<time>: The (Date) Time element

The <time> HTML element represents a specific period in time. It may include the datetime attribute to translate dates into machine-readable format, allowing for better search engine results or custom features such as reminders.

It may represent one of the following:

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Attributes

Like all other HTML elements, this element supports the global attributes.

datetime

This attribute indicates the time and/or date of the element and must be in one of the formats described below.

Usage notes

This element is for presenting dates and times in a machine-readable format. For example, this can help a user agent offer to add an event to a user's calendar.

This element should not be used for dates prior to the introduction of the Gregorian calendar (due to complications in calculating those dates).

The datetime value (the machine-readable value of the datetime) is the value of the element's datetime attribute, which must be in the proper format (see below). If the element does not have a datetime attribute, it must not have any element descendants, and the datetime value is the element's child text content.

Valid datetime values

a valid year string

2011

a valid month string

2011-11

a valid date string

2011-11-18

a valid yearless date string

11-18

a valid week string

2011-W47

a valid time string

14:54

14:54:39

14:54:39.929

a valid local date and time string

2011-11-18T14:54:39.929

2011-11-18 14:54:39.929

a valid global date and time string

2011-11-18T14:54:39.929Z

2011-11-18T14:54:39.929-0400

2011-11-18T14:54:39.929-04:00

2011-11-18 14:54:39.929Z

2011-11-18 14:54:39.929-0400

2011-11-18 14:54:39.929-04:00

a valid duration string

PT4H18M3S

Examples

Simple example

HTML

html

<p>The concert starts at <time datetime="2018-07-07T20:00:00">20:00</time>.</p>

Result

datetime example

HTML

html

<p>
  The concert took place on <time datetime="2001-05-15T19:00">May 15</time>.
</p>

Result

Technical summary

Content categories Flow content, phrasing content, palpable content.
Permitted content Phrasing content.
Tag omission None, both the starting and ending tag are mandatory.
Permitted parents Any element that accepts phrasing content.
Implicit ARIA role No corresponding role
Permitted ARIA roles Any
DOM interface HTMLTimeElement

Specifications

Specification
HTML Standard
# the-time-element

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also

  • The <data> element, allowing to signal other kind of values.