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HTML <time> datetime Attribute

HTML <thead>

HTML <title>

The datetime attribute on a <time> tag attaches a datetime value.

This value is not visible, but it is machine-readable.

Example

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Two <time> elements with a datetime attribute
The datetime values are not visible, but JavaScript can read these.

The date is: August 7, 2020.
The time is: 3:22 PM.

<p>
  The date is: <time datetime="2020-08-07">August 7, 2020</time>.<br />
  The time is: <time datetime="15:22">3:22 PM</time>.
</p>

Using datetime

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The datetime attribute attaches a date (required) and time (optional) value to a time element.

Its value is not visible to the user; it only adds a semantic timestamp to the element.

The datetime values are readable by screen readers, search engines, JavaScript code, and others.

Syntax

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<time datetime="YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssTZD">

Values

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VALUE:	YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ssTZD
DESCRIPTION:	The date and time attached to the element. The format can be broken down as follows: YYYY - year (e.g. 2020) MM - month (e.g. 09 for September) DD - day (e.g. 01 for first day of the month) T or space - a date and time separator, required if date is included hh - hour in 24-hour format (e.g. 23) mm - minutes ss - seconds TZD - Time zone designator where Z refers to Zulu or GMT P - prefix for period (duration) D - prefix for days H - prefix for hours M - prefix for minutes S - prefix for seconds
EXAMPLES:	local time 2021-01-18 11:54:41.809 international time 2021-01-18 18:54:41.809Z duration PD18H23M40

Browser support

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Here is when datetime support started for each browser:

Chrome	62.0	Oct 2017
Firefox	22.0	Jun 2013
IE/Edge	18.0	Jan 2020
Opera	49.0	Nov 2017
Safari	7.0	Oct 2013

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Back to <time>

Jack Poorte

Last updated on Sep 30, 2023