How can I set a DateField format in django from the model?

Question

I am creating a django application and I have the next problem: this error is shown when I want to set a date:

ValidationError [u"'12/06/2012' value has an invalid date format. It must be in YYYY-MM-DD format."]

For this model:

class ModelA(models.Model):

    date1 = models.DateField(null=True)
    date2 = models.DateField(null=True)

How can I set the DateField format to be %m/%d/%Y.

The option "input_formats" is not recognized.

Thank you!

score 30 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 18 '15 at 09:35

30

input_formats is a forms.DateField option, not a model.DateField option. You have to set it in your form, not in your models.

answered Jun 18 '15 at 09:35

bruno desthuilliers

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To create models I am using generic views. How could I change how the date is formatted from the model? – BigMonkey89WithaLeg May 25 '17 at 23:23

score 30 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 28 '20 at 10:06

30

As @bruno as mentioned in his answer, input_formats is a forms field, however it can be used to control the date format saved from the model.

In settings.py set DATE_INPUT_FORMATS as below:

DATE_INPUT_FORMATS = ['%d-%m-%Y']

And in your form you could do something like below:

class ClientDetailsForm(ModelForm):
    date_of_birth = DateField(input_formats=settings.DATE_INPUT_FORMATS)
    class Meta:
       model = ModelA

edited Jul 28 '20 at 10:06

tgogos

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answered Jun 18 '15 at 09:45

Vaulstein

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This will only work if `USE_L10N` is False. You may also need to set `DATE_FORMAT` used when printing a date in the templates. – Dric512 Jun 18 '15 at 10:02
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Can't be set from the model. It only applies to the Form. – Jubayer Arefin Jun 26 '16 at 04:09
Why use settings? Cant it be set in the same forms.py? – Joel G Mathew Mar 13 '19 at 23:29
This might look simple, but settings.py seems unreachable from the app's folder. I've tried every possible way of importing settings.py, which is inside the project's folder. – 101is5 Jan 14 '22 at 10:39
How are you importing settings? – Vaulstein Jan 14 '22 at 12:18
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@101is5 try this - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/7867797/how-do-i-reference-a-django-settings-variable-in-my-models-py – Vaulstein Jan 14 '22 at 12:32

score 2 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 04 '21 at 09:25

2

You could also use the LANGUAGE_CODE to get the correct date formate for the local. LANGUAGE_CODE ='en-GB' Then have DATE_INPUT_FORMATS = ['%d-%m-%Y', '%Y-%m-%d'] in the settings.py which can be called when needed at anytime.

date_birth = forms.DateField(label='Date of birth', widget=forms.SelectDateWidget(years=YEAR_CHOICES, input_formats= DATE_INPUT_FORMATS))

edited Aug 04 '21 at 09:25

Sahil

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answered May 15 '20 at 19:01

Ibby

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It seems like "input_formats" is no longer a valid kwarg. I've got this error: TypeError: SelectDateWidget.__init__() got an unexpected keyword argument 'input_formats' – 101is5 Jan 14 '22 at 10:49
I think this should be set as the correct answer. And forms.DateField(input_formats=['%d/%m/%Y']) is still valid. – Alex8752 Sep 30 '22 at 01:20

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 14 '22 at 11:25

In settings.py, insert:

USE_L10N = False

DATE_INPUT_FORMATS = ['%d/%m/%Y']

DATE_INPUT_FORMATS's data type must be a list, containing the format as a string.
%d/%m/%Y is just my format of choice.

As of lately(jan 2022), settings.py does not contain USE_L10N by default (neither DATE_INPUT_FORMATS, but this one is expected not the be there, I guess).
It seems like, although USE_L10N isn't there by default, not only it does exists somewhere but it's also set to True, because setting up DATE_INPUT_FORMATS alone (i.e. without making USE_L10N explicitly False) will not do the trick.

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Feb 01 '23 at 15:55

0

For those of you who watch this in 2023!!! To make this work I just added:

DATE_INPUT_FORMATS = ["%d.%m.%Y"]
USE_L10N = False

in my settings.py and it worked. I now can input 20.12.2020 in my form. My form is auto generated from models.Model class

answered Feb 01 '23 at 15:55

Valentin Balasa

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Isn't that exactly what @101is5 already answered? https://stackoverflow.com/a/70709867/13138364 – tdy Feb 03 '23 at 04:05

How can I set a DateField format in django from the model?

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