DD = day, MM = month, YYYY = year. Today is 02102026 · 02/10/2026. Convert any date, check whether it's day- or month-first, and print a calendar.
Last reviewed on 2 October 2026
Type a date in almost any format, e.g. 02/10/2026, 02102026, 2026-10-02 or 2 October 2026. Numeric dates are read day-first.
A date pattern that writes the day, then the month, then the year.
DDDay01–31MMMonth01–12YYYYYear4 digitsDDMMYYYY means a two-digit day, a two-digit month and a four-digit year, in that order. 2 October 2026 is 02102026. Single-digit days and months get a leading zero, so the value is always eight digits long. That fixed length is why the pattern often appears on bank, government and ID forms.
The same day-first order is usually written with a separator: a slash (02/10/2026), a hyphen (02-10-2026) or a dot (02.10.2026). In the US the same digits are read month-first, as 10 February, so see DD/MM/YYYY vs MM/DD/YYYY before you share numeric dates internationally.
| Pattern | Example (2 Oct 2026) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
DDMMYYYY | 02102026 | Eight digits, no separators; common on forms |
DD/MM/YYYY | 02/10/2026 | UK, Ireland, India, Australia, France, Spain, Brazil and others |
DD.MM.YYYY | 02.10.2026 | Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Russia, Norway, Poland and others |
DD-MM-YYYY | 02-10-2026 | Netherlands, Denmark and parts of South Asia |
DDMMYY | 021026 | Two-digit year; batch codes, card terminals |
DD MMM YYYY | 02 Oct 2026 | Unambiguous; aviation, medicine, military |
DD-MON-YYYY | 02-OCT-2026 | Oracle's default style |
DDMMMYYYY | 02OCT2026 | SAS DATE9., travel documents |
D MMMM YYYY | 2 October 2026 | Written British/International English |
MM/YYYY | 10/2026 | Month and year only; expiry dates |
Understanding the most widely used date format notations worldwide.
Day/Month/Year format used in most of Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Logical progression from smallest to largest unit.
Month/Day/Year format primarily used in the United States. Reflects how dates are spoken in American English.
ISO 8601 international standard. Sortable and unambiguous. Preferred for databases and technical applications.
Seconds elapsed since January 1, 1970 UTC. Universal time representation in computing systems.
Internet Message Format standard. Includes day name and timezone. Used in email headers and HTTP.
Milliseconds since Unix epoch. JavaScript and modern API standard for precise timestamps.
How different countries and cultures represent dates.
Examples: 31/12/2024, 31.12.2024
Example: 12/31/2024
Example: 2024年12月31日
Dual calendar systems
Code snippets for handling dates in popular programming languages.
// JavaScript Date Formatting
const date = new Date('2024-12-31');
// Various formats
date.toLocaleDateString('en-GB'); // 31/12/2024
date.toLocaleDateString('en-US'); // 12/31/2024
date.toISOString(); // 2024-12-31T00:00:00.000Z
date.getTime(); // 1735689600000 (epoch ms)
// Custom formatting
const formatDate = (date) => {
const dd = String(date.getDate()).padStart(2, '0');
const mm = String(date.getMonth() + 1).padStart(2, '0');
const yyyy = date.getFullYear();
return `${dd}/${mm}/${yyyy}`;
};# Python Date Formatting
from datetime import datetime
import time
date = datetime(2024, 12, 31)
# Various formats
date.strftime('%d/%m/%Y') # 31/12/2024
date.strftime('%m/%d/%Y') # 12/31/2024
date.strftime('%Y-%m-%d') # 2024-12-31
int(date.timestamp()) # 1735689600 (Unix timestamp)
# ISO format
date.isoformat() # 2024-12-31T00:00:00
# Parse from string
parsed = datetime.strptime('31/12/2024', '%d/%m/%Y')// Java Date Formatting
import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
LocalDate date = LocalDate.of(2024, 12, 31);
// Various formats
DateTimeFormatter eu = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("dd/MM/yyyy");
DateTimeFormatter us = DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("MM/dd/yyyy");
DateTimeFormatter iso = DateTimeFormatter.ISO_DATE;
date.format(eu); // 31/12/2024
date.format(us); // 12/31/2024
date.format(iso); // 2024-12-31
// Parse from string
LocalDate parsed = LocalDate.parse("31/12/2024", eu);// C# Date Formatting
DateTime date = new DateTime(2024, 12, 31);
// Various formats
date.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy"); // 31/12/2024
date.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy"); // 12/31/2024
date.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd"); // 2024-12-31
date.ToString("o"); // 2024-12-31T00:00:00.0000000
// Unix timestamp
DateTimeOffset dto = new DateTimeOffset(date);
dto.ToUnixTimeSeconds(); // 1735689600
// Parse from string
DateTime parsed = DateTime.ParseExact("31/12/2024",
"dd/MM/yyyy",
CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);// PHP Date Formatting
$date = new DateTime('2024-12-31');
// Various formats
$date->format('d/m/Y'); // 31/12/2024
$date->format('m/d/Y'); // 12/31/2024
$date->format('Y-m-d'); // 2024-12-31
$date->format('U'); // 1735689600 (Unix timestamp)
// ISO 8601
$date->format('c'); // 2024-12-31T00:00:00+00:00
// Parse from string
$parsed = DateTime::createFromFormat('d/m/Y', '31/12/2024');
// Using strtotime
$timestamp = strtotime('31 December 2024');# Ruby Date Formatting
require 'date'
date = Date.new(2024, 12, 31)
# Various formats
date.strftime('%d/%m/%Y') # 31/12/2024
date.strftime('%m/%d/%Y') # 12/31/2024
date.strftime('%Y-%m-%d') # 2024-12-31
date.to_time.to_i # 1735689600 (Unix timestamp)
# ISO 8601
date.iso8601 # 2024-12-31
# Parse from string
parsed = Date.strptime('31/12/2024', '%d/%m/%Y')
# Using Date.parse
parsed2 = Date.parse('31 December 2024')Official standards that govern date and time representations globally.
The international standard for date and time representation. Defines unambiguous date formats like YYYY-MM-DD and includes provisions for week dates, ordinal dates, and time zones. See our deeper guide to ISO 8601 beyond YYYY-MM-DD for week dates, ordinals, durations, and intervals.
2024-12-31
2024-W52-2
2024-365
2024-12-31T23:59:59Z
Profile of ISO 8601 for use in Internet protocols. Specifies date/time format for use in Internet protocols and standards like JSON, XML, and APIs.
2024-12-31T23:59:59Z
2024-12-31T23:59:59.999Z
2024-12-31T23:59:59+00:00
Number of seconds since January 1, 1970 00:00:00 UTC. Standard time representation in Unix and Unix-like systems. Reaches 2^31 limit in 2038.
1735689599
0 = 1970-01-01T00:00:00Z
2147483647 = 2038-01-19
Date and time formats used in HTML, XML Schema, and web technologies. Based on ISO 8601 with specific profiles for web use.
<time datetime="2024-12-31">
xs:dateTime
xs:date
Essential resources for working with date formats.
Printable, with holidays & week numbers
DD, MM, YYYY, MMM, DDMMYY & more
Which countries use which
Gregorian, Julian, Lunar calendars
UTC, GMT, timezone conversions
Moment.js, date-fns, Luxon
Date formatting APIs
Longer reads on specific date and time problems.
Common questions about date formats and standards.
DDMMYYYY is a date pattern: DD is the two-digit day, MM the two-digit month and YYYY the four-digit year, written in that order with no separators. 2 October 2026 is written 02102026. With separators the same pattern is DD/MM/YYYY (02/10/2026), DD-MM-YYYY or DD.MM.YYYY.
It depends on the country. Most of the world, including the UK, Europe, India, Australia and Latin America, writes day first (DD/MM/YYYY). The United States writes month first (MM/DD/YYYY). China, Japan and Korea write year first (YYYY/MM/DD). ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD) avoids the ambiguity. See the country-by-country list.
DDMMYY is the same day-month-year order with a two-digit year, so 2 October 2026 becomes 021026. It saves space on forms, batch codes and card readers, but the century has to be assumed.
MMM is the three-letter month abbreviation, so DD MMM YYYY looks like 02 Oct 2026. DD MMMM YYYY uses the full month name: 02 October 2026. Spelling out the month removes any day/month confusion. More patterns are listed in date format codes.
ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD) is the international standard and is unambiguous, sortable, and recognized worldwide. It's the recommended format for databases, APIs, and international communication.
The US format reflects how Americans typically speak dates (e.g., "December 31st" becomes 12/31). This convention dates back to colonial times and has persisted despite international standardization efforts.
Signed 32-bit Unix timestamps overflow on 19 January 2038 at 03:14:07 UTC. Systems that still store time in 32 bits need to move to 64-bit timestamps.
Always store dates in UTC and convert to local time for display. Use ISO 8601 with timezone offset (e.g., 2024-12-31T23:59:59+02:00) or specify UTC with 'Z' suffix. For server-side storage decisions, see our guide to storing dates in databases.
They're essentially the same - both count from January 1, 1970 00:00:00 UTC. Unix timestamp typically uses seconds, while JavaScript and other systems may use milliseconds.
YYYY-MM-DD or YYYYMMDD is best for file names as it sorts chronologically and avoids confusion. Avoid slashes (/) as they're directory separators in file systems.