---
title: "Feature: #100187 - ICU-based date and time formatting"
manual: "TYPO3 Core Changelog"
version: "main"
permalink: "https://docs.typo3.org/permalink/changelog:feature-100187-1679001588"
source: "Changelog/12.3/Feature-100187-ICU-basedDateAndTimeFormatting.rst"
typo3-version: "12.3"
typo3-major: 12
type: "feature"
issue: 100187
forge: "https://forge.typo3.org/issues/100187"
tags: ["Fluid", "PHP-API", "TypoScript", "ext:core"]
rendered: "2026-09-17T21:17:42+00:00"
---

# Feature: #100187 - ICU-based date and time formatting {#feature-100187-icu-based-date-and-time-formatting}

See [forge#100187](https://forge.typo3.org/issues/100187)

## Description {#description}

TYPO3 now supports rendering date and time based on formats/patterns defined by
the International Components for Unicode standard (ICU).

TYPO3 previously only supported rendering of dates based on the PHP-native
functions `date()` and `strftime()`.

However, `date()` can only format dates with English texts, such as
"December" as non-localized values, the C-based `strftime()` function works
only with the locale defined in PHP and availability in the underlying operating
system.

In addition, ICU-based date and time formatting is much more flexible in
rendering, as it ships with default patterns for date and time (namely
`FULL`, `LONG`, `MEDIUM` and `SHORT`) which are based on the given locale.

This means, that when the locale `en-US` is given, the short date is rendered
as `mm/dd/yyyy` whereas `de-AT` uses the `dd.mm.yyyy` syntax automatically,
without having to define a custom pattern just by using the SHORT default
pattern.

In addition, the patterns can be adjusted more fine-grained, and can easily
deal with time zones for output when DateTime objects are handed in.

TYPO3 also adds prepared custom patterns:

-   `FULLDATE` (like `FULL`, but only the date information)
-   `FULLTIME` (like `FULL`, but only the time information)
-   `LONGDATE` (like `LONG`, but only the date information)
-   `LONGTIME` (like `LONG`, but only the time information)
-   `MEDIUMDATE` (like `MEDIUM`, but only the date information)
-   `MEDIUMTIME` (like `MEDIUM`, but only the time information)
-   `SHORTDATE` (like `SHORT`, but only the date information)
-   `SHORTTIME` (like `SHORT`, but only the time information)

See [https://unicode-org.github.io/icu/userguide/format_parse/datetime/#datetime-format-syntax](https://unicode-org.github.io/icu/userguide/format_parse/datetime/#datetime-format-syntax)
for more information on the patterns.

## Impact {#impact}

A new stdWrap feature called `formattedDate` is added, and the new formatting
can also be used in Fluid's `<f:format.date>` ViewHelper.

The locale is typically fetched from the locale of the site language (stdWrap or
ViewHelper), or the backend user's language (in backend context) for the
ViewHelper usages.

Examples for stdWrap:

```typoscript
page.10 = TEXT
page.10.value = 1998-02-20 3:00:00
# see all available options https://unicode-org.github.io/icu/userguide/format_parse/datetime/#datetime-format-syntax
page.10.formattedDate = FULL
# optional, if a different locale is wanted other than the Site Language's locale
page.10.formattedDate.locale = de-DE
```

will result in "Freitag, 20. Februar 1998 um 03:00:00 Koordinierte Weltzeit".

```typoscript
page.10 = TEXT
page.10.value = -5 days
page.10.formattedDate = FULL
page.10.formattedDate.locale = fr-FR
```

will result in "jeudi 9 mars 2023 à 21:40:49 temps universel coordonné".

Examples for Fluid `<f:format.date>` ViewHelper:

```html
<f:format.date pattern="dd. MMMM yyyy" locale="de-DE">{date}</f:format.date>
```

will result in "20. Februar 1998".

As soon as the `pattern` attribute is used, the `format` attribute
is disregarded.

Both new ViewHelper arguments are optional.