Template:Birth date/doc

This is a documentation subpage for Template:Birth date. It contains usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original page.

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}}

{{dob|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}}

{{dob|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=yes or mf=y.

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.

Error tracking

Some kinds of invalid input are tracked in Category:Pages using age template with invalid date.

hCard microformat

This template also returns the date, hidden by CSS, in the ISO 8601 standard. 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.

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|4|df=yes}} returns "(1993-02-04)4 February 1993"

{{Birth date|1993|2|4|mf=yes}} returns "(1993-02-04)February 4, 1993"

{{Birth date|1993|2|4}} returns "(1993-02-04)February 4, 1993"

Named parameters for year, month, day

{{Birth date|year=1993|month=2|day=4|df=yes}} returns "(1993-02-04)4 February 1993"

{{Birth date|year=1993|month=2|day=4|mf=yes}} returns "(1993-02-04)February 4, 1993"

{{Birth date|year=1993|month=2|day=4}} returns "(1993-02-04)February 4, 1993"

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData documentation for this template used by VisualEditor and other tools; see the monthly parameter usage report for this template.

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

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Year of birth	1 year	The year in which the person was born	Number	required
Month of birth	2 month	The month (number) in which the person was born	Number	required
Day of birth	3 day	The day (number) in which the person was born	Number	required
Day first	df	When set to 'y' or 'yes', the date of birth is output in a DMY format	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	String	optional

See also

• {{Birth-date}} which accepts formats like "1 April 1990" or "April 1, 1990"
• {{Birth date and age}} or {{Birth-date and age}} for living people
• {{Recent birth}}