Xcode template <<date>> format

Question

I'm working up a custom Xcode template, and I'd like to change the way <<date>> is formatted.

For example:

//  Created by «FULLUSERNAME» on «DATE».
//  Copyright «YEAR» «ORGANIZATIONNAME». All rights reserved.

if the file was created today would fill as:

//  Created by SooDesuNe on 2/24/2010.
//  Copyright 2010 MyOrganization. All rights reserved.

Dates formatted in any "all numbers" format can cause a lot of confusion, since the ISO and JIS way of writing the same date is 24/2/2010. It's clear on the 24th day of the month, but not so clear on the first 12 days of the month.

I would like x-code to populate <<date>> like:

//  Created by SooDesuNe on 24-Feb-2010.
//  Copyright 2010 MyOrganization. All rights reserved.

Since there is no ambiguity that way. Anyone know how to change the date format?

Disassemble

Answer 1

defaults write com.apple.dt.xcode AppleICUDateFormatStrings '{ 1 = "d-MMM-y"; }'

Taka

Copied that into the terminal, and created a new file from my template. But the date formate was still mm/dd/yy – Disassemble

That got it, thanks! Where is that type of information documented? – Disassemble

It isn't. The date formats are from ICU, which OS X has used for a while; I just configured the format for myself in Date & Time System Preferences then did a 'defaults read -g' to see where it was written. Global defaults with a particular key are shadowed by the corresponding application defaults, which allows this to work. – Taka

Not working on Xcode 9, even after a full system restart – Granary

Xcode's bundle identifier has changed, so com.apple.xcode won't work any more; use com.apple.dt.Xcode. In general there is a new much more flexible system for file templates in Xcode 9; see for more information: oleb.net/blog/2017/07/xcode-9-text-macros (unfortunately all you get is a date or year though; you can't specify a date format inline from what I am aware). Also note that custom date formats have migrated into Language & Region Preferences under the Advanced… button. – Taka

Answer 2

You can just change your short format of your time displaying in system preferences., then restart xcode, the default date format will be changed

Raymund

From my observation it looks like Xcode's settings in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Xcode.plist are overridden by system's time and date settings, so your solution worked for me after restarting Xcode. – Jac

Answer 3

If you want to show the default Date and User name you can add these two lines in your ___FILEBASENAME___.swift file

// ___FILEBASENAMEASIDENTIFIER___
// Created by ___FULLUSERNAME___ on ___DATE___.

This will show the File name and created by the User and Current date.

However if you want to add the header you can add the below line

//___FILEHEADER___

Result will be:-

//
//  TestViewController.swift
//  MyProjectName
//
//  Created by Rashid on 28/12/2021.
// 

Asthenia