GS Nepali Date for WordPress

A small WordPress plugin that converts Gregorian (English/AD) dates to Nepali Bikram Sambat (BS) dates for use in themes, templates, widgets, and custom plugins.

Features

• Convert WordPress post dates to Nepali BS dates.
• Display today's Nepali date.
• Display translated relative time such as days, hours, minutes, and seconds.
• Convert dates in either direction through the Nepali_Date PHP class.
• Convert Arabic digits to Nepali digits.
• Works without an external API or database table.

Requirements

• WordPress 5.2 or newer.
• PHP 7.2 or newer.
• A theme or plugin where PHP template code can be edited.

The included date table supports BS years 2000 through 2090 and Gregorian dates covered by that table, approximately AD 1943 through 2034.

Installation

Method 1: Download and upload the ZIP file

1. Download the ready-to-install gsnepalidate.zip file from this repository.
2. In WordPress, open Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin.
3. Select the downloaded ZIP file and click Install Now.
4. Click Activate Plugin, or activate GS Nepali Date from the Plugins screen.

The ZIP file is also available in the root of this GitHub repository. You do not need to extract it or create a new ZIP file before uploading it to WordPress.

Method 2: Manual installation

1. Copy the plugin folder into:

    wp-content/plugins/gsnepalidate/

2. Confirm these files are directly inside that folder:

    gs-nepali-date.php
   class.nepali-date.php
   index.php

3. Activate GS Nepali Date from Plugins in the WordPress dashboard.

There is no settings page. After activation, add the functions below to the appropriate theme template file or use them from a custom plugin.

Display a post date

Use get_nepali_post_date() in a loop or anywhere a post date is available:

<?php
if ( function_exists( 'get_nepali_post_date' ) ) {
    echo esc_html( get_nepali_post_date( get_the_time( 'c' ) ) );
}
?>

The function accepts a date string accepted by strtotime():

<?php echo esc_html( get_nepali_post_date( get_the_date( 'c' ) ) ); ?>

If the first argument is empty, the current server time is used:

<?php echo esc_html( get_nepali_post_date( '' ) ); ?>

Custom post-date format

Pass a format as the second argument:

<?php
echo esc_html(
    get_nepali_post_date( get_the_time( 'c' ), 'd m y, l' )
);
?>

Supported format tokens:

Token	Output
d	Nepali day number
m	Nepali month name
y	Nepali year number
l	Nepali weekday name
H	Nepali hour when time output is enabled
i	Nepali minute when time output is enabled

Example output format:

15 Baisakh 2081, Monday

The month and weekday values are returned in Nepali by the plugin. The example above is only a format illustration.

Display today's date

Use this in a header, footer, sidebar, or widget template:

<?php
if ( function_exists( 'get_nepali_today_date' ) ) {
    echo esc_html( get_nepali_today_date() );
}
?>

To use a custom format, pass it through the plugin options filter described below. The default today format is:

 d m y, l

Display Nepali relative time

get_nepali_ago() translates WordPress relative-time text returned by human_time_diff():

<?php
if ( function_exists( 'get_nepali_ago' ) ) {
    echo esc_html( get_nepali_ago( get_the_time( 'U' ) ) );
}
?>

The argument should be a Unix timestamp. A complete example:

<?php
$published_timestamp = get_post_time( 'U', true );

if ( function_exists( 'get_nepali_ago' ) ) {
    printf(
        esc_html__( '%s ago', 'your-text-domain' ),
        esc_html( get_nepali_ago( $published_timestamp ) )
    );
}
?>

Use the conversion class directly

The plugin loads the Nepali_Date class after activation:

<?php
if ( class_exists( 'Nepali_Date' ) ) {
    $calendar = new Nepali_Date();
    $nepali = $calendar->eng_to_nep( 2024, 4, 13 );

    echo esc_html(
        $nepali['year'] . '-' .
        $nepali['month'] . '-' .
        $nepali['date']
    );
}
?>

The result contains:

array(
    'year'    => 2081,
    'month'   => 1,
    'date'    => 1,
    'day'     => '...',
    'nmonth'  => '...',
    'num_day' => 7,
)

Convert BS to Gregorian:

<?php
$calendar = new Nepali_Date();
$english = $calendar->nep_to_eng( 2081, 1, 1 );

printf(
    '%04d-%02d-%02d',
    $english['year'],
    $english['month'],
    $english['date']
);
?>

Useful class methods:

Method	Purpose
eng_to_nep( $year, $month, $day )	Gregorian date to BS date
nep_to_eng( $year, $month, $day )	BS date to Gregorian date
convert_to_nepali_number( $value )	Convert digits to Nepali digit entities
convert_to_nepali_secandmin( $text )	Translate common relative-time units
is_leap_year( $year )	Check a Gregorian leap year

Customize defaults with a filter

The plugin applies the npd_modify_default_opts filter before reading its options. A theme can use it to customize the default post-date and today-date formats:

<?php
add_filter( 'npd_modify_default_opts', function ( $options ) {
    $options['date_format'] = 'd m y';
    $options['today_date_format'] = 'l, d m y';
    $options['active']['time'] = false;

    return $options;
} );

For post dates, the relevant keys are:

array(
    'active' => array(
        'date' => true,
        'time' => false,
    ),
    'date_format' => 'd m y, l',
    'custom_date_format' => '',
)

For today's date, the relevant keys are:

array(
    'date_format' => 'd m y, l',
    'today_date_format' => '',
)

A custom_date_format passed directly to get_nepali_post_date() takes priority over the default date_format.

Theme integration examples

Replace a theme's post metadata

In a single-post template such as single.php, content.php, or a theme-specific post-card template:

<time datetime="<?php echo esc_attr( get_the_date( 'c' ) ); ?>">
    <?php
    if ( function_exists( 'get_nepali_post_date' ) ) {
        echo esc_html( get_nepali_post_date( get_the_date( 'c' ) ) );
    } else {
        echo esc_html( get_the_date() );
    }
    ?>
</time>

Add today's date to a header

Place this in header.php, a widget template, or a template part:

<div class="site-nepali-date">
    <?php
    if ( function_exists( 'get_nepali_today_date' ) ) {
        echo esc_html( get_nepali_today_date() );
    }
    ?>
</div>

Use it in a shortcode

Add this to a custom plugin or the theme's functions.php:

<?php
function my_nepali_today_shortcode() {
    if ( ! function_exists( 'get_nepali_today_date' ) ) {
        return '';
    }

    return esc_html( get_nepali_today_date() );
}
add_shortcode( 'nepali_today', 'my_nepali_today_shortcode' );

Then use this shortcode in a page or post:

[nepali_today]

Security and WordPress coding notes

• Escape returned values when printing them in HTML with esc_html().
• Use esc_attr() for values placed inside HTML attributes.
• Use get_the_date( 'c' ) or another timezone-aware WordPress date value instead of manually assembling dates.
• Do not edit the plugin files to customize a theme. Put custom filters and shortcodes in a child theme or custom plugin.
• Always check function_exists() or class_exists() when theme code should also work if the plugin is deactivated.

Troubleshooting

The date does not change

Confirm that:

1. The plugin is activated.
2. The template contains the function call, not the original date call only.
3. The function name is spelled correctly.
4. You are editing the active theme or child theme.
5. A page-cache or object-cache plugin has been cleared.

The date is one day different

WordPress uses the site's configured timezone. Check Settings > General > Timezone, then clear page and object caches. Pass a complete WordPress date string such as get_the_date( 'c' ) instead of a date assembled manually.

The date is outside the supported range

The included table supports BS 2000 through 2090. Dates outside the table are not supported and should be handled by the calling code before conversion.

The output contains unexpected HTML entities

convert_to_nepali_number() returns Nepali digit HTML entities. This is suitable for normal HTML output. Do not wrap already escaped output in another conversion step.

The date appears in English

The plugin returns Nepali month and weekday names from the class. If a theme still shows an English date, it is likely rendering a separate date call elsewhere. Search the theme for the_date(), get_the_date(), get_the_time(), or get_post_time().

Development checks

Run the PHP syntax check from the plugin directory:

php -l class.nepali-date.php
php -l gs-nepali-date.php

A useful boundary check is:

<?php
require_once 'class.nepali-date.php';

$calendar = new Nepali_Date();
print_r( $calendar->eng_to_nep( 2024, 4, 13 ) );
print_r( $calendar->nep_to_eng( 2081, 1, 1 ) );

Expected date relationship:

2024-04-13 = BS 2081-01-01
BS 2081-01-01 = 2024-04-13

License

GPL v2 or later. See the plugin header for author and license information.