English (UK) & other language date formats are wrong

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#polyglots

I am not sure if this is the right place to post but I want to report a bug that effects the UK version of WordPress. This bug exists on 5.8 as well.

When the Site Language is set to English (UK) the date format is not changed. It still shows in US format as in YYYY/MM/DD. It should be DD/MM/YYYY instead. (The Date format is set at j F Y.) This can be confirmed on the the All Posts list and under the Time Zone section of the settings page.

This error seem to effect other languages too. For instance if the Site Language is set to Francais or Afrikaans date is displayed correctly as DD/MM/YYYY. Strangely it reverts to the US format when English (South Africa) is selected even though it is the same localeLocale Locale = language version, often a combination of a language code and a region code, for instance es_MX denotes Spanish as it’s used in Mexico. A list of all locales supported by WordPress in https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/ as Afrikaans.

I reported to the core team [https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/54923#ticket] but they said it is a duplicate of [https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/36259] and closed the ticket. Problem is the latter ticket had been open for SIX years and there is no current milestone set yet.

As you are managing the English (UK) translation of WordPress and I assume date format is part of the language I am posting this here for help and guidance.

Thank you in advance

#en_GB

#editor-requests

Gary Jones 12:36 am on February 3, 2022

Hi @sarumbear.
When the Site Language is set to English (UK) the date format is not changed

The Date Format saved value is independent of the Site Language option, but the top Date Format radio button option does change depending on what the Site Language is. This comes from this line in WP core which has an internationalized a stringString A string is a translatable part of the software. A translation consists of a multitude of localized strings. of ‘F j, Y’ and this is changed via this en_GB translation to ‘j F Y’. If it’s not changing for you, maybe check that you have a full complement of en_GB translation files.

On the front-end, themes can retrieve a post or comment date and render in whatever date format they want. Only if they also retrieve the Date Format option and use that for formatting, will changing the Date Format value have any effect on what visitors see.

For the back-end, for something like the Posts table, you can see it displays dates in YYYY/MM/DD – this is hard-coded into coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. (see here as an example), so changing the Date Format option has no impact on this.
It still shows in US format as in YYYY/MM/DD. It should be DD/MM/YYYY instead.

The typical US date format has month, then day, then year (it’s one of the few countries that does. Many countries, at least in part, follow `YYYY-MM-DD`, because this ordering is an international standard (ISO 8601). And even the UK government recommend this international standard, even if the typical date used by the UK civilian population is day, month, year.
The Date format is set at j F Y.
This is correct, as per the translation I linked to. You can find the same translation for the 5.8.x languages files and earlier versions as well.

Beyond that, if you’re hitting a bug in core, then that’s outside of the scope of the polylots.
sarumbear 1:06 pm on February 3, 2022

I should have been clearer that my post is about the date display on the backend.

because [YYYY-MM-DD] ordering is an international standard (ISO 8601)

even the UK government recommend this international standard, even if the typical date used by the UK civilian population is day, month, year.

but it also adds that “This standard does not apply when human readability is the main concern.” which is what you are doing when you are reading a list.

I understand the need to stick to a single date format when dealing internationally among multiple languages or computer to computer communications via an APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. but when the admin selects a language and even the way it is formatted shouldn’t they be rewarded to view the dates in the format they just set?

Action > Response is the number one item of the EX.
- tobifjellner (Tor-Bjorn Fjellner) 4:25 pm on February 3, 2022
  
  @sarumbear
  So the date and time formats in the backend depend on the time/date settings made under Settings → General and not directly on the language chosen.
  If you would like to somehow change this behavior (for instance by allowing a user to select date format along with the preferred backend language in their own profile), then that might be pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party territory for the time being, and may be suggested for WordPress coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. via a ticket in https://core.trac.wordpress.org/
  
  But, right now this is not something that any particular translation team can change.
  - sarumbear 5:12 pm on February 3, 2022
    
    So the date and time formats in the backend depend on the time/date settings made under Settings → General
    
    That is not correct. Irrespective of the Date Format or Site Language the date on the posts list is always displayed as Y/m/d. It doesn’t change whatever setting is there.
    
    I use WordPress 5.9-en_GB and my Site language is English (UK). The format Y/m/d is not even offered as a Date Format option!
    
    I have already commented on a six year old core bug thread but so far nothing happened. Your group was my hope.

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