PM becomes AM in date header

[relict007]

Hi Prot, I have started seeing a problem recently.

I am on emacs version:
GNU Emacs 30.1 (build 1, x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, cairo version 1.18.4) of 2025-06-28

Denote commit :
c69210b

Some relevant config:

(denote-rename-confirmations nil)
(denote-date-format [%Y-%m-%d %A %I:%M %p])

Now whenever I create a note using denote command, the note gets created fine with a proper header. However, whenever I create a note in the 2nd half of the day (i.e. in the PM) the header's #date: gets converted to AM, actual time stays ok.

For example, if I create a note at 07-07-2025 03:08 PM I get my header date as #+date: [2025-07-07 Monday 03:08 AM] instead of #+date: [2025-07-07 Monday 03:08 PM]. If I change it manually and save the file, it again reverts to AM as saving the file rewrites the header (because of denote-rename-confirmations). Note's identifier stays at 20250707T150843. I tried finding the root cause but overall date/time code seems a bit too complicated to me. Thanks for your time.

[protesilaos]

Hello @relict007!

I cannot reproduce this right now with the latest commit in denote.git.

Here is what I get:

(let ((denote-date-format "[%Y-%m-%d %A %I:%M %p]"))
  (denote--format-front-matter-date (current-time) 'org))
;; => "[2025-07-07 Monday 03:41 PM]"

(let ((denote-rename-confirmations nil)
      (denote-date-format "[%Y-%m-%d %A %I:%M %p]"))
  (denote--format-front-matter-date (current-time) 'org))
;; => "[2025-07-07 Monday 03:41 PM]"

[relict007]

Hi @protesilaos , I am able to reproduce this with the below config in emacs -Q (with the latest commit as of now). Could you please try this once. I ran denote command after this and tried to create a note file.

(require 'denote "/home/relict/.emacs.d/straight/repos/denote/denote.el")

(setq denote-directory "~/notes/denote")
(setq denote-prompts '(title keywords subdirectory))
(setq denote-file-type 'org)
(setq denote-rename-confirmations nil)
(setq denote-save-buffers t)
(setq denote-date-format "[%Y-%m-%d %A %I:%M %p]")

(denote-rename-buffer-mode 1)

[protesilaos]

Strange... I am trying this in emacs -Q and it does what I expect. Here is what I evaluated, with the return values inline:

(require 'package)
(package-initialize)

(setq denote-prompts '(title keywords subdirectory))
(setq denote-file-type 'org)
(setq denote-rename-confirmations nil)
(setq denote-save-buffers t)
(setq denote-date-format "[%Y-%m-%d %A %I:%M %p]")

(denote-rename-buffer-mode 1)

(let ((denote-date-format "[%Y-%m-%d %A %I:%M %p]"))
  (denote--format-front-matter-date (current-time) 'org))
"[2025-07-07 Monday 04:44 PM]"

(let ((denote-rename-confirmations nil)
      (denote-date-format "[%Y-%m-%d %A %I:%M %p]"))
  (denote--format-front-matter-date (current-time) 'org))
"[2025-07-07 Monday 04:44 PM]"

And a screenshot just to be sure:

[protesilaos]

Let's make sure we are on the latest commit and try again.

[protesilaos]

Maybe we are testing the wrong function. Do the ones with the let I am using return something different on your end? Or are you trying another approach?

[relict007]

HI @protesilaos

I have made a small video which shows the problem.

acc-2025-07-07_22.17.09.mp4

You can see in the video that problem occurs when I call denote-rename-file-using-front-matter.

Also, attached the screenshot of my git log for denote repo.

[protesilaos]

I think we have a problem that is not specific to Denote here. I can reproduce it with this:

(org-timestamp-from-string "[2025-07-08 Tuesday 03:59 PM]")

Evaluating it gives me this:

(timestamp (:standard-properties [1 nil nil nil 30 0 nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] :type inactive :range-type nil :raw-value "[2025-07-08 Tuesday 03:59 PM]" :year-start 2025 :month-start 7 :day-start 8 :hour-start 3 :minute-start 59 :year-end 2025 :month-end 7 :day-end 8 :hour-end 3 :minute-end 59))

Notice that the hour is recorded as 3. I assumed this was a 24h clock notation and to confirm as much I did this:

(org-timestamp-from-string "[2025-07-08 Tuesday 15:59]")
;; => (timestamp (:standard-properties [1 nil nil nil 27 0 nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil nil] :type inactive :range-type nil :raw-value "[2025-07-08 Tuesday 15:59]" :year-start 2025 :month-start 7 :day-start 8 :hour-start 15 :minute-start 59 :year-end 2025 :month-end 7 :day-end 8 :hour-end 15 :minute-end 59))

And for completeness, here is how we end up with the formatted time:

(org-timestamp-to-time (org-timestamp-from-string "[2025-07-08 Tuesday 03:59 PM]"))
;; => (26732 27988)

(format-time-string "%I:%M %p" '(26732 27988))
;; => "03:59 AM"

Now what I do not know is whether Org even supports the 12h clock. By the looks of it, it seems it does not? Maybe we can confirm that first. If they do support it, then this is definitely a bug that needs to be reported on the Org mailing list.

[yantar92]

Protesilaos Stavrou ***@***.***> writes:

Now what I do not know is whether Org even supports the 12h clock. By the looks of it, it seems it does not? Maybe we can confirm that first. If they do support it, then this is definitely a bug that needs to be reported on the Org mailing list.

Org does not support am/pm in timestamp syntax. It is supported by org-read-date as convenience, but not in the syntax itself. See https://orgmode.org/worg/org-syntax.html#Timestamps

…

-- Ihor Radchenko // yantar92, Org mode maintainer, Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>. Support Org development at <https://liberapay.com/org-mode>, or support my work at <https://liberapay.com/yantar92>

[protesilaos]

Thank you @yantar92! Then we have to fix it in Denote.

[protesilaos]

And to confirm what I expected:

(parse-time-string "[2025-07-08 Tuesday 03:59 PM]")
;; => (0 59 3 8 7 2025 2 -1 nil)

Notice the number 3 there and compare it to:

(parse-time-string "[2025-07-08 Tuesday 15:59]")
;; => (0 59 15 8 7 2025 2 -1 nil)

So either we have to work on it with some Denote-spefic function or research how best to support this in core Emacs. The latter sounds better, but I have not looked into the technicalities.

[relict007]

Thanks @yantar92 @protesilaos for the clarification. For the time being I will update my config to be of 24h clock.