Reference Table for DateFormatter's setLocalizedDateFormatFromTemplate() Formats and Outputs

Using DateFormatter's setLocalizedDateFormatFromTemplate() is convenient as it allows you to obtain localized date-related strings. Below is a summary of the correspondence between the formats used and the resulting output.

var formatter = DateFormatter()
formatter.calendar = .current
//formatter.calendar = Calendar(identifier: .japanese)
formatter.locale = .current
//formatter.locale = Locale(identifier: "ja_JP")

// Specify the format
formatter.setLocalizedDateFormatFromTemplate("y MMM d E")

// -> en_US: "Wed, Feb 4, 2026"
// -> ja_JP: "2026年2月4日(水)"
let dateString = formatter.string(from: Date())

Format

"y MMM d E"

• The order of symbols does not affect the output order
• Unrecognized characters and spaces are ignored
• Output results vary depending on the Locale
• Output results may differ between single and combined uses (see composite patterns)

Year (Gregorian Calendar)

Format	en_US	ja_JP
y	2026	2026年
yy	26	26年
yyy	2026	2026年
yyyy	2026	2026年
yyyyy	02026	02026年

(The number of leading zeros increases with the number of 'y's)

Year (Japanese Calendar)

Format	en_US	ja_JP	Notes
y	31	31年	Jan 7, 1989 – Apr 30, 2019
yyy	031	31年	Jan 7, 1989 – Apr 30, 2019
y	1	元年	May 1, 2019 onwards
yy	01	元年	May 1, 2019 onwards
Gy	31 Heisei	平成31年	Jan 7, 1989 – Apr 30, 2019
Gyyy	031 Heisei	平成31年	Jan 7, 1989 – Apr 30, 2019
Gy	1 Reiwa	令和元年	May 1, 2019 onwards
Gyy	01 Reiwa	令和元年	May 1, 2019 onwards

(The number of leading zeros increases with the number of 'y's, but the number of digits doesn't change in Japanese. In Japanese, 1 is represented as "元".)

Month

Format	en_US	ja_JP
M	2	2月
MM	02	02月
MMM	Feb	2月
MMMM	February	2月
MMMMM	F	2月
MMMMMM	000002	2月
MMMMMMM	0000002	2月

(The number of leading zeros increases with the number of 'M's, but the number of digits doesn't change in Japanese.)

Day

Format	en_US	ja_JP
d	4	4日
dd	04	04日
ddd	004	004日

(The number of leading zeros increases with the number of 'd's)

Day of the Week

Format	en_US	ja_JP
E	Wed	水
EE	Wed	水
EEE	Wed	水
EEEE	Wednesday	水曜日
EEEEE	W	水
EEEEEE	We	水
EEEEEEE	Wed	水

Hour

Format	en_US	ja_JP
H	09	9時

(In these languages, the number of digits does not change.)

Format	en_US	ja_JP
h	9 AM	午前9時

(In these languages, the number of digits does not change.)

Minute

Format	en_US	ja_JP
m	09	8

(In these languages, the number of digits does not change, and no units are added.)

Second

Format	en_US	ja_JP
s	7	7

(In these languages, the number of digits does not change, and no units are added.)

Era (Gregorian Calendar)

Format	en_US	ja_JP
G	AD	西暦
GGGGG	A	AD

Era (Japanese Calendar)

Format	en_US	ja_JP
G	Reiwa	令和
GGGGG	R	R

(Is it impossible to get notations like "令", "平", or "昭" in Japanese?)

Composite Patterns

Output results change when multiple format characters are combined, compared to using them individually.

Format	en_US	ja_JP
yM	2/2026	2026/2
yMd	2/4/2026	2026/2/4
yMdE	Wed, 2/4/2026	2026/2/4(水)
yMdEEEE	Wednesday, 2/4/2026	2026/2/4水曜日
yyMMdd	02/04/26	26/02/04
Hm	09:08	9:08
hm	9:08 AM	午前9:08
Hms	09:08:07	09:08:07
y MMM d H m s	Feb 4, 2026 at 09:08:07	2026年2月4日 9:08:07