Template:Birth date and age/doc

The {{Birth date}} and {{Birth date and age}} templates will return a person’s date of birth and optionally his/her age.

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.

Syntax

To display the birth date only

{{Birth date|year of birth|month of birth|day of birth|additional parameters}}

Do not use with non-Gregorian dates because the resulting hCard hidden date will be false.

To display a birth date with calculated age

{{Birth date and age|year of birth|month of birth|day of birth|additional parameters}}

This form is only intended for living persons. For dead persons, use {{birth date}}. In the rare case that a living person's birth date is given in a non-Gregorian calendar this template should not be used. The parameter names 'year', 'month', and 'day' can be used instead of the first, second, and third parameters for 'Birth date and age' only. These parameter names are not available for the 'Birth date' template. However, a full birth date for a living person should only be displayed when it can be cited as being widely published, or published with the clear approval of the person involved. Otherwise, use {{birth year and age}} instead.

Examples

{{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"

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

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

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

{{Birth date and age|1993|2|4|df=yes}} returns (1993-02-04) 4 February 1993

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

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

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

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

{{Birth date and age|1993|2|24}} returns (1993-02-24) February 24, 1993

"month first" (mf) and "day first" (df) options

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.

Examples

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

{{Birth date and age|1993|2|24|df=yes}} displays " (1993-02-24) 24 February 1993".

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

{{Birth date and age|1993|2|24|mf=yes}} displays " (1993-02-24) February 24, 1993".

hCard microformat

The templates 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

• The template will appear broken when the parameters are left blank (as seen above).

When only the 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 and death for privacy reasons, use the templates {{Birth year and age}} and {{Death year and age}} instead.

Error tracking

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