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time.Format

Returns the given date/time as a formatted and localized string.

Syntax

time.Format LAYOUT INPUT

Returns

string

Alias

dateFormat

Use the time.Format function with time.Time values:

{{ $t := time.AsTime "2023-10-15T13:18:50-07:00" }}
{{ time.Format "2 Jan 2006" $t }} → 15 Oct 2023

Or use time.Format with a parsable string representation of a date/time value:

{{ $t := "15 Oct 2023" }}
{{ time.Format "January 2, 2006" $t }} → October 15, 2023

Examples of parsable string representations:

FormatTime zone
2023-10-15T13:18:50-07:00America/Los_Angeles
2023-10-15T13:18:50-0700America/Los_Angeles
2023-10-15T13:18:50ZEtc/UTC
2023-10-15T13:18:50Default is Etc/UTC
2023-10-15Default is Etc/UTC
15 Oct 2023Default is Etc/UTC

The last three examples are not fully qualified, and default to the Etc/UTC time zone.

To override the default time zone, set the timeZone in your site configuration. The order of precedence for determining the time zone is:

  1. The time zone offset in the date/time string
  2. The time zone specified in your site configuration
  3. The Etc/UTC time zone

Layout string

Format a time.Time value based on Go’s reference time:

Mon Jan 2 15:04:05 MST 2006

Create a layout string using these components:

DescriptionValid components
Year"2006" "06"
Month"Jan" "January" "01" "1"
Day of the week"Mon" "Monday"
Day of the month"2" "_2" "02"
Day of the year"__2" "002"
Hour"15" "3" "03"
Minute"4" "04"
Second"5" "05"
AM/PM mark"PM"
Time zone offsets"-0700" "-07:00" "-07" "-070000" "-07:00:00"

Replace the sign in the layout string with a Z to print Z instead of an offset for the UTC zone.

DescriptionValid components
Time zone offsets"Z0700" "Z07:00" "Z07" "Z070000" "Z07:00:00"
{{ $t := "2023-01-27T23:44:58-08:00" }}
{{ $t = time.AsTime $t }}
{{ $t = $t.Format "Jan 02, 2006 3:04 PM Z07:00" }}

{{ $t }} → Jan 27, 2023 11:44 PM -08:00 

Strings such as PST and CET are not time zones. They are time zone abbreviations.

Strings such as -07:00 and +01:00 are not time zones. They are time zone offsets.

A time zone is a geographic area with the same local time. For example, the time zone abbreviated by PST and PDT (depending on Daylight Savings Time) is America/Los_Angeles.

Localization

Use the time.Format function to localize time.Time values for the current language and region.

Localization of dates, currencies, numbers, and percentages is performed by the gohugoio/locales package. The language tag of the current site must match one of the listed locales.

Use the layout string as described above, or one of the tokens below. For example:

{{ .Date | time.Format ":date_medium" }} → Jan 27, 2023

Localized to en-US:

TokenResult
:date_fullFriday, January 27, 2023
:date_longJanuary 27, 2023
:date_mediumJan 27, 2023
:date_short1/27/23
:time_full11:44:58 pm Pacific Standard Time
:time_long11:44:58 pm PST
:time_medium11:44:58 pm
:time_short11:44 pm

Localized to de-DE:

TokenResult
:date_fullFreitag, 27. Januar 2023
:date_long27. Januar 2023
:date_medium27.01.2023
:date_short27.01.23
:time_full23:44:58 Nordamerikanische Westküsten-Normalzeit
:time_long23:44:58 PST
:time_medium23:44:58
:time_short23:44