.Format

Syntax

.Format FORMAT

.Format will format date values defined in your front matter and can be used as a property on the following page variables:

• .PublishDate
• .Date
• .Lastmod

Assuming a key-value of date: 2017-03-03 in a content file’s front matter, your can run the date through .Format followed by a layout string for your desired output at build time:

{{ .PublishDate.Format "January 2, 2006" }} => March 3, 2017

For formatting any string representations of dates defined in your front matter, see the dateFormat function, which will still leverage the Go layout string explained below but uses a slightly different syntax.

Go’s Layout String

Hugo templates format your dates via layout strings that point to a specific reference time:

Mon Jan 2 15:04:05 MST 2006

While this may seem arbitrary, the numerical value of MST is 07, thus making the layout string a sequence of numbers.

Here is a visual explanation taken directly from the Go docs:

 Jan 2 15:04:05 2006 MST
=> 1 2  3  4  5    6  -7

Hugo Date and Time Templating Reference

The following examples show the layout string followed by the rendered output.

The examples were rendered and tested in CST and all point to the same field in a content file’s front matter:

date: 2017-03-03T14:15:59-06:00

.Date (i.e. called via page variable)

Returns: 2017-03-03 14:15:59 -0600 CST

"Monday, January 2, 2006"

Returns: Friday, March 3, 2017

"Mon Jan 2 2006"

Returns: Fri Mar 3 2017

"January 2006"

Returns: March 2017

"2006-01-02"

Returns: 2017-03-03

"Monday"

Returns: Friday

"02 Jan 06 15:04 MST" (RFC822)

Returns: 03 Mar 17 14:15 CST

"02 Jan 06 15:04 -0700" (RFC822Z)

Returns: 03 Mar 17 14:15 -0600

"Mon, 02 Jan 2006 15:04:05 MST" (RFC1123)

Returns: Fri, 03 Mar 2017 14:15:59 CST

"Mon, 02 Jan 2006 15:04:05 -0700" (RFC1123Z)

Returns: Fri, 03 Mar 2017 14:15:59 -0600

More examples can be found in Go’s documentation for the time package.

Cardinal Numbers and Ordinal Abbreviations

Spelled-out cardinal numbers (e.g. “one”, “two”, and “three”) are not currently supported.

Ordinal abbreviations (i.e., with shorted suffixes like “1st”, “2nd”, and “3rd”) are not currently directly supported. By using {{.Date.Format "Jan 2nd 2006"}}, Hugo assumes you want to append nd as a string to the day of the month. However, you can chain functions together to create something like this:

{{ .Date.Format "2" }}{{ if in (slice 1 21 31) .Date.Day}}st{{ else if in (slice 2 22) .Date.Day}}nd{{ else if in (slice 3 23) .Date.Day}}rd{{ else }}th{{ end }} of {{ .Date.Format "January 2006" }}

This will output:

5th of March 2017

Use .Local and .UTC

In conjunction with the dateFormat function, you can also convert your dates to UTC or to local timezones:

{{ dateFormat "02 Jan 06 15:04 MST" .Date.UTC }}

Returns: 03 Mar 17 20:15 UTC

{{ dateFormat "02 Jan 06 15:04 MST" .Date.Local }}

Returns: 03 Mar 17 14:15 CST