CMS:DATE

Outputs the date part of a date value, formatted.

(CMS:DATE field [parameter=value …])

Method: Cms::cmsDate()
Without key: the first value without = is the field
At least one of: field, useval

Parameters

Parameter	Value	Default	Required	Description
id	record ID or slug	(current record)		Record to read from. Pure digit sequence = record_id, anything else = slug – the same rule as in the URL.
field ¹	field	–	²	Name of a record field whose content is used as the source.
useval	date value	–	²	Value in text form that is used as the source.
format	format specification	–		ICU pattern, e.g. "dd.MM.y". Without specification, the language of the page determines the notation.
timezone	true / false	false		true: The name of the time zone is appended (e.g. "Europe/Berlin").
replace[…]	text?text	–		If the text before the question mark occurs in the formatted value, it is replaced by the text after the question mark (e.g. "Jan?January").
ifempty	text	–		Text that is output if the source ('field' or 'useval') is empty.
instead	text	–		Text that is output instead of the source, if it is not empty.
prefix	text	–		Text that is placed before the formatted value, if it is not empty.
suffix	text	–		Text that is appended if the formatted value is not empty.
set	array index of $set	–		The formatted value is not output, but stored in the variable $set.

¹ can be given without a key as the first value.
² at least one of the parameters marked with ² must be given.

[…] – the parameter accepts subkeys, for example name[key]=value.

Usage

Outputs the date part of a date/time value. The source is a date or date-time field (meta fields online_at, created_at, changed_at or your own fields). Without format, the language of the page determines the notation:

(CMS:DATE online_at)                            07.03.2024   (de)
(CMS:DATE online_at format="EEEE, d MMMM y")    Thursday, 7 March 2024
(CMS:DATE online_at format="y-MM-dd")           2024-03-07

Typical in lists:

<time datetime="(CMS:DATE online_at format='y-MM-dd')">(CMS:DATE online_at)</time>

CMS:DATE, CMS:DATETIME and CMS:TIME are the same command with a different section; all three know the same parameters (CMS:DATETIME additionally autotime).

Parameters in detail

id

id reads from another record instead of the current one – record_id or slug, exactly as in the URL:

(CMS:DATE online_at id=1977)
(CMS:DATE online_at id=imprint)

field

field is the main parameter and may be given without a key – both lines are the same:

(CMS:DATE field=online_at)
(CMS:DATE online_at)

useval

Instead of a field, useval takes a value directly from the template – usually a PHP variable or a value stored earlier with set:

(CMS:DATE useval="2024-12-24")
(CMS:DATE useval="{$set['value']}")

(CMS:DATE useval="{$set['user']['created_at']}")

format

format is an ICU pattern (d day, MM month with two digits, MMMM month name, y year, HH:mm time, EEEE weekday). Without format, the language of the page decides (in the back end, the locale of the user):

(CMS:DATE online_at format="d MMMM y")

Output: 7 March 2024

timezone

(CMS:DATE online_at timezone=true)

Output: 07.03.2024 Europe/Berlin

replace

replace replaces parts of text in the already formatted value – short form with ? as separator, or one entry per search text:

(CMS:DATE online_at format="MMM y" replace="Jan.?January")
(CMS:DATE online_at format="MMM y" replace[Jan.]="January" replace[x]="y")

Output: January 2026 instead of Jan. 2026

ifempty

ifempty replaces the entire output if the source is empty; prefix and suffix are then omitted:

(CMS:DATE offline_at prefix="<p>" suffix="</p>" ifempty="unlimited")

The placeholders for “no date” and “no end” that camindo CMS stores for an unlimited offline_at (before 2 January 1000 or from 31 December 8999) also count as empty – with and without format.

instead

instead replaces the value as soon as the source is not empty – useful if only the presence matters:

(CMS:DATE offline_at instead="limited" ifempty="-")

prefix

prefix / suffix surround the value and appear only if it is not empty – so no empty published on:

(CMS:DATE online_at prefix="published on " suffix="")

suffix

(CMS:DATE online_at suffix=" (first publication)")

See prefix.

set

set outputs nothing, but stores the result under $set['date'] for the surrounding PHP or a later command:

(CMS:DATE online_at set=date)
<?php if ($set['date'] !== '') { ?> … <?php echo $set['date']; ?> … <?php } ?>

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