Template:Time/Helper

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This template uses Lua:

This template displays the current time in a parameter-specified time zone. The time is calculated based on the offset from UTC for the specified time zone taking into account whether daylight saving time is currently active in that time zone.

Note: Most Wikipedia pages display a cached version of the page to reduce server load, so the template will only display the current time as of when the page was last parsed. You can refresh the displayed time by clicking the [refresh] link.

Parameters

{{time}} supports two positional and several named parameters; none are required:

|<time zone> – the first positional (unnamed) parameter, specifies the time zone for which the template is to provide a time output. If omitted, the template displays UTC time. A time zone is identified by an abbreviation of the time zone's standard-time name. Do not use a summertime or daylight saving time abbreviation; they will be ignored and produce an error message.

|<df> – the positional (unnamed) version of |df= which see

|df= – date format; this parameter takes one of several values; values other than these are ignored:

|df=dmy – specifies day month year date format; time in 24-hour format; alias: |df=dmy24

21:15, 16 May 2025 MDT [refresh]

|df=dmy12 – same as |df=dmy except time in 12-hour am/pm format

9:15 pm, 16 May 2025 MDT [refresh]

|df=mdy – specifies month day, year format; time in 24-hour format; default when a date format is not specified in the time zone's properties; alias: |df=mdy24

21:15, May 16, 2025 MDT [refresh]

|df=mdy12 – same as |df=mdy except time in 12-hour am/pm format

9:15 pm, May 16, 2025 MDT [refresh]

|df=iso – renders the date/time in a form roughly adhering to the ISO 8601 format (seconds omitted)

2025-05-16T21:15 MDT [refresh]

|df=y – legacy {{time}} parameter, same as |df=dmy

|df=12 – time-only display 12-hour am/pm format

9:15 pm MDT [refresh]

|df=24 – time-only display 24-hour format

21:15 MDT [refresh]

|df-cust= – custom time/date formats using the codes defined at mw:Help:Extension:ParserFunctions##time; yields to |df=

|df-cust-a= – custom time/date formats as above specifically for ante meridiem time; requires |df-cust-p=; yields to |df-cust=

|df-cust-p= – custom time/date formats as above specifically for post meridiem time; requires |df-cust-a=; yields to |df-cust=

|dst= – when set to no, disables the daylight saving time calculation for the time zone; other values ignored; useful for locations within a time zone that do not observe daylight saving time; Arizona, for example

|lang=<code> – displays time/date in language specified by ISO 639 language <code>

these parameters take only the value yes:

|dateonly= – suppresses time display

|timeonly= – suppresses date display

|hide-refresh= – suppresses the refresh link

|hide-tz= – suppresses the timezone abbreviation

|unlink-tz= – renders unlinked timezone abbreviation

|_TEST_TIME_= – a parameter that was useful during the development of the template's code. The value assigned to this parameter must either be in ISO 8601 format without time zone designator (2025-05-17T03:15:07), or YYYYMMDDhhmmss format as output by {{Timestamp}} (20250517031507). This is interpreted by the template as UTC.

Usage

Typically, all that is needed is:

{{time|<TZ>}} where <TZ> is one of the supported time zone abbreviations

{{time|MST}}

21:15, May 16, 2025 MDT [refresh]

To change the rendered format:

{{time|MST|df=y}}

21:15, 16 May 2025 MDT [refresh]

{{time|MST|y}}

21:15, 16 May 2025 MDT [refresh]

{{time|MST|dmy}}

21:15, 16 May 2025 MDT [refresh]

{{time|MST|iso}}

2025-05-16T21:15 MDT [refresh]

Supported time zones

This is a list of the currently supported time zone abbreviations:

ACST (ACDT)
AEST (AEDT)
AKST (AKT)
AoE^{[upper-alpha 1]}
AST (AT) (ADT)
AWST
BST
BT
CET (CEST)
ChST
CST (CT) (CDT)
EET (EEST)
EST (ET) (EDT)
GMT
GMT-IE^{[upper-alpha 2]}
GMT-UK^{[upper-alpha 3]}
HST (HDT)
IDLE^{[upper-alpha 1]}
IDLW^{[upper-alpha 1]}
IRKT
IST
JST
KRAT
MSK
MST
MMT
NPT
NST
NZST (NZDT)
OMST
PETT
PKT
PMST^{[upper-alpha 4]}
PST (PT) (PDT)
SAMT
SAST
SRET
SST
USZ1
UTC
VLAT
WET (WEST)
WGT^{[upper-alpha 5]}
WIB
WIT
WITA
YAKT
YEKT

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Not standard time zones, these are included on a whim of the programmer; AoE is 'Anywhere on Earth', 'IDLE' and 'IDLW' are International Date Line East and West
↑ Irish Standard Time. The abbreviation, IST, is also used for Indian Standard Time. Irish Standard Time occurs in the summer. For these reasons, the template uses GMT-IE as the time zone abbreviation for Ireland.
↑ GMT does not observe daylight saving time. The United Kingdom observes GMT in winter but shifts to British Summer Time in summer. The abbreviation BST is also used by Bangladesh Standard Time. To differentiate GMT as observed in the UK from year-round GMT, use GMT-UK for the former.
↑ Saint-Pierre and Miquelon Standard Time
↑ Western Greenland Time

UTC offset

To display the time at a particular UTC offset, specify the UTC time offset as the time zone:

{{time|UTC-07:00}}

2025-05-16T20:15 UTC−07:00 [refresh]

'UTC', a sign character, two hour digits, a colon, and two minute digits are required. Accepted sign characters are: '+', '-' (hyphen), '±', and '−' (minus).

Military/nautical time zones

To display the time at a particular military or nautical time zone,^[1] use the time zone's alpha designation:

{{time|M}}

2025-05-17T15:15 M [refresh]

Some military and nautical time zone designators are extended with an asterisk (*), a dagger (†), or double dagger (‡). When writing this template for designators that are extended with a dagger or double dagger, use '+' and '++' respectively:

{{time|M++}}

2025-05-17T16:00 M‡ [refresh]

{{time|M+}}

2025-05-17T17:15 M† [refresh]

Daylight saving time

Daylight saving time (DST) calculations are automatic for those time zones where it is observed. There are locales that do not observe DST within time zones where it is generally observed. To render the correct time for a non-observant locale, set |dst=no:

{{time|MST|dst=no}}

20:15, May 16, 2025 MST [refresh] – time in Arizona

{{time|MST}}

21:15, May 16, 2025 MDT [refresh] – but, time on the Navajo Nation in Arizona

The opposite case is not supported. For places like Thule Air Base in Greenland, which observes US DST rules while WGT observes EU DST rules, a time zone properties table will be needed in Module:Time. See §Adding a new time zone.

Error messages

{{time}} can produce several error messages. These are:

{{time}} – both of |df-cust-a= and |df-cust-p required – when defining a custom format for am (or pm) time, you must also define a custom format for pm (or am) time

{{time}} – error calculating dst timestamps – indicates an internal error because one or more of the following time zone properties is malformed: UTC offset, DST begin or end definition. To resolve this error make sure that the time zone's properties are correct.

{{time}} – incomplete definition for ... – indicates an internal error because one or more of the following time zone properties is missing: DST begin or end definition, DST event time, time zone article. To resolve this error supply the missing properties.

{{time}} – invalid date format <format> – value assigned to |df= is not one of the defined format strings; ss §Parameters

{{time}} – invalid use of ± - the symbol ± is being used when the minute and hour offsets aren't 00:00

{{time}} – malformed or incomplete _TEST_TIME_ – value assigned to this parameter must either have the format: YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss where all except 'T' are digits, or YYYYMMDDhhmmss

{{time}} – unknown timezone – the time zone positional parameter is not one of the supported time zone abbreviations. To resolve this error check the parameter's spelling or add the time zone's properties to the module. See §Adding a new time zone.

Adding a new time zone

{{time}} uses Module:Time/data. In that module, is a table of tables, the data structure that specifies the properties of the individual time zones. A blank time zone properties table has this form:

[''] = {
	abbr = '',			
	dst_abbr = '',
	utc_offset = '',
	df = '',
	dst_begins = '',
	dst_ends = '',
	dst_time = '',
	dst_e_time = '',
	article = ''
},

To add a new time zone to Module:Time/data, add the appropriate information inside the single quotes. If a property does not apply, leave the quotes empty. The rules for each property are:

[''] – (required) the abbreviation of a time zone's standard time; must be lower case; this is the value that will be used in the template's time zone parameter

abbr = '' – (required) the abbreviation of a time zone's standard time as it will be rendered by the template

dst_abbr = '' – the abbreviation of a time zone's daylight saving or summer time as it will be rendered by the template

utc_offset = '' – (required) the offset in hours and minutes from UTC±00:00; has the form: utc_offset = '<sign>hh:mm' where <sign> may be + (optional) or - (required for time zones west of the 0 meridian)

df = '' – one of three keywords dmy, mdy, or iso used to specify date format typically used in the time zone; can be overridden with |df= template parameter

dst_begins = '' – a four word sentence in the form <ordinal> <day name> <in|of> <month name> where:

<ordinal> – any of the words 'first', '1st', 'second', '2nd', ... 'fifth', '5th', or 'last'

<day name> – any of the day names 'Sunday', 'Monday', 'Tuesday', etc.; capitalization is not important but otherwise must be spelled correctly; abbreviations not supported

<in|of> – either of the words 'in' or 'of'

<month name> – any of the month names 'January', 'February', 'March', etc.; capitalization is not important but otherwise must be spelled correctly; abbreviations not supported

dst_ends = '' – (required if dst_begins is specified) same as dst_begins

dst_time = '' – (required if dst_begins is specified) the time that daylight saving time begins; usually local time; when DST begins at a specified time UTC (European Summer Time for example) use: dst_time = 'hh:mm UTC'; four digits and the colon are required

dst_e_time = '' – the time that daylight saving time ends if different from the time it begins; usually local daylight saving time ; when DST ends at a specified time UTC use: dst_e_time = 'hh:mm UTC'; four digits and the colon are required

article = '' – (required) the title of a Wikipedia article that is appropriate to the timezone; do not include wikimarkup

The table-of-tables is organized east (plus UTC offsets) then west (minus UTC offset), by offset hours, and then alphabetically by time zone positional parameter name.

Adding a new alias

You may also want to add an alias of a timezone:

[''] = {tz = ''},

To add a new time zone to Module:Time/data, add the appropriate information inside the single quotes.

[''] – (required) the abbreviation of a time zone's alias. This must be lower case.

tz = '' – (required) the abbreviation of the time zone that's already in the code. This must be lower case

The table-of-tables is organized east (plus UTC offsets) then west (minus UTC offset), and by if it's a DST offset or if it's not.

References

↑ "World Time Zone Map". HM Nautical Almanac Office. February 2016.

TemplateData

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

TemplateData for Time

No description.

Template parameters[Edit template data]
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
time zone	`1`	The time zone for the time formatting Example EST	String	suggested
date format	`2` `df`	The format to render the date and time Example dmy12	Unknown	suggested
Daylight savings time	`dst`	no description Example yes	String	optional
ISO 639 language code	`lang`	displays time/date in language specified by ISO 639 language	String	optional
dateonly	`dateonly`	If 'yes', suppresses display of the time and only shows the date Example yes	String	optional
timeonly	`timeonly`	If 'yes', suppresses display of the date and only shows the time Example yes	String	optional
Hide time zone?	`hide-tz`	If 'yes', suppresses time zone abbreviation Example yes	String	optional
Don't link time zone?	`unlink-tz`	If 'yes', renders the timezone without linking to its article. Example yes	String	optional

The above documentation is transcluded from Template:Time/Helper/doc.
Editors can experiment in this template's sandbox and testcases pages.
Add categories to the /doc subpage. Subpages of this template.

[non-standard-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Not standard time zones, these are included on a whim of the programmer; AoE is 'Anywhere on Earth', 'IDLE' and 'IDLW' are International Date Line East and West

[IST-2] Irish Standard Time. The abbreviation, IST, is also used for Indian Standard Time. Irish Standard Time occurs in the summer. For these reasons, the template uses GMT-IE as the time zone abbreviation for Ireland.

[GMT-UK-3] GMT does not observe daylight saving time. The United Kingdom observes GMT in winter but shifts to British Summer Time in summer. The abbreviation BST is also used by Bangladesh Standard Time. To differentiate GMT as observed in the UK from year-round GMT, use GMT-UK for the former.

[PMST-4] Saint-Pierre and Miquelon Standard Time

[WGT-5] Western Greenland Time

[6] "World Time Zone Map". HM Nautical Almanac Office. February 2016.

[upper-alpha 1]

[upper-alpha 2]

[upper-alpha 3]

[upper-alpha 4]

[upper-alpha 5]

[1]

Type	Adjustable	Current	Last	Next
Date and time	{{time}}	{{Currentdate}} (MDY) {{Plain now}} (DMY) {{Now}} (DMY in a complete sentence) {{Simple now}}
Date only	{{Dateonly}} {{Datedow}} (Has the day of the week)	{{Date}} (Chose format) {{DATE}} (prefixed by date=) {{TODAY}} (DMY)	{{Yesterday}} {{Day-1}}	{{Tomorrow}} {{Day+1}}
Month and year only		{{Monthyear}}	{{Monthyear-1}}	{{Monthyear+1}}
Time only	{{Timeonly}}	{{CURRENTTIME}} (12 h format) {{CURRENTTIME24}} (24 h format)
Banners		{{Right now}} (Blue with time and number of Wikipedia articles)
Timestamp		{{Timestamp}} (Format YYYYMMDDhhmmss)

Unit of time	Adjustable	Current	Last	Next
SECOND		{{CURRENTSECOND}}
MINUTE		{{CURRENTMINUTE}}
HOUR		{{CURRENTHOUR}}
WEEK		{{CURRENTWEEK}} {{CURRENTWEEKOFMONTH}}
Day of Week	{{DAYOFWEEK}}	{{CURRENTDAYNAME}} {{CURRENTWEEKDAYABBREV}} {{CURRENTWEEKDAY}}
MONTH	{{MONTHNAME}} {{MONTHABBREV}} {{MONTHNUMBER}} {{MONTH}} (zero padded)	{{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTMONTHABBREV}} {{CURRENTMONTH1}} {{CURRENTMONTHDAYS}}	{{LASTMONTHNAME}}	{{NEXTMONTHNAME}}
Day of Month		{{CURRENTDAY}} {{CURRENTDAY2}} (zero padded)
YEAR		{{CURRENTYEARCC}} {{CURRENTYEARYY}} {{CURRENTISOYEAR}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}	{{LASTYEAR}}	{{NEXTYEAR}}
Day of Year		{{CURRENTDAYOFYEAR}}
DECADE	{{DECADE}}	{{CURRENTDECADE}}
CENTURY	{{CENTURY}}	{{CURRENTCENTURY}}
MILLENNIUM	{{MILLENNIUM}}

Template:Time/Helper

Parameters

Usage

Supported time zones

UTC offset

Military/nautical time zones

Daylight saving time

Error messages

Adding a new time zone

Adding a new alias

See also

Multiple units of time

Single units of time

Date and time templates made for substitution:

Individual templates

Categories of templates

References

TemplateData