Date Formats

MODX is written in PHP, and as such, it relies on the underlying PHP date functions, e.g. strftime. The discussion here can get quite tricky because the strftime and strtotime functions deploy similar arguments, but they are not identical.

The discussion here relates primarily to the following content fields:

• createdon - creation date;
• deletedon - date of deletion;
• editedon - the date of the last edit;
• publishedon - the date when the resource was published;
• pub_date - the date when the resource should appear in the publication;
• unpub_date - date of removal from the publication.

Unix timestamps and formatted dates¶

Depending on the source and method of retrieving a value, you may either receive a UNIX timestamp or a formatted date. A unix timestamp is recognised as a large integer number (representing the number of seconds sinds January 1st 1970).

In MODX, the date output modifier, which is used to format dates using PHP's strftime() function, expects a unix timestamp. In order to turn a formatted date into a unix timestamp, you will use the strtotime output modifier.

So if a value, say [[*createdon]], returns a formatted date, you need to first transform it to a unix timestamp with [[*createdon:strtotime]] before you can format it with date. But, if a value immediately returns a unix timestamp, you can skip that.

Common Examples¶

It's not possible to give every possible example, but here are some common ways of formatting dates using the MODX output filters.

All Parameters¶

The date output modifier internally runs the PHP strftime function, so all documentation about strftime applies to the date output modifier as well.

To change the language used by the date output modifier (e.g. for the name of days and months), configure the locale system setting in MODX appropriately.

Server compatibility note¶

Not all servers support all the formatting parameters, in particular on Windows %e is not supported and %z and %Z return the timezone name instead of the offset. On Mac, %P is not supported.

See Also¶

• strftime() documentation on PHP.net
• Output modifiers
• Common template tags
• Resources
• Templates
• Chunks