Template:Time/sandbox

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

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

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 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

21:46, 16 December 2025 MST

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

9:46 pm, 16 December 2025 MST

|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

21:46, December 16, 2025 MST

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

9:46 pm, December 16, 2025 MST

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

2025-12-16T21:46 MST

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

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

9:46 pm MST

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

21:46 MST

|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= – custom daylight saving adjustment

|dst=no – disables the daylight saving time adjustment for the time zone; useful for locations within a time zone that do not observe daylight saving time; Arizona, for example

|dst=always – adjusts to daylight saving time regardless of normal time zone daylight saving adjustments; ignored when the specified timezone does not observe daylight saving time

|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 (2025-12-17T04:46:45), or YYYYMMDDhhmmss format as output by {{Timestamp}} (20251217044645). 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}}

21:46, December 16, 2025 MST

To change the rendered format:

{{time|MST|df=y}}

21:46, 16 December 2025 MST

{{time|MST|y}}

21:46, 16 December 2025 MST

{{time|MST|dmy}}

21:46, 16 December 2025 MST

{{time|MST|iso}}

2025-12-16T21:46 MST

Supported time zones

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

ACST (ACDT)
AEST (AEDT)
AKT (AKST) (AKDT)
AoETooltip Anywhere on Earth^[A]
AT (AST) (ADT)
AWST
BST
BT
CET (CEST)
ChST
CT (CST) (CDT)
EET (EEST)
ET (EST) (EDT)
GFT
GMT
GMT-IE^[B]
GMT-UK^[C]
HST (HDT)
IDLE^[A]
IDLW^[A]
ILST^[B]
IRKT
IRST
IST^[B]
JST
KALT (USZ1)
KPT^[D]
KRAT
KST
KZT
MAGT
MMT
MSK
MST (MDT)
MVT
MYT
NPT
NST (NDT)
NZST (NZDT)
OMST
PETT
PHT
PKT
PMST (PMDT)
PT (PST) (PDT)
SAMT
SAST
SLST
SRET
SST
UTC
VLAT
WET (WEST)
WGT (WGST)
WIB
WIT
WITA
YAKT
YEKT

^ ^a ^b ^c Nonstandard time zone included for convenience.
^ ^a ^b ^c To differentiate between multiple time zones abbreviated as IST, the template uses IST for Indian Standard Time, GMT-IE for Irish Standard Time, and ILST for Israel Standard Time/Summer Time.
^ To differentiate between Bangladesh Standard Time (BST) and year-round GMT, the template uses GMT-UK for the United Kingdom.
^ To differentiate between Paraguay Time (PYT), the template uses KPT for Pyongyang 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}}

2025-12-16T21:46 UTC−07:00

'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}}

2025-12-17T16:46 M

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++}}

2025-12-17T17:31 M‡

{{time|M+}}

2025-12-17T18:46 M†

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}}

21:46, December 16, 2025 MST – time in Arizona

{{time|MST}}

21:46, December 16, 2025 MST – but, time on the Navajo Nation in Arizona

The opposite case, for locales that always observe a 1-hour DST, set |dst=always:

{{time|MST|dst=always}}

22:46, December 16, 2025 MDT – MDT, always

|dst=always is ignored when the timezone does not observe daylight saving time:

{{time|JST}}

2025-12-17T13:46 JST – time in Japan

{{time|JST|dst=always}}

2025-12-17T13:46 JST

{{time|UTC+01:00|dst=always}}

2025-12-17T05:46 UTC+01:00

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.

If DST is not in effect for that time zone for an example, set |dst=yes as it's not a valid parameter and will be disabled and will display the standard time calculation instead as standard time is in effect at that time of year.

{{time|EDT|dst=yes|_TEST_TIME_=2020-01-01T04:59:59}}

23:59, December 31, 2019 EST (expected 00:59, January 1, 2020 EDT ) due to the fact that DST is in not in effect in this zone at this time of year.

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

Displays the current time in a parameter-specified time zone.

Template parameters
This template prefers inline formatting of parameters.
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 Suggested values `dmy` `dmy12` `mdy` `mdy12` `iso` `y` `12` `24`	Unknown	suggested
Daylight savings time	`dst`	no description Suggested values `yes` `no` `always`	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 Suggested values `yes`	String	optional
timeonly	`timeonly`	If 'yes', suppresses display of the date and only shows the time Suggested values `yes`	String	optional
Hide time zone?	`hide-tz`	If 'yes', suppresses time zone abbreviation Suggested values `yes`	String	optional
Don't link time zone?	`unlink-tz`	If 'yes', renders the timezone without linking to its article. Suggested values `yes`	String	optional
Hide the link?	`hide-refresh`	If 'yes', suppresses the link. Suggested values `yes`	String	optional
Custom time/date format	`df-cust`	Custom time/date format using the codes defined for {{#time:}} Example d/m/Y	String	optional
Custom time/date format for ante meridiem time	`df-cust-a`	Custom time/date format specifically for ante meridiem time, using the codes defined for {{#time:}}; requires \|df-cust-p= Example g:i "a.m."	String	optional
Custom time/date format for post meridiem time	`df-cust-p`	Custom time/date format specifically for post meridiem time, using the codes defined for {{#time:}}; requires \|df-cust-a= Example g:i "p.m."	String	optional

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

[nonstandard-1] Nonstandard time zone included for convenience.

[IST-2] To differentiate between multiple time zones abbreviated as IST, the template uses IST for Indian Standard Time, GMT-IE for Irish Standard Time, and ILST for Israel Standard Time/Summer Time.

[GMT-UK-3] To differentiate between Bangladesh Standard Time (BST) and year-round GMT, the template uses GMT-UK for the United Kingdom.

[KPT-4] To differentiate between Paraguay Time (PYT), the template uses KPT for Pyongyang Time.

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

[A]

[B]

[C]

[D]

[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) {{TODAY}} (DMY)	{{Yesterday}} {{Day-1}}	{{Tomorrow}} {{Day+1}}
Month and year only		{{Monthyear}} {{DATE}} (prefixed by date=)	{{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/sandbox

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

Parser functions

Individual templates

Categories of templates

References

TemplateData

Wikious

Boobota

Sagapedia