Use Cases & Examples (Part 2)

Events & Conferences

Event Countdowns

WordCamp [year] is [daysuntil date="2026-09-20"] days away!
→ WordCamp 2026 is 214 days away!

[daysuntil date="2026-12-25"] days until Christmas [year]
→ 310 days until Christmas 2026

[daysuntil date="2026-12-31"] days left in [year]
→ 316 days left in 2026

Conference Pages

Join us at DevConf [year] — [month] [dt]-[nd], [year]
→ Join us at DevConf 2026 — February 18-19, 2026

Early bird pricing ends [nmonth] 1st. That's [daysuntil date="2026-03-01"] days from now.
→ Early bird pricing ends March 1st. That's 11 days from now.

Anniversary & Milestone Celebrations

Today marks [dayssince date="2015-04-10"] days since our first meetup!
→ Today marks 3967 days since our first meetup!

Celebrating [age date="2015-04-10"] years of community events
→ Celebrating 10 years of community events

New Year Countdown

[daysuntil date="2027-01-01"] days until [nyear]!
→ 316 days until 2027!

Personal Blogs & Portfolios

Blog Post Dates

Originally published: [datepublished]
Last updated: [datemodified]
→ Originally published: February 18, 2026
→ Last updated: February 18, 2026

Personal Milestones

I started blogging [age date="2008-09-01"] years ago.
→ I started blogging 17 years ago.

[dayssince date="2008-09-01"] days of writing. Still going.
→ 6379 days of writing. Still going.

I've been a WordPress developer for [age date="2009-01-01" format="ym"].
→ I've been a WordPress developer for 17 years, 1 month.

Portfolio Freshness

Portfolio last updated [monthyear]. [age date="2009-01-01"]+ years of work.
→ Portfolio last updated February 2026. 17+ years of work.

Birthday & Personal Age

I'm [age date="1990-05-15"] years old.
→ I'm 35 years old.

[age date="1990-05-15" ordinal="true"] birthday coming up in [daysuntil date="2026-05-15"] days!
→ 35th birthday coming up in 86 days!

Currently in my [age date="1990-05-15" rank="true"] year
→ Currently in my 35th year

Legal & Compliance

Terms of Service

These Terms of Service were last updated on [date].
→ These Terms of Service were last updated on February 18, 2026.

Effective for the [year] calendar year.
→ Effective for the 2026 calendar year.

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy is effective as of [monthyear].
→ This Privacy Policy is effective as of February 2026.

Last reviewed: [month] [dt], [year]
→ Last reviewed: February 18, 2026

Cookie Notices

This cookie policy was last updated [date]. We review it quarterly.
→ This cookie policy was last updated February 18, 2026. We review it quarterly.

Email & Newsletter Content

Email Subject Lines (via SEO title field in newsletter plugins)

[month] [year] Newsletter: What's New This Month
→ February 2026 Newsletter: What's New This Month

Your [season] digest is here — [monthyear] edition
→ Your Winter digest is here — February 2026 edition

Newsletter Body Content

Happy [weekday]! Here's your weekly update for [month] [dt], [year].
→ Happy Tuesday! Here's your weekly update for February 18, 2026.

Developer & Technical Uses

PHP Templates

// In theme templates
echo do_shortcode( '[year]' );
echo do_shortcode( '[month] [year]' );
echo do_shortcode( '[age date="1990-05-15" format="ym"]' );

// Conditional logic
$days = (int) do_shortcode( '[daysuntil date="2026-12-25"]' );
if ( $days <= 30 ) {
    echo 'Christmas is coming!';
}

// Dynamic copyright in footer.php
echo do_shortcode( '© 2009-[year] My Company' );

ACF Fields

Enable shortcode processing on specific ACF field types:

Part two of the use cases covers events, countdowns, anniversaries, and age calculations: for conference timers, for company-history pages that never go stale, and season-aware content that flips hemisphere correctly.

// All text fields
add_filter( 'acf/format_value/type=text', 'do_shortcode' );

// Specific field by name
add_filter( 'acf/format_value/name=headline', 'do_shortcode' );

// WYSIWYG fields
add_filter( 'acf/format_value/type=wysiwyg', 'do_shortcode' );

Then use shortcodes in any ACF text field:

Best [year] Deals
→ Best 2026 Deals

REST API for Headless WordPress

# Fetch all dates
curl https://example.com/wp-json/dmyip/v1/dates

# Single date type
curl https://example.com/wp-json/dmyip/v1/date/year

# Age calculation
curl "https://example.com/wp-json/dmyip/v1/date/age?date=1990-05-15"

# Days until event
curl "https://example.com/wp-json/dmyip/v1/date/daysuntil?date=2026-12-25"

JavaScript / React / Next.js

const { year, month, season } = await fetch('/wp-json/dmyip/v1/dates').then(r => r.json());

document.title = `Best Tools of ${year.current} - ${month.current} Update`;

// Conditional rendering
const days = await fetch('/wp-json/dmyip/v1/date/daysuntil?date=2026-12-25')
  .then(r => r.json());
if (parseInt(days.value) < 30) {
  showChristmasBanner();
}

WP-CLI for Scripting

# Get values for shell variables
YEAR=$(wp dmyip shortcode year)
DAYS=$(wp dmyip shortcode daysuntil --date=2026-12-31)
echo "Days remaining in $YEAR: $DAYS"

# Verify after deployment
wp dmyip test && echo "All shortcodes working" || echo "FAILED"

# Export shortcode reference as JSON
wp dmyip list --format=json > shortcodes.json

# Use in CI/CD
wp dmyip test --url=https://staging.example.com

Block Bindings in Theme Templates (WP 6.5+)

<!-- Current year in a paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph {
    "metadata": {
        "bindings": {
            "content": {
                "source": "dmyip/date",
                "args": {"type": "year"}
            }
        }
    }
} -->
<p></p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->

Multilingual Sites

All shortcodes use date_i18n() which respects the WordPress locale. Zero configuration.

[month] [year] on a German site → Februar 2026
[weekday] on a French site → mardi
[season] on a Spanish site → Invierno
[date] on a Japanese site → 2026年2月18日
[monthyear] on an Italian site → febbraio 2026

Creative Combinations

“How long since” social proof block

Founded [age date="2009-06-15"] years ago.
That's [dayssince date="2009-06-15"] days of shipping code.
[age date="2009-06-15" format="ym"] of building for the web.

Dynamic footer with everything

© 2009-[year] Company Name. Proudly serving clients for [age date="2009-01-01"] years.
Updated [month] [year]. [daysuntil date="2027-01-01"] days until [nyear].

Year range for fiscal reports

FY[pyear]-[year] Annual Report
→ FY2025-2026 Annual Report

Q1 [year] Results (January - March)
→ Q1 2026 Results (January - March)

Multiple offsets for timeline content

Looking back: [year n=-5] → 2021
Today: [year] → 2026
Looking ahead: [year n=5] → 2031
A decade from now: [year n=10] → 2036

Full date with day name

Today is [weekday], [month] [dt], [year]
→ Today is Tuesday, February 18, 2026

Tomorrow is [wd], [nmonth] [nd]
→ Tomorrow is Tue, March 19

Countdown + age combo for launches

Product launched [age date="2023-06-01" format="ym"] ago.
That was [dayssince date="2023-06-01"] days ago.
Next major release in [daysuntil date="2026-06-01"] days.

Quick answers to common questions: