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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.
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