Date Format Changes Order

[a-cub3d]

Hi there, I'm new to Obsidian and this plugin. I couldn't find anything close to this issue, but I'm not great at searching github yet, so sorry if I missed it.

In my task queries, if I have it show the date as Apr 1, 2026, it will show up before Mar 31, 2026 because A is before M. How can I keep this as my display format, but still have it order by actual date? Is the only way to order by date to have it display at 04-01-26 or something similar?

[claremacrae]

Hi, welcome to Obsidian and Tasks!

A general tip when asking for help online is to try and give some context to help people be sure that they understand what question.

In this case:

In my task queries, if I have it show the date as Apr 1, 2026, it will show up before Mar 31, 2026 because A is before M

That depends on how the query is written. What is the simplest Tasks query that shows this problem? Please paste it as text, not a screenshot.

[a-cub3d]

Hi there,

Thanks for the quick reply! Here's the query:

not done
(scheduled after in 7 days) OR (due after in 7 days)
(scheduled before in 31 days) OR (due before in 31 days)
group by function task.scheduled.format('MMM DD') || task.due.format('MMM DD')
hide start date
hide done date

Here's the result:

Compared to when the format is MM-DD-YY:

I recognize the sort is happening alphabetically, but I'm wondering if there's a way to always sort it by date, regardless of the date's format.

I hope this makes more sense! Appreciate any guidance.

[claremacrae]

Thanks for the reply.

Well, I would say the simplest query then would be:

group by function task.scheduled.format('MMM DD') || task.due.format('MMM DD')

I recognize the sort is happening alphabetically, but I'm wondering if there's a way to always sort it by date, regardless of the date's format.

Yes there is. See:

https://publish.obsidian.md/tasks/Scripting/Custom+Grouping#Sorting+the+groups

[a-cub3d]

Thank you! This helped me accomplish what I needed to. For anyone curious:

group by function \
  const date = task.due.moment || task.scheduled.moment; \
  return "%%" + date.format("YYYYMMDD") + "%%" + date.format("ddd, MMM D");