will be false.
The template will appear broken when the parameters are left blank.
When only the month or year of a person's birth and/or death are known, or if it is desired not to state a person's full dates of birth for privacy reasons, consider using the templates {{Birth year}} or {{Birth year and age}} instead.

Examples

Unnamed parameters for year, month, day:

{{Birth date|1993|2|24}} → (1993-02-24)February 24, 1993

{{Birth date|1993|2|24|df=yes}} → (1993-02-24)24 February 1993

{{Birth date|1993|2|24|mf=yes}} → (1993-02-24)February 24, 1993

Named parameters for year, month, day:

{{Birth date|year=1993|month=2|day=24}} → (1993-02-24)February 24, 1993

{{Birth date|year=1993|month=2|day=24|df=yes}} → (1993-02-24)24 February 1993

{{Birth date|year=1993|month=2|day=24|mf=yes}} → (1993-02-24)February 24, 1993

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Birth date in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for Birth date

This template will return a person's date of birth. Using this template rather than simply inserting the date into articles allows for the inclusion of hidden metadata about the date. This metadata can be used by web browsers and other software tools to extract the details, and display them using some other website or mapping tool, index, or search them.

Template parameters[Edit template data]
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Year of birth	`1` `year`	The year in which the person was born. Example 1993	Number	required
Month of birth	`2` `month`	The month (number) in which the person was born. Example 2	Number	required
Day of birth	`3` `day`	The day (number) in which the person was born. Example 24	Number	required
Day first	`df`	When set to 'y' or 'yes', the date of birth is output in a DMY format. Example y	String	optional
Month first	`mf`	When set to 'y' or 'yes', stresses that the default MDY date format is intended for the date of birth. Example y	String	optional