◇◆
<string-date> Date as a String
Date represented as text.
Usage/Remarks
This element has historically described dates for which months and years were not
given (for example, “In apple blossom time”). In current usage, the <string-date> element is typically used for to tag any date that is:
- Represented as a sequence of characters and punctuation (for example, “January, 2001” or “Fall—Winter 2022”), or
- Uses a date order (for example, month-day-year: “March 11, 2023”) other than the strict day-month-year or season-year enforced by the <date> element.
Tagging Years and Days
One best practice is to tag the <year>, <month>, and/or <day> or season (<season>) within the <string-date>. So
“January, 2021” would become:
<string-date><month>January</month>, <year>2021</year></string-date>
Another school of best practice agrees that these elements should be tagged, but believes
that dates should always be tagged as integer numbers, not as strings such as “<month>January</month>”. Thus the date
“January 13, 2023” would be tagged as:
... <month>01</month> <day>13</day>, <year iso-8601-date="2023-01-13">2023</year> ...
Archiving Note: Use of <string-date> in <date>
The Archiving Tag Set allows <string-date> both inside <date> and at the same level as <date>. This flexibility enables preservation of nearly any publisher’s structure. However,
the use of <string-date> within <date> is to be discouraged generally and reserved only for recording cover dates.
Attributes
Multi-lang Attributes
Models and Context
May be contained in
Description
Content Model
<!ELEMENT string-date (#PCDATA %string-date-elements;)* >
Expanded Content Model
(#PCDATA | day | era | month | season | year)*