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Numerics

Date and time formats

All date and time formats should be localizable, not hard-coded. When building localizable date and time formats, development teams should share the same library by using resources like date-fns or Day.js.

PatternFly date and time formats follow the American standard. When localizing, use the appropriate format for the language locale and follow ISO standards.

Element
Description
Example
Date
Use Month DD, YYYY
September 17, 2020

Sep 17, 2020
Date numeric value
When you represent the date as a numeric value or label, use MM-DD-YYYY.
09-17-2020
Time
Display time in either 12-hour or 24-hour (UTC) time.
12-hour: 3:00 PM

With seconds: 3:30:11 PM

24-hour: 15:00
12-hour time notation
This time convention divides the 24 hours of the day into 2 periods of 12 hours, AM and PM.

12-hour time notation is the American standard.
3:00 PM
24-hour time notation
This time convention divides the day by 24 hours and runs from midnight to midnight. The hours are represented from 0 to 23.
14:00
Date and time
Include the timestamp after the date.
Thursday, January 21, 2019 9:38:11 PM EST

Thursday, 21 January 2019, 9:38:11 PM EST

07 Jan 2019, 23:33 UTC
Time zone
Display time in the user's time zone or in UTC.

Use UTC when spanning multiple time zones.
Maintenance begins today at 14:00 UTC (2 PM EST).
Day
Write out the full name of the day. If space is limited, use the day’s 3-letter abbreviation:
  • Mon
  • Tue
  • Wed
  • Thu
  • Fri
  • Sat
  • Sun
Monday, September 17, 2020

Mon, Sep 17, 2020
Month
Write out the full name of the month. If space is limited, use the month’s 3-letter abbreviation.
  • Jan
  • Feb
  • Mar
  • Apr
  • May
  • Jun
  • Jul
  • Aug
  • Sep
  • Oct
  • Nov
  • Dec
September 17, 2020

Sep 17, 2020
Duration
HH:MM:SS or HH:MM
03:15:30

03:15

00:15

Absolute or relative time

Using absolute or relative timestamps depends on the context. To represent the exact date and time that an event occurred, use an absolute timestamp following examples provided in the previous table of date and time formats.

To represent how long ago an event occurred, use a relative timestamp. When reporting relative time, follow these examples:

Time frame
Usage
0-60 seconds
Just now
1-60 minutes
4 minutes ago
1-24 hours
4 hours ago
Yesterday
1 day ago
1-30 days ago
24 days ago
1 month-1 year ago
4 months ago
1 year+
07 Jan 2020
Exact date and time
07 Jan 2020, 23:33 UTC

Numbers and currency

Use numerals instead of written numbers.

Before
After
Your transaction will be complete in three business days.
Your transaction will be complete in 3 business days.
You have a credit of two dollars.
You have a credit of US$2.00.

Digit grouping

Use the American notation standard. Use a decimal comma to separate thousands.

Examples:
1,000,000.00
1,000,000,000

Currency

For currencies that use the symbol "$" alone, add the first two letters of the ISO currency code.

  • US$1,500 (United States)
  • AU$1,500 (Australia)
  • HK$1,500 (Hong Kong)
  • CA$1,500 (Canada)

For other currencies, use their three-letter ISO code wherever possible. You can use national currency symbols, but some users may not be familiar with them. When in doubt, default to ISO.

  • EUR 1,500 or £1,500 (British pound)
  • GPB 1,500 or €1,500 (Euro)
  • JPY 1,500 or ¥1,500 (Japanese Yen)

Use a currency's ISO three-digit numeric code when writing for computerized systems or for countries that don't use Latin scripts.

Country
Currency
Alphabetic code
Numeric code
United States
Dollar
USD
840
China
Yuan
CNY
156
European Union
Euro
EUR
978
United Kingdom
Pound
GBP
826

Generally, we don't provide currency conversions.


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