Template:As of/doc

This is a documentation subpage for Template:As of.
It contains usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page.

This template is used on approximately 54,000 pages, so changes to it will be widely noticed. Please test any changes in the template's /sandbox or /testcases subpages, or in your own user subpage. Please consider discussing changes on the talk page before implementing them.

Usage

The template {{as of}} is used to mark potentially dated statements, and will add an article to the appropriate hidden sub-category of Category:Articles containing potentially dated statements. This allows editors to catalogue statements that may become dated over time. The date used for a given statement should be the date of the most recent reliable source (for currently valid statements), or the date on which the cited reference was produced (for example, when using census data). It should not be used for future dates (use {{update after}} instead). This template should not be substituted.

Notes:

This template MUST NOT be used in infoboxes that emit a microformat, as its emitted date markup will conflict with that.
This template is not necessary within quotations, and use of the template in such cases should be avoided.

This template does not generate a visible hyperlink in text where it is used.

Usage guidelines

wikipedia:As of Using this template with values such as {{As of|now}} or variables such as {{As of|{{CURRENTYEAR}}}} is equivalent to using "currently", which is generally against the precise language guideline.

Syntax

The template can be used in the following forms:

{{As of|year}}

{{As of|year|month}}

{{As of|year|month|day}}

Please do not use {{As of|{{CURRENTYEAR}}|{{CURRENTMONTH}}}} or similar. That defeats the point of the template.

Several additional named parameters can also be used (see below).

Parameters

Required

year (first parameter) – must be in full numerical four-digit format (yyyy)

Optional

month (second parameter) – full, abbreviated or two-digit numerical formats supported (mm recommended, 01 indicating January, 02 February, etc., but also accepting Jan and January)
day (third parameter) – numerical two-digit format only, not included in link (dd)

Named

alt – optional; allows substitution of different wording and case for the visible text output (including the date). If present with no value defined, this parameter is ignored; if a value is defined, values for |df and |lc and |since parameters are ignored.
df – "date format", optional; allows use of American date format with |df=US.
lc – "lower case", optional; if given any value at all (e.g. |lc=y) gives lower case "as of date", for use mid-sentence.
since – optional; if given any value at all (e.g. |since=y) it changes "As of" to "Since". Use of |lc=y with |since=y gives "since date. Use of |alt= will replace the entire output, including the "Since", as it will with the default "As of".
pre – text to insert before the date, and after "[A|a]s of" or "[S|s]ince", e.g. |pre=the first week of used like this: {{asof|1997|pre=the first week of}} produces "As of the first week of 1997^[update]".
post – text (almost always punctuation) to insert between the date and the superscripted note that is displayed if
the given date has arrived; or

the user's common.css page uses any of .asof-tag, .asof-tag.ref, or .asof-tag.update to force display of the note .

For example,
{{As of| 2024| 11| 21| post=,}} no more bears were found

gives
"As of 21 11 2024,[update] no more bears were found"

(comma before the superscripted note)

while
{{As of| 2024| 11| 21}}, no more bears were found

produces the undesirable result (contrary to WP:REFPUNC) with regard to the location of the comma:
"As of 21 11 2024[update], no more bears were found"
url – optional; adds an inline external link (hidden by default) suggesting a webpage for future editors to check for updates to the statement; use the full URL with no spaces. See Wikipedia:As of for displaying links.

Examples

{{As of|2024}} – As of 2024

{{As of|2024|11}} – As of November 2024

{{As of|2024|11|21}} – As of 21 November 2024

{{As of|2024|11|21|df=US}} – As of November 21, 2024

{{As of|2024|11|21|lc=y}} – as of 21 November 2024

{{As of|2010|4|1|alt=as of the [[2010 United States Census]]}} – as of the 2010 United States Census

{{As of|2024|11|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/}} returns:

for logged in users, with links displayed (see Wikipedia:As of) – As of November 2024^[ref]

for all other users – As of November 2024

{{As of|2024|11|21|df=US|since=y}} – Since November 21, 2024

{{As of|2024|11|21|lc=y|since=y}} – since 21 November 2024

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData documentation for this template used by VisualEditor and other tools; see the monthly error report for this template.

TemplateData for As of

A template used to mark potentially dated statements, and will add an article to the appropriate hidden sub-category of Category:Articles containing potentially dated statements. This allows editors to catalogue statements that may become dated over time. It should not be used for future dates (use {{update after}} instead).

Template parameters
Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Year	`1`	The year the statement is valid to. Must be in full numerical format (yyyy)	Number	required
Month	`2`	The month the statement is valid to. Full, abbreviated or numerical formats supported (mm recommended)	Line	suggested
Day	`3`	The day the statement is valid to (not included in link). Numerical format only (dd)	Number	optional
Alternate wording	`alt`	Use different wording for the visible text output; if set, values for 'Date format' (df) and 'Lower case' (lc) parameters are ignored Example As of Christmas 2018	String	optional
Date format	`df` `date_format`	Set to US to use U.S. date format (mdy) (default is dmy) Default US Example US	String	suggested
Lower case	`lc`	Specify y to use lower case Example y	String	suggested
Since	`since`	Specify y to replace 'as of' with 'since'. Example y	String	suggested
URL	`url`	A URL for an inline external link (hidden by default) suggesting a webpage for future editors to check for updates to the statement; use the full URL with no spaces	URL	optional
Prefix	`pre`	prefix to be added before the date Example As of the first week of [June 2015]	String	optional
Postfix	`post`	Added after the date, usually punctuation	Line	optional