884
votes

I'm working with HTML5 elements on my webpage. By default input type="date" shows date as YYYY-MM-DD.

The question is, is it possible to change its format to something like: DD-MM-YYYY?

17
Google has created a FAQ for Chrome: developers.google.com/web/updates/2012/08/… So format is based on OS's locale setting.Endy Tjahjono
I waste my time trying to make it dd/mm/yyyy. just use another library like moment or jQuery datepickerAli Al Amine

17 Answers

694
votes

It is impossible to change the format

We have to differentiate between the over the wire format and the browser's presentation format.

Wire format

The HTML5 date input specification refers to the RFC 3339 specification, which specifies a full-date format equal to: yyyy-mm-dd. See section 5.6 of the RFC 3339 specification for more details.

This format is used by the value HTML attribute and DOM property and is the one used when doing an ordinary form submission.

Presentation format

Browsers are unrestricted in how they present a date input. At the time of writing Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Opera have date support (see here). They all display a date picker and format the text in the input field.

Desktop devices

For Chrome, Firefox, and Opera, the formatting of the input field's text is based on the browser's language setting. For Edge, it is based on the Windows language setting. Sadly, all web browsers ignore the date formatting configured in the operating system. To me this is very strange behaviour, and something to consider when using this input type. For example, Dutch users that have their operating system or browser language set to en-us will be shown 01/30/2019 instead of the format they are accustomed to: 30-01-2019.

Internet Explorer 9, 10, and 11 display a text input field with the wire format.

Mobile devices

Specifically for Chrome on Android, the formatting is based on the Android display language. I suspect that the same is true for other browsers, though I've not been able to verify this.

166
votes

Since this question was asked quite a few things have happened in the web realm, and one of the most exciting is the landing of web components. Now you can solve this issue elegantly with a custom HTML5 element designed to suit your needs. If you wish to override/change the workings of any html tag just build yours playing with the shadow dom.

The good news is that there’s already a lot of boilerplate available so most likely you won’t need to come up with a solution from scratch. Just check what people are building and get ideas from there.

You can start with a simple (and working) solution like datetime-input for polymer that allows you to use a tag like this one:

 <date-input date="{{date}}" timezone="[[timezone]]"></date-input>

or you can get creative and pop-up complete date-pickers styled as you wish, with the formatting and locales you desire, callbacks, and your long list of options (you’ve got a whole custom API at your disposal!)

Standards-compliant, no hacks.

Double-check the available polyfills, what browsers/versions they support, and if it covers enough % of your user base… It's 2018, so chances are it'll surely cover most of your users.

Hope it helps!

102
votes

As previously mentioned it is officially not possible to change the format. However it is possible to style the field, so (with a little JS help) it displays the date in a format we desire. Some of the possibilities to manipulate the date input is lost this way, but if the desire to force the format is greater, this solution might be a way. A date fields stays only like that:

<input type="date" data-date="" data-date-format="DD MMMM YYYY" value="2015-08-09">

The rest is a bit of CSS and JS: http://jsfiddle.net/g7mvaosL/

$("input").on("change", function() {
    this.setAttribute(
        "data-date",
        moment(this.value, "YYYY-MM-DD")
        .format( this.getAttribute("data-date-format") )
    )
}).trigger("change")
input {
    position: relative;
    width: 150px; height: 20px;
    color: white;
}

input:before {
    position: absolute;
    top: 3px; left: 3px;
    content: attr(data-date);
    display: inline-block;
    color: black;
}

input::-webkit-datetime-edit, input::-webkit-inner-spin-button, input::-webkit-clear-button {
    display: none;
}

input::-webkit-calendar-picker-indicator {
    position: absolute;
    top: 3px;
    right: 0;
    color: black;
    opacity: 1;
}
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/moment.js/2.24.0/moment.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.4.1.min.js"></script>
<input type="date" data-date="" data-date-format="DD MMMM YYYY" value="2015-08-09">

It works nicely on Chrome for desktop, and Safari on iOS (especially desirable, since native date manipulators on touch screens are unbeatable IMHO). Didn't check for others, but don't expect to fail on any Webkit.

55
votes

It's important to distinguish two different formats:

  • The RFC 3339/ISO 8601 "wire format": YYYY-MM-DD. According to the HTML5 specification, this is the format that must be used for the input's value upon form submission or when requested via the DOM API. It is locale and region independent.
  • The format displayed by the user interface control and accepted as user input. Browser vendors are encouraged to follow the user's preferences selection. For example, on Mac OS with the region "United States" selected in the Language & Text preferences pane, Chrome 20 uses the format "m/d/yy".

The HTML5 specification does not include any means of overriding or manually specifying either format.

17
votes

I believe the browser will use the local date format. Don't think it's possible to change. You could of course use a custom date picker.

14
votes

I found a way to change format, it's a tricky way, I just changed the appearance of the date input fields using just a CSS code.

input[type="date"]::-webkit-datetime-edit, input[type="date"]::-webkit-inner-spin-button, input[type="date"]::-webkit-clear-button {
  color: #fff;
  position: relative;
}

input[type="date"]::-webkit-datetime-edit-year-field{
  position: absolute !important;
  border-left:1px solid #8c8c8c;
  padding: 2px;
  color:#000;
  left: 56px;
}

input[type="date"]::-webkit-datetime-edit-month-field{
  position: absolute !important;
  border-left:1px solid #8c8c8c;
  padding: 2px;
  color:#000;
  left: 26px;
}


input[type="date"]::-webkit-datetime-edit-day-field{
  position: absolute !important;
  color:#000;
  padding: 2px;
  left: 4px;
  
}
<input type="date" value="2019-12-07">
13
votes

Google Chrome in its last beta version finally uses the input type=date, and the format is DD-MM-YYYY.

So there must be a way to force a specific format. I'm developing a HTML5 web page and the date searches now fail with different formats.

6
votes

After having read lots of discussions, I have prepared a simple solution but I don't want to use lots of Jquery and CSS, just some javascript.

HTML Code:

<input type="date" id="dt" onchange="mydate1();" hidden/>
<input type="text" id="ndt"  onclick="mydate();" hidden />
<input type="button" Value="Date" onclick="mydate();" />

CSS Code:

#dt {
  text-indent: -500px;
  height: 25px;
  width: 200px;
}

Javascript Code :

function mydate() {
  //alert("");
  document.getElementById("dt").hidden = false;
  document.getElementById("ndt").hidden = true;
}

function mydate1() {
  d = new Date(document.getElementById("dt").value);
  dt = d.getDate();
  mn = d.getMonth();
  mn++;
  yy = d.getFullYear();
  document.getElementById("ndt").value = dt + "/" + mn + "/" + yy
  document.getElementById("ndt").hidden = false;
  document.getElementById("dt").hidden = true;
}

Output:

enter image description here

5
votes

Try this if you need a quick solution To make yyyy-mm-dd go "dd- Sep -2016"

1) Create near your input one span class (act as label)

2) Update the label everytime your date is changed by user, or when need to load from data.

Works for webkit browser mobiles and pointer-events for IE11+ requires jQuery and Jquery Date

$("#date_input").on("change", function () {
     $(this).css("color", "rgba(0,0,0,0)").siblings(".datepicker_label").css({ "text-align":"center", position: "absolute",left: "10px", top:"14px",width:$(this).width()}).text($(this).val().length == 0 ? "" : ($.datepicker.formatDate($(this).attr("dateformat"), new Date($(this).val()))));
        });
#date_input{text-indent: -500px;height:25px; width:200px;}
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.0.2/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script src="http://code.jquery.com/ui/1.9.2/jquery-ui.min.js"></script>
<input id ="date_input" dateformat="d M y" type="date"/>
<span class="datepicker_label" style="pointer-events: none;"></span>
4
votes

As said, the <input type=date ... > is not fully implemented in most browsers, so let's talk about webkit like browsers (chrome).

Using linux, you can change it by changing the environment variable LANG, LC_TIME don't seems to work(for me at least).

You can type locale in a terminal to see your current values. I think the same concept can be applied to IOS.

eg: Using:

LANG=en_US.UTF-8 /opt/google/chrome/chrome

The date is showed as mm/dd/yyyy

Using:

LANG=pt_BR /opt/google/chrome/chrome

The date is showed as dd/mm/yyyy

You can use http://lh.2xlibre.net/locale/pt_BR/ (change pt_BR by your locale) to create you own custom locale and format your dates as you want.

A nice more advanced reference on how change default system date is: https://ccollins.wordpress.com/2009/01/06/how-to-change-date-formats-on-ubuntu/ and https://askubuntu.com/questions/21316/how-can-i-customize-a-system-locale

You can see you real current date format using date:

$ date +%x
01-06-2015

But as LC_TIME and d_fmt seems to be rejected by chrome ( and I think it's a bug in webkit or chrome ), sadly it don't work. :'(

So, unfortunately the response, is IF LANG environment variable do not solve your problem, there is no way yet.

4
votes

Browsers obtain the date-input format from user's system date format.

(Tested in supported browsers, Chrome, Edge.)

As there is no standard defined by specs as of now to change the style of date control, its not possible to implement the same in browsers.

Users can type a date value into the text field of an input[type=date] with the date format shown in the box as gray text. This format is obtained from the operating system's setting. Web authors have no way to change the date format because there currently is no standards to specify the format.

So no need to change it, if we don't change anything, users will see the date-input's format same as they have configured in the system/device settings and which they are comfortable with or matches with their locale.

Remember, this is just the UI format on the screen which users see, in your JavaScript/backend you can always keep your desired format to work with.

Refer google developers page on same.

4
votes

I searched this issue 2 years ago, and my google searches leads me again to this question. Don't waste your time trying to handle this with pure JavaScript. I waste my time trying to make it dd/mm/yyyy. There's no complete solutions that fits with all browsers. So I recommend to use jQuery datepicker / momentJS or tell your client to work with the default date format instead

3
votes

It's not possible to change web-kit browsers use user's computer or mobiles default date format. But if you can use jquery and jquery UI there is a date-picker which is designable and can be shown in any format as the developer wants. the link to the jquery UI date-picker is on this page http://jqueryui.com/datepicker/ you can find demo as well as code and documentation or documentation link

Edit:-I find that chrome uses language settings that are by default equal to system settings but the user can change them but developer can't force users to do so so you have to use other js solutions like I tell you can search the web with queries like javascript date-pickers or jquery date-picker

3
votes

Since the post is active 2 Months ago. so I thought to give my input as well.

In my case i recieve date from a card reader which comes in dd/mm/yyyy format.

what i do. E.g.

var d="16/09/2019" // date received from card
function filldate(){
    document.getElementById('cardexpirydate').value=d.split('/').reverse().join("-");
    }
<input type="date" id="cardexpirydate">
<br /><br />
<input type="button" value="fill the date" onclick="filldate();">

what the code do:

  1. it splits the date which i get as dd/mm/yyyy (using split()) on basis of "/" and makes an array,
  2. it then reverse the array (using reverse()) since the date input supports the reverse of what i get.
  3. then it joins (using join())the array to a string according the format required by the input field

All this is done in a single line.

i thought this will help some one so i wrote this.

1
votes

I adjusted the code from Miguel to make it easier to understand and I want to share it with people who have problems like me.

Try this for easy and quick way

$("#datePicker").on("change", function(e) {

  displayDateFormat($(this), '#datePickerLbl', $(this).val());

});

function displayDateFormat(thisElement, datePickerLblId, dateValue) {

  $(thisElement).css("color", "rgba(0,0,0,0)")
    .siblings(`${datePickerLblId}`)
    .css({
      position: "absolute",
      left: "10px",
      top: "3px",
      width: $(this).width()
    })
    .text(dateValue.length == 0 ? "" : (`${getDateFormat(new Date(dateValue))}`));

}

function getDateFormat(dateValue) {

  let d = new Date(dateValue);

  // this pattern dd/mm/yyyy
  // you can set pattern you need
  let dstring = `${("0" + d.getDate()).slice(-2)}/${("0" + (d.getMonth() + 1)).slice(-2)}/${d.getFullYear()}`;

  return dstring;
}
.date-selector {
  position: relative;
}

.date-selector>input[type=date] {
  text-indent: -500px;
}
<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div class="date-selector">
  <input id="datePicker" class="form-control" type="date" onkeydown="return false" />
  <span id="datePickerLbl" style="pointer-events: none;"></span>
</div>
-1
votes

I know it's an old post but it come as first suggestion in google search, short answer no, recommended answer user a custom date piker , the correct answer that i use is using a text box to simulate the date input and do any format you want, here is the code

<html>
<body>
date : 
<span style="position: relative;display: inline-block;border: 1px solid #a9a9a9;height: 24px;width: 500px">
    <input type="date" class="xDateContainer" onchange="setCorrect(this,'xTime');" style="position: absolute; opacity: 0.0;height: 100%;width: 100%;"><input type="text" id="xTime" name="xTime" value="dd / mm / yyyy" style="border: none;height: 90%;" tabindex="-1"><span style="display: inline-block;width: 20px;z-index: 2;float: right;padding-top: 3px;" tabindex="-1">&#9660;</span>
</span>
<script language="javascript">
var matchEnterdDate=0;
//function to set back date opacity for non supported browsers
    window.onload =function(){
        var input = document.createElement('input');
        input.setAttribute('type','date');
        input.setAttribute('value', 'some text'); 
        if(input.value === "some text"){
            allDates = document.getElementsByClassName("xDateContainer");
            matchEnterdDate=1;
            for (var i = 0; i < allDates.length; i++) {
                allDates[i].style.opacity = "1";
            } 
        }
    }
//function to convert enterd date to any format
function setCorrect(xObj,xTraget){
    var date = new Date(xObj.value);
    var month = date.getMonth();
    var day = date.getDate();
    var year = date.getFullYear();
    if(month!='NaN'){
        document.getElementById(xTraget).value=day+" / "+month+" / "+year;
    }else{
        if(matchEnterdDate==1){document.getElementById(xTraget).value=xObj.value;}
    }
}
   </script>
  </body>
</html>

1- please note that this method only work for browser that support date type.

2- the first function in JS code is for browser that don't support date type and set the look to a normal text input.

3- if you will use this code for multiple date inputs in your page please change the ID "xTime" of the text input in both function call and the input itself to something else and of course use the name of the input you want for the form submit.

4-on the second function you can use any format you want instead of day+" / "+month+" / "+year for example year+" / "+month+" / "+day and in the text input use a placeholder or value as yyyy / mm / dd for the user when the page load.

-1
votes

Thanks to @safi eddine and @Hezbullah Shah

img1

img2

img3

Img4

Datepicker with VanillaJS and CSS.

CSS - STYLE:

/*================== || Date Picker ||=======================================================================================*/

/*-------Removes the // Before dd - day------------------------*/
input[type="date"]::-webkit-datetime-edit-text
{
    color: transparent;    
}




/*------- DatePicker ------------------------*/
input[type="date"] {
    background-color: aqua;
    border-radius: 4px;
    border: 1px solid #8c8c8c;
    font-weight: 900;
}





/*------- DatePicker - Focus ------------------------*/
input[type="date"]:focus 
{
    outline: none;
    box-shadow: 0 0 0 3px rgba(21, 156, 228, 0.4);
}






input[type="date"]::-webkit-datetime-edit, input[type="date"]::-webkit-inner-spin-button, input[type="date"]::-webkit-clear-button {
    color: #fff;
    position: relative;    
}



    /*------- Year ------------------------*/
    input[type="date"]::-webkit-datetime-edit-year-field {
        position: absolute !important;
        border-left: 1px solid #8c8c8c;
        padding: 2px;
        color: #000;
        left: 56px;
    }


    /*------- Month ------------------------*/
    input[type="date"]::-webkit-datetime-edit-month-field {
        position: absolute !important;
        border-left: 1px solid #8c8c8c;
        padding: 2px;
        color: #000;
        left: 26px;
    }



    /*------- Day ------------------------*/
    input[type="date"]::-webkit-datetime-edit-day-field {
        position: absolute !important;
        color: #000;
        padding: 2px;
        left: 4px;
    }

JAVASCRIPT:

 // ================================ || Format Date Picker || ===========================================================
    function GetFormatedDate(datePickerID)
    {
        let rawDate = document.getElementById(datePickerID).value; // Get the Raw Date
        return rawDate.split('-').reverse().join("-"); // Reverse the date
    }

USING:

 document.getElementById('datePicker').onchange = function () { alert(GetFormatedDate('datePicker')); }; // The datepickerID