Title: date format and sorting Last modified: October 24, 2017 --- # date format and sorting * Resolved [tightywritey](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tightywritey/) * (@tightywritey) * [8 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/date-format-and-sorting-3/) * hi, I think I’ve read all the previous posts about this and am still stuck. I have a column of date values that I imported that are like YYYY/MMM/DD, for example, 2017/FEB/09. I can easily change the “/” to something else or possibly swap the order, say, 09FEB2017 but would like to avoid all numbers as that’s not always clear to a reader from somewhere (EU or US) …is 1.12.2017 January 12th? or Dec. 1st? Having the text month value is clear. Is there some way to sort this YYYY/MMM/DD (or DD/MMM/YYYY or MMM/DD/YYYY etc.)? Is it possible to specify the format for the imported date, so whatever sort algorithm there is can chunk it correctly and sort? Would be super nice. * I saw this but don’t really understand how I’d use it: [https://datatables.net/blog/2014-12-18](https://datatables.net/blog/2014-12-18) It seems tantalizingly easy to use but also not. You have to load moment.js and somehow get a reference to the table to be able to do the moment( ‘YYYY/MMM/DD’) function on it. * I tried using “columnDefs”: [ { “type”: “date”, “targets”: [ 2 ] } ] but it not only didn’t work it seemed to stop the sorting from happening altogether. Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) * Plugin Author [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/) * (@tobiasbg) * [8 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/date-format-and-sorting-3/#post-9618275) * Hi, * thanks for your question, and sorry for the trouble. * Unfortunately, using that moment.js library is not yet possible with DataTables within TablePress, due to how such plugins are loaded. I might add support for it in the future, but cannot guarantee it at this time. * Your best chance is probably to use the approach from [https://wordpress.org/support/topic/date-order-6/](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/date-order-6/) which deals with a very similar scenario. * Regards, Tobias * Thread Starter [tightywritey](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tightywritey/) * (@tightywritey) * [8 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/date-format-and-sorting-3/#post-9621282) * hi Tobias, Thanks for your really quick reply! That’s nice to get a fast response when one is frustrated and stuck. I got it to work like you suggested, after some hours of struggle, mostly with my database. My table data comes from a database so I modified my SQL query to generate a new column with a date in MM/DD/YYYY format (I tried YYYY/MM/DD first as it was less work for me but apparently that format is not automatically recognized by TablePress/DataTables). Before hiding the extra MM/DD/YYYY formatted column, which I did not want the user to see, I clicked on it’s sort header and it didn’t work–until I added the data type in the Custom Commands field. But, I also had to add the sorting-on-another-column command to the Custom Commands field. I managed to figure out how to add both and the final command is: “columnDefs”: [ { “type”: “date”, “targets”: [ 2 ] },{“ orderData”: [ 2 ], “targets”: [ 1 ] } ] * So column 1 is the “bad date” column I want to click-sort on and column 2 is the extra MM/DD/YYYY column hidden by CSS in PluginOptions: .tablepress .column- 3 { display: none; } * (currently I only have one table so no table number on the tablepress class) * I just thought I’d add some details here for anyone else who might have a similar problem. * p.s. any chance you can recommend a table plugin where I can edit and add/delete rows? * Plugin Author [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/) * (@tobiasbg) * [8 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/date-format-and-sorting-3/#post-9622459) * Hi, * good to hear that you found a solution for this now 🙂 * I’m not sure what you mean with the last question. You can edit and add/delete rows in TablePress. Or do you mean on the frontend? * Regards, Tobias * Thread Starter [tightywritey](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tightywritey/) * (@tightywritey) * [8 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/date-format-and-sorting-3/#post-9623168) * yes, I want to have some kind of user-editable table that gets saved to the db. I also would like to be able to export the table data in .csv or some parseable format. * I see this plugin, [https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-db-table-editor](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-db-table-editor), but don’t know if it’s any good and since you’re a table guru I thought you might be able to recommend something. There’s also [https://wpdatatables.com](https://wpdatatables.com) but it’s $44 and a bit overkill. * Plugin Author [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/) * (@tobiasbg) * [8 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/date-format-and-sorting-3/#post-9623923) * Hi, * ah, I see. No sorry, I’m not aware of table plugins that allow frontend data entry 🙁 Sorry. * Regards, Tobias * Thread Starter [tightywritey](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tightywritey/) * (@tightywritey) * [8 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/date-format-and-sorting-3/#post-9624237) * ok, thanks anyway & for the sort fix. * Plugin Author [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/) * (@tobiasbg) * [8 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/date-format-and-sorting-3/#post-9624285) * Hi, * no problem! Always happy to help! * Best wishes, Tobias Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total) The topic ‘date format and sorting’ is closed to new replies. * ![](https://ps.w.org/tablepress/assets/icon.svg?rev=3192944) * [TablePress - Tables in WordPress made easy](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress/) * [Frequently Asked Questions](https://wordpress.org/plugins/tablepress/#faq) * [Support Threads](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/tablepress/) * [Active Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/tablepress/active/) * [Unresolved Topics](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/tablepress/unresolved/) * [Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/tablepress/reviews/) * 7 replies * 2 participants * Last reply from: [Tobias Bäthge](https://wordpress.org/support/users/tobiasbg/) * Last activity: [8 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/date-format-and-sorting-3/#post-9624285) * Status: resolved