Template:Use mdy dates

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Usage

To promote consistent date formatting, place this template with other maintenance tags near the top of articles that use the mmmm d, yyyy date format (below hatnotes, but above infoboxes, as per the Manual of Style). The parameter |date= is intended to track the most recent month and year in which an editor or bot checked the article for inconsistent date formatting and, if any inconsistencies were found, fixed them to comply with this template's date formatting preference.

Wikipedia articles that use mmmm d, yyyy ("American") dates, either because of the first main contributor rule or close national ties (see Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers, shortcut: WP:MOSNUM), are systematically tagged with {{Use mdy dates}} over time. The template is invisible except in edit mode.

The template lets editors know which date format to use when adding or editing dates in an article. It also facilitates article maintenance by enabling bots to recognize use of this format, and by adding the article to the hidden category called Use mdy dates.

Use of this template is part of a continuing effort to monitor the date formats used in articles, to assist in maintaining consistent formatting within an article. It is not a temporary "cleanup" template. Therefore, do not remove the template without valid reason, such as a determination that the article uses or should use a different date format.

After an article is tagged, periodic script or bot runs clean up formats, correct any new introductions since its last visit, and update the tracking date parameter in the {{Use mdy dates}} template.

The dmy and mdy templates have almost always been used to indicate date styles in the body of the articles; although it may also indicate the flavour of dates in reference sections or parts thereof. Therefore, this template notice ought to be read in conjunction with the blurb at Wikipedia:Date formattings. MOSNUM script documentation may also be relevant to those interested.

When a citation style does not expect differing date formats, it is permissible to normalize publication dates to the article body text date format, and/or access/archive dates to either, with date consistency being preferred (see MOS:DATEUNIFY).

This template is intended for use in articles. It can be used on a template page in order to format citation dates on the template page itself, but it must be enclosed in <noinclude>...</noinclude> tags so that it is not transcluded into articles or other pages.

Auto-formatting citation template dates

Citation Style 1 and 2 (collectively cs1|2) templates automatically render dates (|date=, |access-date=, |archive-date=, etc.) in the style specified by this template. Because it is allowed by WP:MOSDATES, the cs1|2 templates can automatically format dates in a variety of styles. Editors may choose how cs1|2 templates render dates by the use of |cs1-dates=<keyword>. Something similar can be done with the dates in non-CS1 citation templates by using Module:Auto date formatter. {{#lst:Help:Citation Style 1|auto_date_format_table}}

An example is given at Help:Citation Style 1 § Auto-formatting citation template dates.

Nota bene: cs1|2 auto-date formatting does not apply when previewing an article section that does not contain a {{use xxx dates}} template. When editing with the visual editor, changes to this template do not take effect until the page is saved.

Syntax

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2026}}

Notes:

• The template should be inserted in one of the first few lines of code of an article (to improve performance).
• Do not use redirects of this template, because otherwise its presence in an article may not be recognized by date formatting templates and bots. (There are a number of "legacy redirects" which are still supported at least by CS1/CS2 citation templates, but they should be changed to direct invocations of this template, also for performance reasons.)

TemplateData

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

TemplateData for Use mdy dates

<templatedata> { "format": "{{_|_=_}}\n", "description": "This template should be placed near the top of articles that use the mmmm d, yyyy date format.", "params": { "date": { "label": "Month and year", "description": "The month and year that the article was last checked for inconsistent date formatting. May use \"{{subst:DATE}}\" template instead", "type": "date", "required": false, "autovalue": "{{subst:CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{subst:CURRENTYEAR}}", "suggested": true, "example": "April 2022" }, "cs1-dates": { "description": "How dates should be formatted in CS1 citations", "suggestedvalues": [ "l", "ll", "ls", "ly", "s", "ss", "sy", "y", "yy" ] } } } </templatedata>

Wrongly tagged?

If you determine that an article is incorrectly tagged with this template, e.g. due to strong national ties or historical precedence, you should replace this template with the correct one or at least remove it. This will prevent scripts and bots from applying the "wrong" format.

Maintenance categories

• Category:Pages using Use mdy dates template with unknown parameters (0)

See also

• {{Use dmy dates}}, for the d mmmm yyyy format
• {{Date}}, which can alter the format of an inputted date
• {{Use mdy dates editnotice}}, for use in editnotices

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:Use mdy dates/doc. (edit | history)
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox (create | mirror) and testcases (create) pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.