Published: October 26, 2023
\n\"\"\"\n\ndate_from_url = find_date(url=url, html=html_content)\nprint(f\"Date extracted from URL: {date_from_url}\")\n\n# Example 2: Extract original publication date (if available and different from updated)\n# The 'originaldate' parameter hints the extractor to prioritize the earliest date.\nhtml_content_updated = \"\"\"\n\n\nPublished: October 26, 2023
Last Updated: March 15, 2024
\n\"\"\"\noriginal_date = find_date(html=html_content_updated, originaldate=True)\nupdated_date = find_date(html=html_content_updated, originaldate=False)\n\nprint(f\"Original Date: {original_date}\")\nprint(f\"Updated Date: {updated_date}\")","lang":"python","description":"To use `htmldate`, import the `find_date` function. It can extract dates directly from a URL or from an HTML string. When providing an HTML string, it's often useful to also provide the `url` parameter for better relative path resolution and more accurate heuristics. The `originaldate` parameter allows you to prioritize the earliest found date (original publication) over potentially updated dates."},"warnings":[{"fix":"Ensure your project runs on Python 3.8 or a newer version.","message":"As of `v1.9.0`, htmldate officially focuses on and requires Python 3.8 or newer. Older Python versions are no longer supported and may encounter compatibility issues or installation failures.","severity":"breaking","affected_versions":">=1.9.0"},{"fix":"Review your code if you used `originaldate=True` in versions prior to `1.7.0` and verify the extracted dates are as expected after upgrading.","message":"The `originaldate` parameter behavior was fixed in `v1.7.0` to more accurately distinguish between original publication dates and updated dates from meta properties. If you relied on the previous behavior (pre-1.7.0) for this distinction, your results might change.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"<1.7.0"},{"fix":"Be aware that date extraction results might vary for some URLs when upgrading from versions older than `1.6.0` due to refined heuristics. Evaluate critical extractions after upgrade.","message":"In `v1.6.0`, the library introduced stricter extraction patterns and replaced `lxml.html.Cleaner` for a focus on precision. This might result in `htmldate` no longer finding a date on some pages where it previously did, or extracting a different (and potentially more accurate) date.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"<1.6.0"}],"env_vars":null,"last_verified":"2026-04-09T00:00:00.000Z","next_check":"2026-07-08T00:00:00.000Z"}