{countdown}

The time left until a moment, in words inside a time element - ticking every second in the browser when asked.

Text and formatting Single tags

Syntax 

{countdown '2026-12-31 00:00'}
{countdown $moment, units=3, past='We are live!', live}
{countdown $moment, now='2026-10-08 12:00', format='j M Y'}

Parameters

moment
The moment counted down to - a date in text, a Unix timestamp or a date object.

Options

units
How many units are shown, 1 to 4 (days, hours, minutes, seconds), default 2.
past
The text once the moment has gone, default ended.
live
Bare option: a small script, once per page, counts down every second from the browser's clock.
now
Count from this moment instead of now.
format
The PHP date format of the full moment in the title, default l j F Y, H:i.

Description

{countdown '2026-12-31 00:00'} writes the time left until the moment in words - 84 days, 3 hours - inside a <time class="pad-countdown"> whose datetime is the moment and whose title is the moment in full. The words start at the largest unit that is not zero and take units of them, a zero unit among them left out: 5 minutes, 12 seconds, 1 day. Once the moment has gone, the text of past= stands there instead - ended when not given.

Now is padNow (), so padNowFreeze () holds a test still, and now= counts from a given moment - how the first example here stays the same on every request. format= is the PHP date format of the title.

With live the element gets role="timer" and the moment in milliseconds, and a small script - written once a page, carrying the request's nonce when $padCsp asks for one - counts down every second from the browser's clock, the same way the server counts. Without a script the server's words stay as they are. A moment that is no date and units outside 1 to 4 are strict errors.

Examples

Upcoming events

The two largest units by default, three or four when asked, and past= for an event that has started - all counted from a fixed now.

Templateexamples/countdown/1-events.pad 
<ul>
  <li>Jazz in the park: {countdown '2026-10-06 20:00', now='2026-10-08 12:00', past='Sold out'}</li>
  <li>Pottery workshop: {countdown '2026-10-08 15:20', now='2026-10-08 12:00'}</li>
  <li>City half marathon: {countdown '2026-10-12 09:30', now='2026-10-08 12:00', units=3}</li>
  <li>New year: {countdown '2027-01-01 00:00', now='2026-10-08 11:59:30', units=4}</li>
</ul>
Resultopen alone
  • Jazz in the park:
  • Pottery workshop:
  • City half marathon:
  • New year:

A live launch counter

Three units, counting down every second in the browser - the server writes the same words first.

Templateexamples/countdown/2-live.src 
<p>Version 3.0 launches in {countdown '2026-12-01 10:00', units=3, live, past='We are live!'}</p>

See also

  • {timeago} How long ago a moment was, in words, inside a time element that keeps the exact moment as its datetime and title.
  • {calendar} Writes a month as a calendar table with its events, or hands over its weeks and days as rows for markup of your own.