Difference between revisions of "Wikitravel:Time and date formats"

Revision as of 19:28, 1 March 2013

When giving times and dates, such as for opening and closing times of attractions, restaurants and bars, use the following formats:-

Times

Use the 24 hour clock eg: 10:30-17:00
It can be assumed that times are given for the local time zone.

In 24-hour format, always show minutes using a colon as the separator; eg: 17:00, not 17.00 nor 17-00 and not just 17 and never 17:0.
Where an establishment does not close on a particular day or range of days, instead of showing 00:00-24:00 you can write 24 hours; if the establishment doesn't close all week: 24/7

AM/PM alternative

For articles about topics where the AM/PM system (or 12-hour format) is prevalent, the following format can be used as an alternative: 10:30AM-5PM.

Choose to deviate from our standard, 24 hour format only to follow predominant local usage. Ask yourself: which format will visitors see in newspapers, on shop doors, and on train schedules?

• In this alternative AM/PM system, use "noon" and "midnight", not 12AM and 12PM.
• In this alternative 12-hour format, minutes are not shown when not required, eg: 5PM, not 5:00PM.
• Spaces and periods (full stops) should be left out, eg: 10:30AM-5PM, not 10:30 A.M. – 5 P.M.
• Spaces should be left out for noon and midnight too, eg: 10AM-noon.

Days of the week

Abbreviate to the minimum number of letters, ie: M Tu W Th F Sa Su.

Note:

• Spell out when it is part of a named day, eg: Good Friday, Fat Tuesday.
• If it looks odd or ambiguous in a particular context, spell it out.
• Spaces should be left out, eg: M-F not M - F or M thru F.
• Leave the dash out for a pair of days, eg: Sa Su not Sa-Su.
• When combining days with time, put the days first, e.g., M-F 10:00-14:00 rather than 10:00-14:00 M-F.
• For all seven days, use "daily". Do not use "every day" or "Su-Sa".

Dates

Use the date format of dd mm yyyy, eg: 10 Jan 2003.

Abbreviate months to three letters, ie: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec, especially in listings, but

• If it looks odd or ambiguous in a particular context, spell it out.
• Avoid using dates such as 10/1/03, 10-1-03 or 10/1/2003 as this can mean 10 Jan 2003 or 1 Oct 2003 to different people.

By default, years are numbered according to the Western Dionysian era (also referred to as the Common Era) and the year is assumed to be AD (or CE).

This means that in the phrase "Queen Victoria died in 1901", it is unnecessary to write either "Queen Victoria died in 1901 AD" or "Queen Victoria died in 1901 CE".

For years earlier than 1 (AD or CE), that year is followed by the two letters BC (written in upper case, unspaced, without periods or full stops, and separated from the year number by a non-breaking space:" " rather than a simple space).

To indicate approximately, use the un-italicized abbreviation "c. " (followed by a non-breaking space) rather than circa, ca., or approx.

Eg: The temple was built c. 700 BC

Duration

• Year or years: yr
• Week or weeks: wk
• Hour or hours: hr
• Minutes: min

See also

• Wikitravel:When to use dates
• Wikitravel:Abbreviations