[PATCH] doc: commit: document special date keywords for --date

[PATCH] doc: commit: document special date keywords for --date

[Md Ferdous Alam via GitGitGadget]

From: mdferdousalam <mdferdousalam1989@yahoo.com>

The --date option in git-commit accepts human-readable keywords
like "now", "yesterday", "noon", "midnight", "tea", and "never",
but these were not documented. Add them to the "DATE FORMATS"
section of git-commit(1), and expand the --date option description
to point readers there.

Signed-off-by: mdferdousalam <mdferdousalam1989@yahoo.com>
---
    doc: commit: document special date keywords for --date
    
    The --date option in git-commit accepts human-readable keywords like
    "now", "yesterday", "noon", "midnight", "tea", and "never", but these
    were not documented. Add them to the "DATE FORMATS" section of
    git-commit(1), and expand the --date option description to point readers
    there.
    
    This addresses https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/issues/302
    
    Signed-off-by: mdferdousalam mdferdousalam1989@yahoo.com

Published-As: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/releases/tag/pr-2051%2Fmdferdousalam%2Fdoc-commit-date-special-strings-v1
Fetch-It-Via: git fetch https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git pr-2051/mdferdousalam/doc-commit-date-special-strings-v1
Pull-Request: https://github.com/gitgitgadget/git/pull/2051

 Documentation/date-formats.adoc | 12 ++++++++++++
 Documentation/git-commit.adoc   |  5 ++++-
 2 files changed, 16 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/date-formats.adoc b/Documentation/date-formats.adoc
index e24517c496..cbf651a8be 100644
--- a/Documentation/date-formats.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/date-formats.adoc
@@ -28,4 +28,16 @@ ifdef::git-commit[]
 In addition to recognizing all date formats above, the `--date` option
 will also try to make sense of other, more human-centric date formats,
 such as relative dates like "yesterday" or "last Friday at noon".
++
+The following special keywords are also recognized:
++
+`now`;; the current date and time.
+`yesterday`;; yesterday's date at the current time.
+`noon`;; today (or the given date) at 12:00.
+`midnight`;; today (or the given date) at 00:00.
+`tea`;; today (or the given date) at 17:00.
+`never`;; a zero timestamp (used e.g. by linkgit:git-reflog[1]).
++
+These keywords can be combined with other date constructs, for
+example `yesterday noon` or `3.days.ago`.
 endif::git-commit[]
diff --git a/Documentation/git-commit.adoc b/Documentation/git-commit.adoc
index 8329c1034b..840bc52096 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-commit.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-commit.adoc
@@ -181,7 +181,10 @@ See linkgit:git-rebase[1] for details.
 	the commit author is then copied from the first such commit found.
 
 `--date=<date>`::
-	Override the author date used in the commit.
+	Override the author date used in the commit.  See the
+	"DATE FORMATS" section below for accepted formats,
+	including human-readable strings like `now`, `yesterday`,
+	and `noon`.
 
 `-m <msg>`::
 `--message=<msg>`::

base-commit: 7c02d39fc2ed2702223c7674f73150d9a7e61ba4
-- 
gitgitgadget

Re: [PATCH] doc: commit: document special date keywords for --date

[Junio C Hamano]

"Md Ferdous Alam via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> writes:

> From: mdferdousalam <mdferdousalam1989@yahoo.com>
>
> The --date option in git-commit accepts human-readable keywords
> like "now", "yesterday", "noon", "midnight", "tea", and "never",
> but these were not documented.

I've always thought that these are easter eggs to be discovered,
deliberately left out of documentation, as they mostly exist to be
amusing.  For those who want to be precise, the date formats section
gives sufficient information.

Other than perhaps "now", which may be handy but not so useful in
the context of "git commit --date=now".

Moreover, 7.days.ago and 1.week.ago are also in the same category as
what you called "keywords" here, but we do not try to make an
exhausitive list.

So, I dunno.

Re: [PATCH] doc: commit: document special date keywords for --date

[Engr Md Ferdous Alam]

Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> writes:


> I've always thought that these are easter eggs to be discovered,
> deliberately left out of documentation, as they mostly exist to be
> amusing.  For those who want to be precise, the date formats section
> gives sufficient information.
>
> Moreover, 7.days.ago and 1.week.ago are also in the same category as
> what you called "keywords" here, but we do not try to make an
> exhausitive list.
>
> So, I dunno.


That makes sense.  I had not considered that these were intentionally
left undocumented as easter eggs.  And you are right that trying to
list some without listing all (like 7.days.ago) would be incomplete
and misleading.


I will withdraw this patch.  Thank you for the explanation.


Md Ferdous Alam



  







On Monday, February 23, 2026 at 11:10:23 PM GMT+6, Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> wrote: 





"Md Ferdous Alam via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com> writes:


> From: mdferdousalam <mdferdousalam1989@yahoo.com>
>
> The --date option in git-commit accepts human-readable keywords
> like "now", "yesterday", "noon", "midnight", "tea", and "never",
> but these were not documented.


I've always thought that these are easter eggs to be discovered,
deliberately left out of documentation, as they mostly exist to be
amusing.  For those who want to be precise, the date formats section
gives sufficient information.

Other than perhaps "now", which may be handy but not so useful in
the context of "git commit --date=now".

Moreover, 7.days.ago and 1.week.ago are also in the same category as
what you called "keywords" here, but we do not try to make an
exhausitive list.

So, I dunno.