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January 0

File:Feb31OnTombstone.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ12481· pop 57

fictional date conventionally used to indicate the day before January 1 in the same year, i.e. December 31 in the previous year

AI overview

"January 0" is a fictional date used in some contexts to refer to the day immediately before January 1 of a given year, which is actually December 31 of the previous year. It's a convenient notation sometimes used in programming, mathematics, or other fields where referring to the last day of the prior year in this way is simpler than using the actual calendar date.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Wikidata facts

Part of
December
Followed by
January 1
Said to be same as
December 31
Show 1 more fact
month of the year
December
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~9 min read

Encyclopedic overview

February 31 on a tombstone Several non-standard dates are used in calendars for various purposes: some are expressly fictional, some are intended to produce a rhetorical effect (such as sarcasm), and others attempt to address a particular mathematical, scientific or accounting requirement or discrepancy within the calendar system.

Historical

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “January 0” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (2)