Dates and time Wikipedia:Manual of Style

1 dates , time

1.1 time of day
1.2 days

1.2.1 choice of format


1.3 months
1.4 seasons
1.5 years , longer periods
1.6 current

dates , time

for ranges of dates , times, see § en dashes: other uses, above.

dates should linked when germane , topical subject, discussed @ wp:manual of style/linking § chronological items.

time of day

time of day expressed in figures rather being spelled out. use context determine whether use 12- or 24-hour.

twelve-hour clock times written in 1 of 2 forms: 11:15 a.m. , 2:30 p.m., or 11:15 am , 2:30 pm. include non-breaking space. use noon , midnight rather 12 pm , 12 am; may need specified whether midnight refers start or end of date.
twenty-four-hour clock times written in form 08:15 , 22:55, no suffix. midnight written 00:00 begins day; 24:00 ends it.

days


for full dates, use format 10 june 1921 or format june 10, 1921. similarly, year omitted, use 10 june or june 10. choice of format, see below.
do not use numerical date formats such 03/04/2005 , refer 3 april or march 4. if numerical format required (e.g., conciseness in long lists , tables), use yyyy-mm-dd format: 2005-04-03.

choice of format

all dates in given article should have same format (day–month or month–day). however, citations, see wp:citing sources § citation style. these requirements not apply dates in quotations or titles.
articles on topics strong ties particular english-speaking country should use more common date format country (month–day us, except in military usage; day–month others; articles related canada may use either consistently).
otherwise, not change article 1 form without reason. more details can found @ wp:manual of style/dates , numbers § dates.

months


for month , year, write june 1921, no comma.
abbreviations months, such feb, used space extremely limited. such abbreviations should use 3 letters only, , should not followed period (full point) except @ end of sentence.

seasons


avoid ambiguous references seasons, different in southern , northern hemispheres.
names of seasons may used when there logical connection event describing (the autumn harvest) or when referring phase of natural yearly cycle (migration typically starts in mid-spring). otherwise, neutral wording preferable (he elected in november 1992, not elected in fall of 1992).
journals , other publications issued seasonally (e.g. summer 2005 ) should dated such in citations (for more information, see wp:citing sources § seasonal publication dates , differing calendar systems).

years , longer periods


do not use year before digits (1995, not year 1995), unless meaning otherwise unclear.
decades written in format 1980s, no apostrophe. use two-digit form ( 80s) established social or cultural meaning. avoid forms such 1700s refer 10 or 100 years.
years denoted ad , bc or, equivalently, ce , bce. use 1 system within article, , not change 1 system other without reason. abbreviations written without periods, , non-breaking space, in 5 bc. omit ad or ce unless cause ambiguity.

more information on of above topics can found @ wp:manual of style/dates , numbers § dates, including handling of dates expressed in different calendars, , times corresponding different time zones.

current

the term current should avoided. current today may not tomorrow; situations change on time. instead, use date- , time-specific text. keep information updated use {{as of}} template.