How to configure WordPress date and time settings

This article describes how to configure and customize the WordPress date and time settings.

Configuring the date and time settings

By default, WordPress displays dates in the format April 30, 2014, and times in the format 2:42pm. Additionally, WordPress uses UTC (Coordinated Universal Time, or GMT) to determine the time to display.

However, you can customize all of these settings for your own site. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Log in to WordPress as the administrator.
2. Under Dashboard, click Settings, and then click General.
3. Scroll down to the Timezone list box, and then select the time zone you want WordPress to use to display the time.
   Time zones are grouped geographically under Africa, America, Asia, Europe, and other regions.
4. Under Date Format, select one of the predefined formats for WordPress to use to display dates.
   Alternatively, you can define your own custom date format. For example, to display April 30, 2014 as Wednesday, Apr 30, 2014, you would use the formatting string l, M j, Y. To view a complete list of date and time formatting options, please visit http://codex.wordpress.org/Formatting_Date_and_Time.
5. Under Time Format, select one of the predefined formats for WordPress to use to display the time.
   Alternatively, you can define your own custom time format. To view a complete list of date and time formatting options, please visit http://codex.wordpress.org/Formatting_Date_and_Time.
6. In the Week Starts On list box, select the day that begins the week in your region.
7. Click Save Changes. The new date and time settings take effect immediately.