The Expiration Date

Syntax: .EXPIRES DateTime=

If the information you are posting is valid only until a certain date, you should add an expiration date so that readers will know when they are looking at old information.

Adding an expiration date

To add an expiration date, use the following command:

.EXPIRES DateTime=

The value of DateTime must follow a specific format. The format is shown below. Items inside square brackets ("[]") are optional.

[DayofWeek, ][D]D-Mon-[YY]YY [H]H:MM:SS

• [D]D is the day of the month, beginning at 1 and ending at 29, 29, 30, or 31, as appropriate.
• Mon is the abbreviated name of the month. The abbreviation is the first three letters of the English name of the month.
• [YY]YY is the year, AD (CE).
• [H]H is the hour of the day, from 0 to 23.
  • The hour after midnight is hour 0.
  • The hours 1 AM-11 AM are hours 1-11.
  • The hour after noon is hour 12.
  • The hours 1 PM-11 PM are hours 13-23.
• MM are the number of minutes after the hour, from 0 to 59.
• SS are the number of seconds after the minute, from 0 to 59.

Here are some examples of acceptably formatted dates:

• <!--.expires "Saturday, 02-Mar-1996 08:50:35"-->
• <!--.expires "02-Mar-1996 08:50:35"-->
• <!--.expires "2-Mar-1996 08:50:35"-->
• <!--.expires "2-Mar-96 08:50:35"-->
• <!--.expires "2-Mar-96 8:50:35"-->

When your document expires

When your document expires, you will receive a notification by email. The Document Interface will add an expiration notice in large letters at the top of the document, between the other DI elements and the content of your page. This should be sufficient to alert readers to the staleness of your page.

The .EXPIRES command is not available for personal Web pages.