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The users of my application have the ability to choose their prefered date format between:

  • dd/mm/yyyy
  • mm/dd/yyyy
  • yyyy-mm-dd

The 1st one (which has the Java pattern dd/MM/yyyy) produces 31/12/2011.

I've decided that a more friendly version of this format (specifically for email notifications) is the pattern E dd MMM yyyy which produces Tue 11 Jan 2011.

I need help figuring out the "email friendly" version for the other 2 versions (2nd and 3d).

For example for the last version is it acceptable to simply use E yyyy MMM dd which will produce Tue 2011 Jan 11? Is this readable?

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11 Answers 11

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+50

For the second version I'd use E MMM dd yyyy. This will produce 'Tue Jan 11 2011'.

I'd be tempted to leave the last format alone. One of the reasons for choosing Year/Month/Day format is to ease in the sorting of data by date. Adding the day name at the front of this and changing the month number to a name will break that sorting ability.

If you need to show the name and sorting isn't an issue then something like

2011 Jan 11 (Tuesday)

as suggested by ICR in the comments might work.

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3
  • The expanded version will only be used in email communication which needs to (somehow) contain the day. What would you suggest?
    – cherouvim
    Jan 11, 2011 at 16:29
  • @cherouvim - I'd add it on the end.
    – ChrisF
    Jan 11, 2011 at 16:31
  • 3
    Possibly in paranthesis e.g. 2011/01/11 (Tuesday)
    – ICR
    Jan 14, 2011 at 13:13
8

I would assume your users would choose the date format based on the short format most common in their region.

Therefore you should pick the long format that is commonly used in the same regions where the short format is popular.

UK: dd/mm/yyyy -> Tues 7th Dec 1941

US: mm/dd/yyyy -> Dec 7 Tues, 1941

Japan: yyyy-mm-dd -> 1941 Dec 7th Tues

I'm not an exert on localization, I got the above formats are straight from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_date

The best approach would be to ask your users directly and see what they would expect in each case. You should also consider letting them choose this format in the same way they choose the short format.

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  • 1
    +1 for "pick the long format that is commonly used in the same regions where the short format is popular." That's all there is to it (but remember the long format might or might not reflect the order of the elements in the short format - this is not a technical issue).
    – edeverett
    Feb 22, 2011 at 12:40
6

Summary

  • use numeric formats, YYYY-MM-DD is the best international date format
  • use a readable format if internalization is not a problem
  • use the (HTML5) <time> tag, if possible
  • try to avoid using a date to pass complicated information

The best way to shoot yourself in the foot is to write it 01/02/03 which can be quite a number of things: 1st of February 2003 (European style), 2nd of January 2003 (USA style), or 3rd of February 2001. Formats like 01/02/2003 solve part of the problem but not all of it (see difference in US and EU style).

You then have the internationalization problems, something like the month August can't be safely contracted to Aug and expect people from non-english countries to understand; meaning writing something like 01 Aug, 2003. See wikipedia list of names for August for some clarification. Using numbers instead of names you avoid this problem; however that invites the problem above of ambiguity between month and day and year.

If you're aiming to please everybody the best alternative is to use the ISO standard which is YYYY-MM-DD typically (I recommend avoiding the exotic variants of the standard). If nothing else at least you're using something that's an international standard, for your international audience; the date is also hard to mistake, albeit not foolproof.

If internalization is not a problem (ie. you are aiming for a specific language; writing a email, article, etc) then simply write the readable version: 5th of December 2011, or just simply 5th of December, if the year is the current one. This makes sense because you want to have a consistent style, and you also want to have easy to read inline dates: "The meeting is on the 5th of December. I'll be there on the 4th. Afterwards we should plan for the follow up on the 10th of January 2012." The fewer date formats you use the easier it is for the user/reader.

If you're using HTML you can also make use of the <time> tag: "The conference is on the <time datetime="2011-12-05">5th of December</time>"

There are also several cases where a date is not so user friendly as an alternative approach. One of the most common cases is the use of dates to refer to something like the start of a contest or the end of a contest. There's no need to force the burden of running though conversions in time, timezone and daylight savings nonsense for your user to know this. Worse still, this typically involves the users leaving your site and going to some date conversion site.

What you should be doing (in the case of the example) is provide a date along with a counter. Preferably your own, but using a simple counter service on the web works just as well. Having a counter simplifies the users life, because telling someone a event is X days from now makes it much easier for them to convert to a date in their head.

So, always consider if you can avoid using (only) a date, and what information the users are suppose to get from the date.

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3

Depending on what kind of application it is, my recommendation would be to remove the option to specify your own format. The task of specifying a date format is in itself complicated and requires "programmer thinking", eg. you need to parse the abstraction of "yyyy/MM/dd" and imagine what kind of date it will display.

Rather than delegating the responsibility of deciding which format is best to your users, choose the optimal one for the largest percentage of your userbase yourself and use that. Since I don't know what kind of app you're talking about, I can't recommend one, but my experience has been that writing dates the way people say them usually works best. That would mean "Friday, Feb 18th, 2011" - note the use of commas and "th" to break things up a bit.

Notable caveat to this argument: if your app requires users to sort dates. As ChrisF indicates, you might want different options in this case. But since you mentioned "email friendly" formatting in your question, I thought you might be able to use this.

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  • 1
    It's a global application which relies heavily on the user working with calendar and dates. That's why I most probably need this option in the user settings which is something that most users will never see eventually since I plan on auto-picking the best option upon registration using ip-to-country resolution.
    – cherouvim
    Feb 18, 2011 at 11:02
  • Allowing users to select their own date formats does not have to involve parsing abstractions. You can avoid that by simply giving examples. i.e. "Choose a date format: [2013-07-31] or [2013 July 31st] or"...
    – A.M.
    Aug 7, 2013 at 2:30
2

A lot has been said here - for me as European, the US date is always full of surprises (especially within the first 12 days of a month :-)

I think if you have users from US and Europe, differentiating the formats like this could be helpful

mm/dd/yyyy US

dd.mm.yyyy EU

Also as you suggest, putting in the abbreviated month helps a lot (Jan 12th vs. 12 Jan ).

Apple Mail does a nice thing in the email lists in that it replaces the actual date time with e.g. "Today 10am" or "Yesterday 4pm" as date received. This will not work for emails sent where you want to attribute the exact date, but for online UIs that the user refreshes, this makes a lot of sense.

In RHQ (rhq-project.org) we do something like this for dates alerts have fired ( e.g. "4 minutes ago" ). This way the user does not have to look up the wall clock and do the math himself.

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  • Today 10am and 4 minutes ago are great. I use them as well. In this question I'm only interested in dates though.
    – cherouvim
    Feb 24, 2011 at 10:04
1

If you need date due to more formal related matters, I think you would use long date display following default regional settings. In this case, it doesn't matter user settings.

You might use:

  • 11 January 2011 in America
  • 2011 January 11 in Hungary
  • January 11 2011 in UK

If you like to use short date display, more informal. You could format date according to user settings:

  1. dd/MM/yyyy -> 11 Jan 2011 or 11-Jan-2011
  2. mm/dd/yyyy -> Jan 11 2011 or Jan-11-2011
  3. yyyy-mm-dd -> 2011 Jan 11 or 2011-Jan-11

I learned it in: http://www.mscui.net/DesignGuide/Pdfs/Design%20Guidance%20--%20Date%20Display.pdf

Hope it helps,

Iban

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1) dd/mm/yyyy (European - least significant to most significant order) -->
  Wednesday, the 23rd of January 2010   or   Wed, 23rd Jan 2010

2) mm/dd/yyyy (American - unordered) -->
  Wednesday, January 23rd 2010   or   Wed, Jan 23rd 2010

3) yyyy-mm-dd (Sortable - most significant to least significant order) -->
  January 23rd 2010, Wednesday   or   2010 Jan 23rd, Wed

1 & 3 are because the day of the week is the least significant number
(fastest changing together with day of month, but with a smaller ranger than day of month).

2 is because, while Americans can be strange in some ways, they are still people, and the first thing a person says when you ask what day it is, is the day of the week.

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Your second format is less readable for a European like me.

Bottom line, let the OS format the datetime for your users! Were asking the language of the user to which the e-mail has to be sent. Then we format the date using those culture settings.

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  • By OS you mean operating system? This is a webapp so I don't have any access to that. Also I don't have a language/country setting, just the timezone. Maybe in the future I'll grab the country via IP->location.
    – cherouvim
    Feb 19, 2011 at 6:36
  • Emails are text only, no DateTime for .ToString() in them.
    – Danny Varod
    Feb 23, 2011 at 19:29
0

as a layperson, short American dates with four digit years work best if that's your audience.

12/1/2016

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  • Please expand on your answer, because as it stands it does not meet the quality requirements on this site.
    – JohnGB ♦
    Jun 6, 2016 at 22:08
0

tl;dr

ISO 8601

For exchanging date-time values as strings, use the formats defined by the ISO 8601 standard. These formats are sensible, practical, easily read by humans, easy to parse by software, intuitive across most every culture, and are increasingly common in business and the IT industry.

2016-09-25T19:56:26Z

The java.time classes in Java 8 and later (and back-ported to Java 6 & 7 and further adapted to Android) use the ISO 8601 formats by default when parsing/generating strings that represent date-time values.

Automatically localize

For display to users, usually best to localize to their own human language and cultural norms.

That human language and cultural norms are defined in Java by the Locale class. The java.time class for generating strings, DateTimeFormatter, can automatically localize a date-time value by calling its ofLocalizedDate, ofLocalizedTime, and ofLocalizedDateTime methods. Specify how long or abbreviated you want the strings with the FormatStyle class (FULL, LONG, MEDIUM, SHORT).

Demonstration of date-time localization

Here is some Java 8 code to demonstrate the various possible results in all four lengths for 160 locales.

Note that there is no such thing as “the Java pattern dd/MM/yyyy)” mentioned in the Question. The pattern used in Java varies, depending on the Locale you specify or the Locale set as current default in your Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

Instant instant = Instant.now ();
ZoneId z = ZoneId.of ( "America/Montreal" );
ZonedDateTime zdt = instant.atZone ( z );
System.out.println ( "instant: " + instant );
System.out.println ( "zdt: " + zdt );

EnumSet<FormatStyle> styles = EnumSet.allOf ( FormatStyle.class );

List<Locale> locales = Arrays.asList ( Locale.getAvailableLocales () );
for ( Locale locale : locales ) {
    System.out.println ( "\n‣ " + locale + " | " + locale.getDisplayName () );
    for ( FormatStyle style : styles ) {
        DateTimeFormatter f = DateTimeFormatter.ofLocalizedDateTime ( style );
        String output = zdt.format ( f.withLocale ( locale ) );
        System.out.println ( output );
    }
}

When run on Java 8 Update 102.

instant: 2016-09-25T21:56:20.505Z
zdt: 2016-09-25T17:56:20.505-04:00[America/Montreal]

‣  | 
Sunday, September 25, 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
September 25, 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
Sep 25, 2016 5:56:20 PM
9/25/16 5:56 PM

‣ ar_AE | Arabic (United Arab Emirates)
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ ar_JO | Arabic (Jordan)
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25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ ar_SY | Arabic (Syria)
25 أيلول, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25 أيلول, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ hr_HR | Croatian (Croatia)
2016. rujna 25 17:56:20 EDT
2016. rujna 25 17:56:20 EDT
25.09.2016. 17:56:20
25.09.16. 17:56

‣ fr_BE | French (Belgium)
dimanche 25 septembre 2016 17 h 56 min 20 s EDT
25 septembre 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25-sept.-2016 17:56:20
25/09/16 17:56

‣ es_PA | Spanish (Panama)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
09/25/2016 05:56:20 PM
09/25/16 05:56 PM

‣ mt_MT | Maltese (Malta)
Il-Ħadd, 25 ta’ Settembru 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 ta’ Settembru 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 Set 2016 17:56:20
25/09/2016 17:56

‣ es_VE | Spanish (Venezuela)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25/09/2016 05:56:20 PM
25/09/16 05:56 PM

‣ bg | Bulgarian
25 Септември 2016, Неделя 17:56:20 Eastern Daylight Time
25 Септември 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.09.2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ zh_TW | Chinese (Taiwan)
2016年9月25日 星期日 下午05時56分20秒 EDT
2016年9月25日 下午05時56分20秒
2016/9/25 下午 05:56:20
2016/9/25 下午 5:56

‣ it | Italian
domenica 25 settembre 2016 17.56.20 EDT
25 settembre 2016 17.56.20 EDT
25-set-2016 17.56.20
25/09/16 17.56

‣ ko | Korean
2016년 9월 25일 일요일 오후 5시 56분 20초 EDT
2016년 9월 25일 (일) 오후 5시 56분 20초
2016. 9. 25 오후 5:56:20
16. 9. 25 오후 5:56

‣ uk | Ukrainian
неділя, 25 вересня 2016 р. 17:56:20 EDT
25 вересня 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 вер. 2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ lv | Latvian
svētdiena, 2016, 25 septembris 17:56:20 EDT
svētdiena, 2016, 25 septembris 17:56:20 EDT
2016.25.9 17:56:20
16.25.9 17:56

‣ da_DK | Danish (Denmark)
25. september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25. september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25-09-2016 17:56:20
25-09-16 17:56

‣ es_PR | Spanish (Puerto Rico)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
09-25-2016 05:56:20 PM
09-25-16 05:56 PM

‣ vi_VN | Vietnamese (Vietnam)
17:56:20 EDT Chủ nhật, ngày 25 tháng chín năm 2016
17:56:20 EDT Ngày 25 tháng 9 năm 2016
17:56:20 25-09-2016
17:56 25/09/2016

‣ en_US | English (United States)
Sunday, September 25, 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
September 25, 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
Sep 25, 2016 5:56:20 PM
9/25/16 5:56 PM

‣ sr_ME | Serbian (Montenegro)
недеља, 25.септембар.2016. 17.56.20 EDT
25.09.2016. 17.56.20 EDT
25.09.2016. 17.56.20
25.9.16. 17.56

‣ sv_SE | Swedish (Sweden)
den 25 september 2016 kl 17:56 EDT
den 25 september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
2016-sep-25 17:56:20
2016-09-25 17:56

‣ es_BO | Spanish (Bolivia)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25-09-2016 05:56:20 PM
25-09-16 05:56 PM

‣ en_SG | English (Singapore)
Sunday, 25 September, 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
25 September, 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
25 Sep, 2016 5:56:20 PM
25/9/16 5:56 PM

‣ ar_BH | Arabic (Bahrain)
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ pt | Portuguese
Domingo, 25 de Setembro de 2016 17H56m EDT
25 de Setembro de 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25/set/2016 17:56:20
25-09-2016 17:56

‣ ar_SA | Arabic (Saudi Arabia)
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ sk | Slovak
Nedeľa, 2016, septembra 25 17:56:20 EDT
Nedeľa, 2016, septembra 25 17:56:20 EDT
25.9.2016 17:56:20
25.9.2016 17:56

‣ ar_YE | Arabic (Yemen)
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ hi_IN | Hindi (India)
रविवार, 25 सितंबर, 2016 5:56:20 अपराह्न EDT
25 सितंबर, 2016 5:56:20 अपराह्न EDT
25 सितंबर, 2016 5:56:20 अपराह्न
25/9/16 5:56 अपराह्न

‣ ga | Irish
Dé Domhnaigh, 2016 Meán Fómhair 25 17:56:20 EDT
2016 Meán Fómhair 25 17:56:20 EDT
2016 MFómh 25 17:56:20
16/09/25 17:56

‣ en_MT | English (Malta)
Sunday, 25 September 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 September 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 Sep 2016 17:56:20
25/09/2016 17:56

‣ fi_FI | Finnish (Finland)
sunnuntai, 25. syyskuuta 2016 17.56.20 EDT
25. syyskuuta 2016 klo 17.56.20
25.9.2016 17:56:20
25.9.2016 17:56

‣ et | Estonian
pühapäev, 25. september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
pühapäev, 25. september 2016. a 17:56:20 EDT
25.09.2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ sv | Swedish
den 25 september 2016 kl 17:56 EDT
den 25 september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
2016-sep-25 17:56:20
2016-09-25 17:56

‣ cs | Czech
Neděle, 25. září 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25. září 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.9.2016 17:56:20
25.9.16 17:56

‣ sr_BA_#Latn | Serbian (Latin,Bosnia and Herzegovina)
nedelja, 25. septembar 2016. 17.56.20 Eastern Daylight Time
25. septembar 2016. 17.56.20 EDT
25.09.2016. 17.56.20
25.9.16. 17.56

‣ el | Greek
Κυριακή, 25 Σεπτεμβρίου 2016 5:56:20 μμ EDT
25 Σεπτεμβρίου 2016 5:56:20 μμ EDT
25 Σεπ 2016 5:56:20 μμ
25/9/2016 5:56 μμ

‣ uk_UA | Ukrainian (Ukraine)
неділя, 25 вересня 2016 р. 17:56:20 EDT
25 вересня 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 вер. 2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ hu | Hungarian
2016. szeptember 25. 17:56:20 EDT
2016. szeptember 25. 17:56:20 EDT
2016.09.25. 17:56:20
2016.09.25. 17:56

‣ fr_CH | French (Switzerland)
dimanche, 25. septembre 2016 17.56. h EDT
25. septembre 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 sept. 2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ in | Indonesian
Minggu, 2016 September 25 17:56:20 EDT
2016 September 25 17:56:20 EDT
2016 Sep 25 17:56:20
16/09/25 17:56

‣ es_AR | Spanish (Argentina)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 17h'56 EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25/09/2016 17:56:20
25/09/16 17:56

‣ ar_EG | Arabic (Egypt)
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ ja_JP_JP_#u-ca-japanese | Japanese (Japan,JP)
2016年9月25日 17時56分20秒 EDT
2016/09/25 17:56:20 EDT
2016/09/25 17:56:20
16/09/25 17:56

‣ es_SV | Spanish (El Salvador)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
09-25-2016 05:56:20 PM
09-25-16 05:56 PM

‣ pt_BR | Portuguese (Brazil)
Domingo, 25 de Setembro de 2016 17h56min20s EDT
25 de Setembro de 2016 17h56min20s EDT
25/09/2016 17:56:20
25/09/16 17:56

‣ be | Belarusian
нядзеля, 25, верасня 2016 17.56.20 EDT
нядзеля, 25, верасня 2016 17.56.20 EDT
25.9.2016 17.56.20
25.9.16 17.56

‣ is_IS | Icelandic (Iceland)
25. september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25. september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.9.2016 17:56:20
25.9.2016 17:56

‣ cs_CZ | Czech (Czech Republic)
Neděle, 25. září 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25. září 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.9.2016 17:56:20
25.9.16 17:56

‣ es | Spanish
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 17H56' EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25-sep-2016 17:56:20
25/09/16 17:56

‣ pl_PL | Polish (Poland)
niedziela, 25 września 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 września 2016 17:56:20 EDT
2016-09-25 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ tr | Turkish
25 Eylül 2016 Pazar 17:56:20 EDT
25 Eylül 2016 Pazar 17:56:20 EDT
25.Eyl.2016 17:56:20
25.09.2016 17:56

‣ ca_ES | Catalan (Spain)
diumenge, 25 / de setembre / 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 / de setembre / 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25/09/2016 17:56:20
25/09/16 17:56

‣ sr_CS | Serbian (Serbia and Montenegro)
недеља, 25.септембар.2016. 17.56.20 EDT
25.09.2016. 17.56.20 EDT
25.09.2016. 17.56.20
25.9.16. 17.56

‣ ms_MY | Malay (Malaysia)
Ahad 25 Sep 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
25 September 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
25 September 2016 5:56:20 PM
25/09/2016 5:56

‣ hr | Croatian
2016. rujna 25 17:56:20 EDT
2016. rujna 25 17:56:20 EDT
2016.09.25 17:56:20
2016.09.25 17:56

‣ lt | Lithuanian
Sekmadienis, 2016, rugsėjis 25 17.56.20 EDT
Sekmadienis, 2016, rugsėjis 25 17.56.20 EDT
2016-09-25 17.56.20
16.9.25 17.56

‣ es_ES | Spanish (Spain)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 17H56' EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25-sep-2016 17:56:20
25/09/16 17:56

‣ es_CO | Spanish (Colombia)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25/09/2016 05:56:20 PM
25/09/16 05:56 PM

‣ bg_BG | Bulgarian (Bulgaria)
25 Септември 2016, Неделя 17:56:20 Eastern Daylight Time
25 Септември 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.09.2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ sq | Albanian
2016-09-25 5.56.20.MD EDT
2016-09-25 5.56.20.MD EDT
2016-09-25 5:56:20.MD
16-09-25 5.56.MD

‣ fr | French
dimanche 25 septembre 2016 17 h 56 EDT
25 septembre 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 sept. 2016 17:56:20
25/09/16 17:56

‣ ja | Japanese
2016年9月25日 17時56分20秒 EDT
2016/09/25 17:56:20 EDT
2016/09/25 17:56:20
16/09/25 17:56

‣ sr_BA | Serbian (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
недеља, 25. септембар 2016. 17 часова, 56 минута, 20 секунди
25. септембар 2016. 17.56.20 EDT
2016-09-25 17:56:20
16-09-25 17:56

‣ is | Icelandic
25. september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25. september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.9.2016 17:56:20
25.9.2016 17:56

‣ es_PY | Spanish (Paraguay)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25/09/2016 05:56:20 PM
25/09/16 05:56 PM

‣ de | German
Sonntag, 25. September 2016 17:56 Uhr EDT
25. September 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.09.2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ es_EC | Spanish (Ecuador)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 17:56:20 Hora de verano Oriental
25 de septiembre de 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25/09/2016 17:56:20
25/09/16 17:56

‣ es_US | Spanish (United States)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 5:56:20 p.m. EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 5:56:20 p.m. EDT
sep 25, 2016 5:56:20 p.m.
9/25/16 5:56 p.m.

‣ ar_SD | Arabic (Sudan)
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ en | English
Sunday, September 25, 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
September 25, 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
Sep 25, 2016 5:56:20 PM
9/25/16 5:56 PM

‣ ro_RO | Romanian (Romania)
25 septembrie 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 septembrie 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.09.2016 17:56:20
25.09.2016 17:56

‣ en_PH | English (Philippines)
Sunday, September 25, 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
September 25, 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
09 25, 16 5:56:20 PM
9/25/16 5:56 PM

‣ ca | Catalan
diumenge, 25 / de setembre / 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 / de setembre / 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25/09/2016 17:56:20
25/09/16 17:56

‣ ar_TN | Arabic (Tunisia)
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ sr_ME_#Latn | Serbian (Latin,Montenegro)
nedelja, 25. septembar 2016. 17.56.20 Eastern Daylight Time
25.09.2016. 17.56.20 EDT
25.09.2016. 17.56.20
25.9.16. 17.56

‣ es_GT | Spanish (Guatemala)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25/09/2016 05:56:20 PM
25/09/16 05:56 PM

‣ sl | Slovenian
Nedelja, 25. september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25. september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.9.2016 17:56:20
25.9.2016 17:56

‣ ko_KR | Korean (South Korea)
2016년 9월 25일 일요일 오후 5시 56분 20초 EDT
2016년 9월 25일 (일) 오후 5시 56분 20초
2016. 9. 25 오후 5:56:20
16. 9. 25 오후 5:56

‣ el_CY | Greek (Cyprus)
Κυριακή, 25 Σεπτέμβριος 2016 5:56:20 ΜΜ EDT
25 Σεπτέμβριος 2016 5:56:20 ΜΜ EDT
25 Σεπ 2016 5:56:20 ΜΜ
25/09/2016 5:56 ΜΜ

‣ es_MX | Spanish (Mexico)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25/09/2016 05:56:20 PM
25/09/16 05:56 PM

‣ ru_RU | Russian (Russia)
25 сентября 2016 г. 17:56:20 EDT
25 сентября 2016 г. 17:56:20 EDT
25.09.2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ es_HN | Spanish (Honduras)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
09-25-2016 05:56:20 PM
09-25-16 05:56 PM

‣ zh_HK | Chinese (Hong Kong)
2016年09月25日 星期日 下午05時56分20秒 EDT
2016年09月25日 星期日 下午05時56分20秒
2016年9月25日 下午05:56:20
16年9月25日 下午5:56

‣ no_NO_NY | Norwegian (Norway,Nynorsk)
25. september 2016 kl 17.56 EDT
25. september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.sep.2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ hu_HU | Hungarian (Hungary)
2016. szeptember 25. 17:56:20 EDT
2016. szeptember 25. 17:56:20 EDT
2016.09.25. 17:56:20
2016.09.25. 17:56

‣ th_TH | Thai (Thailand)
วันอาทิตย์ที่ 25 กันยายน ค.ศ. 2016, 17 นาฬิกา 56 นาที 20 วินาที
25 กันยายน 2016, 17 นาฬิกา 56 นาที
25 ก.ย. 2016, 17:56:20
25/9/2016, 17:56 น.

‣ ar_IQ | Arabic (Iraq)
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ es_CL | Spanish (Chile)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 17:56:20 Hora de verano Oriental
25 de septiembre de 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25-09-2016 17:56:20
25-09-16 17:56

‣ fi | Finnish
sunnuntai, 25. syyskuuta 2016 17.56.20 EDT
25. syyskuuta 2016 klo 17.56.20
25.9.2016 17:56:20
25.9.2016 17:56

‣ ar_MA | Arabic (Morocco)
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ ga_IE | Irish (Ireland)
Dé Domhnaigh 25 Meán Fómhair 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 Meán Fómhair 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 MFómh 2016 17:56:20
25/09/2016 17:56

‣ mk | Macedonian
недела, 25, септември 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25, септември 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.9.2016 17:56:
25.9.16 17:56

‣ tr_TR | Turkish (Turkey)
25 Eylül 2016 Pazar 17:56:20 EDT
25 Eylül 2016 Pazar 17:56:20 EDT
25.Eyl.2016 17:56:20
25.09.2016 17:56

‣ et_EE | Estonian (Estonia)
pühapäev, 25. september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
pühapäev, 25. september 2016. a 17:56:20 EDT
25.09.2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ ar_QA | Arabic (Qatar)
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ sr__#Latn | Serbian (Latin)
nedelja, 25. septembar 2016. 17.56.20 Eastern Daylight Time
25. septembar 2016. 17.56.20 EDT
25.09.2016. 17.56.20
25.9.16. 17.56

‣ pt_PT | Portuguese (Portugal)
Domingo, 25 de Setembro de 2016 17H56m EDT
25 de Setembro de 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25/set/2016 17:56:20
25-09-2016 17:56

‣ fr_LU | French (Luxembourg)
dimanche 25 septembre 2016 17 h 56 EDT
25 septembre 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 sept. 2016 17:56:20
25/09/16 17:56

‣ ar_OM | Arabic (Oman)
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ th | Thai
วันอาทิตย์ที่ 25 กันยายน ค.ศ. 2016, 17 นาฬิกา 56 นาที 20 วินาที
25 กันยายน 2016, 17 นาฬิกา 56 นาที
25 ก.ย. 2016, 17:56:20
25/9/2016, 17:56 น.

‣ sq_AL | Albanian (Albania)
2016-09-25 5.56.20.MD EDT
2016-09-25 5.56.20.MD EDT
2016-09-25 5:56:20.MD
16-09-25 5.56.MD

‣ es_DO | Spanish (Dominican Republic)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25/09/2016 05:56:20 PM
25/09/16 05:56 PM

‣ es_CU | Spanish (Cuba)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 17H56' EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25-sep-2016 17:56:20
25/09/16 17:56

‣ ar | Arabic
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ ru | Russian
25 сентября 2016 г. 17:56:20 EDT
25 сентября 2016 г. 17:56:20 EDT
25.09.2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ en_NZ | English (New Zealand)
Sunday, 25 September 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
25 September 2016 5:56:20 PM
25/09/2016 5:56:20 PM
25/09/16 5:56 PM

‣ sr_RS | Serbian (Serbia)
недеља, 25.септембар.2016. 17.56.20 EDT
25.09.2016. 17.56.20 EDT
25.09.2016. 17.56.20
25.9.16. 17.56

‣ de_CH | German (Switzerland)
Sonntag, 25. September 2016 17:56 Uhr EDT
25. September 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.09.2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ es_UY | Spanish (Uruguay)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25/09/2016 05:56:20 PM
25/09/16 05:56 PM

‣ ms | Malay
Ahad, 2016 September 25 17:56:20 EDT
2016 September 25 17:56:20 EDT
2016 Sep 25 17:56:20
16/09/25 17:56

‣ el_GR | Greek (Greece)
Κυριακή, 25 Σεπτεμβρίου 2016 5:56:20 μμ EDT
25 Σεπτεμβρίου 2016 5:56:20 μμ EDT
25 Σεπ 2016 5:56:20 μμ
25/9/2016 5:56 μμ

‣ iw_IL | Hebrew (Israel)
17:56:20 EDT יום ראשון 25 ספטמבר 2016
17:56:20 EDT 25 ספטמבר 2016
17:56:20 25/09/2016
17:56 25/09/16

‣ en_ZA | English (South Africa)
Sunday 25 September 2016 5:56:20 PM
25 September 2016 5:56:20 PM
25 Sep 2016 5:56:20 PM
2016/09/25 5:56 PM

‣ th_TH_TH_#u-nu-thai | Thai (Thailand,TH)
วันอาทิตย์ที่ 25 กันยายน ค.ศ. 2016, 17 นาฬิกา 56 นาที 20 วินาที
25 กันยายน 2016, 17 นาฬิกา 56 นาที
25 ก.ย. 2016, 17:56:20
25/9/2016, 17:56 น.

‣ hi | Hindi
Sunday, September 25, 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
September 25, 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
Sep 25, 2016 5:56:20 PM
9/25/16 5:56 PM

‣ fr_FR | French (France)
dimanche 25 septembre 2016 17 h 56 EDT
25 septembre 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 sept. 2016 17:56:20
25/09/16 17:56

‣ de_AT | German (Austria)
Sonntag, 25. September 2016 17:56 Uhr EDT
25. September 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.09.2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ nl | Dutch
zondag 25 september 2016 17:56:20 uur EDT
25 september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25-sep-2016 17:56:20
25-9-16 17:56

‣ no_NO | Norwegian (Norway)
25. september 2016 kl 17.56 EDT
25. september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.sep.2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ en_AU | English (Australia)
Sunday, 25 September 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
25 September 2016 5:56:20 PM
25/09/2016 5:56:20 PM
25/09/16 5:56 PM

‣ vi | Vietnamese
17:56:20 EDT Chủ nhật, ngày 25 tháng chín năm 2016
17:56:20 EDT Ngày 25 tháng 9 năm 2016
17:56:20 25-09-2016
17:56 25/09/2016

‣ nl_NL | Dutch (Netherlands)
zondag 25 september 2016 17:56:20 uur EDT
25 september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25-sep-2016 17:56:20
25-9-16 17:56

‣ fr_CA | French (Canada)
dimanche 25 septembre 2016 17 h 56 EDT
25 septembre 2016 17:56:20 EDT
2016-09-25 17:56:20
16-09-25 17:56

‣ lv_LV | Latvian (Latvia)
svētdiena, 2016, 25 septembris 17:56:20 EDT
svētdiena, 2016, 25 septembris 17:56:20 EDT
2016.25.9 17:56:20
16.25.9 17:56

‣ de_LU | German (Luxembourg)
Sonntag, 25. September 2016 17:56 Uhr EDT
25. September 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.09.2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ es_CR | Spanish (Costa Rica)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25/09/2016 05:56:20 PM
25/09/16 05:56 PM

‣ ar_KW | Arabic (Kuwait)
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ sr | Serbian
недеља, 25.септембар.2016. 17.56.20 EDT
25.09.2016. 17.56.20 EDT
25.09.2016. 17.56.20
25.9.16. 17.56

‣ ar_LY | Arabic (Libya)
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ mt | Maltese
Il-Ħadd, 25 ta’ Settembru 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 ta’ Settembru 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 Set 2016 17:56:20
25/09/2016 17:56

‣ it_CH | Italian (Switzerland)
domenica, 25. settembre 2016 17.56 h EDT
25. settembre 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25-set-2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ da | Danish
25. september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25. september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25-09-2016 17:56:20
25-09-16 17:56

‣ de_DE | German (Germany)
Sonntag, 25. September 2016 17:56 Uhr EDT
25. September 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.09.2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ ar_DZ | Arabic (Algeria)
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25 سبتمبر, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ sk_SK | Slovak (Slovakia)
Nedeľa, 2016, septembra 25 17:56:20 EDT
Nedeľa, 2016, septembra 25 17:56:20 EDT
25.9.2016 17:56:20
25.9.2016 17:56

‣ lt_LT | Lithuanian (Lithuania)
Sekmadienis, 2016, rugsėjis 25 17.56.20 EDT
Sekmadienis, 2016, rugsėjis 25 17.56.20 EDT
2016-09-25 17.56.20
16.9.25 17.56

‣ it_IT | Italian (Italy)
domenica 25 settembre 2016 17.56.20 EDT
25 settembre 2016 17.56.20 EDT
25-set-2016 17.56.20
25/09/16 17.56

‣ en_IE | English (Ireland)
25 September 2016 17:56:20 o'clock EDT
25 September 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25-Sep-2016 17:56:20
25/09/16 17:56

‣ zh_SG | Chinese (Singapore)
25 九月 2016 下午 05:56:20
25 九月 2016 下午 05:56:20
25-九月-16 下午 05:56
25/09/16 下午 05:56

‣ ro | Romanian
25 septembrie 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 septembrie 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.09.2016 17:56:20
25.09.2016 17:56

‣ en_CA | English (Canada)
Sunday, September 25, 2016 5:56:20 o'clock PM EDT
September 25, 2016 5:56:20 EDT PM
25-Sep-2016 5:56:20 PM
25/09/16 5:56 PM

‣ nl_BE | Dutch (Belgium)
zondag 25 september 2016 17.56 u. EDT
25 september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25-sep-2016 17:56:20
25/09/16 17:56

‣ no | Norwegian
25. september 2016 kl 17.56 EDT
25. september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.sep.2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ pl | Polish
niedziela, 25 września 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25 września 2016 17:56:20 EDT
2016-09-25 17:56:20
16-09-25 17:56

‣ zh_CN | Chinese (China)
2016年9月25日 星期日 下午05时56分20秒 EDT
2016年9月25日 下午05时56分20秒
2016-9-25 17:56:20
16-9-25 下午5:56

‣ ja_JP | Japanese (Japan)
2016年9月25日 17時56分20秒 EDT
2016/09/25 17:56:20 EDT
2016/09/25 17:56:20
16/09/25 17:56

‣ de_GR | German (Greece)
Sonntag, 25. September 2016 17:56 Uhr EDT
25. September 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.09.2016 17:56:20
25.09.16 17:56

‣ sr_RS_#Latn | Serbian (Latin,Serbia)
nedelja, 25. septembar 2016. 17.56.20 Eastern Daylight Time
25. septembar 2016. 17.56.20 EDT
25.09.2016. 17.56.20
25.9.16. 17.56

‣ iw | Hebrew
17:56:20 EDT יום ראשון 25 ספטמבר 2016
17:56:20 EDT 25 ספטמבר 2016
17:56:20 25/09/2016
17:56 25/09/16

‣ en_IN | English (India)
Sunday, 25 September, 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
25 September, 2016 5:56:20 PM EDT
25 Sep, 2016 5:56:20 PM
25/9/16 5:56 PM

‣ ar_LB | Arabic (Lebanon)
25 أيلول, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25 أيلول, 2016 EDT 05:56:20 م
25/09/2016 05:56:20 م
25/09/16 05:56 م

‣ es_NI | Spanish (Nicaragua)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
09-25-2016 05:56:20 PM
09-25-16 05:56 PM

‣ zh | Chinese
2016年9月25日 星期日 下午05时56分20秒 EDT
2016年9月25日 下午05时56分20秒
2016-9-25 17:56:20
16-9-25 下午5:56

‣ mk_MK | Macedonian (Macedonia)
недела, 25, септември 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25, септември 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.9.2016 17:56:
25.9.16 17:56

‣ be_BY | Belarusian (Belarus)
нядзеля, 25, верасня 2016 17.56.20 EDT
нядзеля, 25, верасня 2016 17.56.20 EDT
25.9.2016 17.56.20
25.9.16 17.56

‣ sl_SI | Slovenian (Slovenia)
Nedelja, 25. september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25. september 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25.9.2016 17:56:20
25.9.2016 17:56

‣ es_PE | Spanish (Peru)
domingo 25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25 de septiembre de 2016 05:56:20 PM EDT
25/09/2016 05:56:20 PM
25/09/16 05:56 PM

‣ in_ID | Indonesian (Indonesia)
Minggu 25 September 2016 17:56:20
25 September 2016 17:56:20
25 Sep 16 17:56:20
25/09/16 17:56

‣ en_GB | English (United Kingdom)
Sunday, 25 September 2016 17:56:20 o'clock EDT
25 September 2016 17:56:20 EDT
25-Sep-2016 17:56:20
25/09/16 17:56
Improve this answer
-2

I choose Java pattern (31-12-2011), more simple, more general and best known by user.

Improve this answer
2
  • Thanks but this is not exactly what I'm asking.
    – cherouvim
    Jan 17, 2011 at 6:49
  • 7
    It's also not correct. It's a pattern known and recognized by a lot of European countries, but us pesky Americans and people who think like us tend to want the month first. This fundamental disagreement is why localization was invented. Also, when the date is 03-02-2011 is it March 2 or February 3? Without another date where the day is higher than 12 the user may never know....
    – Berin Loritsch
    Feb 18, 2011 at 13:15

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