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docs/content/en/configuration/front-matter.md

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+---
+title: Configure front matter
+linkTitle: Front matter
+description: Configure front matter.
+categories: []
+keywords: []
+---
+
+## Dates
+
+There are four methods on a `Page` object that return a date.
+
+Method|Description
+:--|:--
+[`Date`]|Returns the date of the given page.
+[`ExpiryDate`]|Returns the expiry date of the given page.
+[`Lastmod`]|Returns the last modification date of the given page.
+[`PublishDate`]|Returns the publish date of the given page.
+
+[`Date`]: /methods/page/date
+[`ExpiryDate`]: /methods/page/expirydate
+[`Lastmod`]: /methods/page/lastmod
+[`PublishDate`]: /methods/page/publishdate
+
+Hugo determines the values to return based on this configuration:
+
+{{< code-toggle config=frontmatter />}}
+
+The `ExpiryDate` method, for example, returns the `expirydate` value if it exists, otherwise it returns `unpublishdate`.
+
+You can also use custom date parameters:
+
+{{< code-toggle file=hugo >}}
+[frontmatter]
+date = ["myDate", "date"]
+{{< /code-toggle >}}
+
+In the example above, the `Date` method returns the `myDate` value if it exists, otherwise it returns `date`.
+
+To fall back to the default sequence of dates, use the `:default` token:
+
+{{< code-toggle file=hugo >}}
+[frontmatter]
+date = ["myDate", ":default"]
+{{< /code-toggle >}}
+
+In the example above, the `Date` method returns the `myDate` value if it exists, otherwise it returns the first valid date from `date`, `publishdate`, `pubdate`, `published`, `lastmod`, and `modified`.
+
+## Aliases
+
+Some of the front matter fields have aliases.
+
+Front matter field|Aliases
+:--|:--
+`expiryDate`|`unpublishdate`
+`lastmod`|`modified`
+`publishDate`|`pubdate`, `published`
+
+The default front matter configuration includes these aliases.
+
+## Tokens
+
+Hugo provides several [tokens](g) to assist with front matter configuration.
+
+Token|Description
+:--|:--
+`:default`|The default ordered sequence of date fields.
+`:fileModTime`|The file's last modification timestamp.
+`:filename`|The date from the file name, if present.
+`:git`|The Git author date for the file's last revision.
+
+When Hugo extracts a date from a file name, it uses the rest of the file name to generate the page's [`slug`], but only if a slug isn't already specified in the page's front matter. For example, given the name `2025-02-01-article.md`, Hugo will set the `date` to `2025-02-01` and the `slug` to `article`.
+
+[`slug`]: /content-management/front-matter/#slug
+
+To enable access to the Git author date, set [`enableGitInfo`] to `true`, or use\
+the `--enableGitInfo` flag when building your site.
+
+[`enableGitInfo`]: /configuration/all/#enablegitinfo
+
+Consider this example:
+
+{{< code-toggle file=hugo >}}
+[frontmatter]
+date = [':filename', ':default']
+lastmod = ['lastmod', ':fileModTime']
+{{< /code-toggle >}}
+
+To determine `date`, Hugo tries to extract the date from the file name, falling back to the default ordered sequence of date fields.
+
+To determine `lastmod`, Hugo looks for a `lastmod` field in front matter, falling back to the file's last modification timestamp.