Date Format
Countries around the world differ in how they write today’s date. Month first? Day first? Periods vs. dashes vs. slashes—everyone does it a little differently.
DMY
DMY/YMD
YMD
MDY/YMD
DMY/MDY
MDY/YMD/DMY
Endianness aka Date Order
The order in which the day, month and year for a date is written is known as it's 'endianess'. Generally dates are written from either smallest magnitude to biggest magnitude or vice versa. The United States takes a different tact and is the primary country to use Middle Endian for most date formatting.
Formatting
While order is a key part of writing dates, there are also variations in the way countries write out the days, months and years in a date. For example, January can be written as “1”, “01” or “Jan” depending on the country convention. By pairing the endianness with the different forms of day, month and year, you can write the same date in many different ways.
Exact formats are defined and communicated using the shorthand below:
| Day | |
|---|---|
| d | one-digit for days below ten. [2] |
| dd | two-digits for days below ten. [02] |
| ddd | three-letter abbreviation for day of the week [Fri] |
| dddd | day of the week spelled out in full [Friday] |
| Month | |
|---|---|
| m | one-digit for months below 10 [4] |
| mm | two-digits for months below ten. [04] |
| mmm | three-letter abbreviation for month [Apr] |
| mmmm | month spelled out in full [April] |
| Year | |
|---|---|
| yy | two-digit year [24] |
| yyyy | four-digits year [2024] |
| - |
| Separators | |
|---|---|
| / | oblique stroke [slash] |
| . | full stop, dot or point [period] |
| - | hyphen [dash] |
Date Formats →
Countries around the world differ in how they write today’s date. Month first? Day first? Periods vs. dashes vs. slashes—everyone does it a little differently.
Clock Type →
From 12-hour clocks to 24-hour military time, different regions use various clock formats. Certain countries even use one format orally and the other in written communication.
Daylight Savings →
Not all countries observe Daylight Saving Time, and those that do might change their clocks at different times of the year—or not at all.
First Day of the Week →
The starting day of the week varies globally, with some regions beginning on Sunday and others on Monday or Saturday.
Weekday vs Weekend →
The concept of weekdays and weekends isn't universal. While many countries follow a Monday-to-Friday workweek, others observe different days off based on cultural or religious traditions.
Created by Priya Misner
priyamisner.com