Datepicker

A datepicker is a graphical control that enables users to select a date from a calendar interface. It is usually presented as a popover or inline widget attached to a text input, allowing selection by mouse, touch, or keyboard. Datepickers are common in forms, calendars, travel planning, and scheduling applications, and they help reduce input errors and ensure consistent date formats.

Most implementations support single-date selection, date ranges, and sometimes time selection. They typically provide navigation to previous and next months, quick year selection, and the ability to restrict selectable dates with minimum and maximum bounds, disable specific days, or exclude weekend days. Localization options let the calendar display names of months and days in different languages and adjust date formats for display and data submission.

From a development perspective, datepickers may use the native browser input type="date" or be custom components built with JavaScript libraries. Native date inputs offer basic functionality but vary in appearance across platforms. Custom datepickers—such as those in popular libraries (for example, flatpickr, Pikaday, or framework-specific components)—offer consistent styling, configurable formats, accessibility features, and extensibility through plugins or configuration options.

Accessibility considerations include keyboard access, screen-reader labeling, proper focus management, and clear error messages. Data interchange commonly uses standardized formats such as ISO 8601 internally, with localized display formats for the user.