Module:TwitterSnowflake

This is a Lua module to translate snowflakes from platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) and Discord into timestamps. This can be used for automatically generating dates for templates like {{Cite tweet}}.

Usage

There is one required parameter: |id_str=, which must be the snowflake ID of the tweet. For example, 1345021162959503360.

{{#invoke:TwitterSnowflake|snowflakeToDate|id_str=1345021162959503360}} returns January 1, 2021.

To specify the date format returned, use |format=.

{{#invoke:TwitterSnowflake|snowflakeToDate|id_str=1345021162959503360|format=%e %B %Y}} returns 1 January 2021 — useful to specify, especially for use in CS1 citations, in the event that the default date format changes in the future (however unlikely).

Custom epoch

By default, the epoch used is that of Twitter. To specify a different epoch, such as that of Discord (whose value is 1420070400), use |epoch=.

{{#invoke:TwitterSnowflake|snowflakeToDate|id_str=797545051047460888|epoch=1420070400}} returns January 9, 2021.

See also

• {{TwitterSnowflake}}
• {{Cite tweet}}
• Snowflake ID

---

local p = {}

local Date = require('Module:Date')._Date

function p.snowflakeToDate(frame)
	local format = frame.args.format or "%B %e, %Y"
	local epoch = tonumber(frame.args.epoch) or 1288834974
	local id_str = frame.args.id_str
	if type(id_str) ~= "string" then error("bad argument #1 (expected string, got " .. type(id_str) .. ")", 2) end
	if type(format) ~= "string" then error("bad argument #2 (expected string, got " .. type(format) .. ")", 2) end
	if type(epoch) ~= "number" then error("bad argument #3 (expected number, got " .. type(epoch) .. ")", 2) end
	local hi, lo = 0, 0
	local hiexp = 1
	local two32 = 2^32
	for c in id_str:gmatch(".") do
		lo = lo * 10 + c
		if lo >= two32 then
			hi, lo = hi * 10^hiexp + math.floor(lo / two32), lo % two32
			hiexp = 1
		else hiexp = hiexp + 1 end
	end
	hi = hi * 10^(hiexp-1)
	local timestamp = math.floor((hi * 1024 + math.floor(lo / 4194304)) / 1000) + epoch
	return os.date(format, timestamp)
end

function p.getDate(frame)
	-- Just pass frame directly to snowflakeToDate, this wraps it but the arguments are the same plus.
	-- Not a number, so return -2.
	if (frame.args.id_str):match("%D") then
		return -2
	end
	frame.args.format = "%B %e, %Y"
	if frame.args.date then 
		frame.args.date = mw.ustring.gsub(frame.args.date, "(%d%d%d%d)%a", "%1")
	end
	frame.args.epoch = tonumber(frame.args.epoch) or 1288834974
	local epochdate = Date(os.date("%B %e, %Y", frame.args.epoch))
	local twitterdate = Date(p.snowflakeToDate(frame))
	-- Created before the Twitter epoch, so we can't determine the date.
	if twitterdate == epochdate then
		return -1
	end
	-- If we error here, then an input of no date causes an error, which is contrary to
	-- the entire way Template:TwitterSnowflake/datecheck works.
	local date = Date(frame.args.date) or 0
	return date - twitterdate
end

local function abs_datediff(x)
	if type(x) == 'number' then return math.abs(x) end
	return math.abs(x.age_days)
end

function p.datecheck(frame)
	local args = frame.args
	if not (args.date and args.id_str) then
		error('Must define date and id_str, even if they are blank.')
	end
	local errors = {
		args.error1 or 'Date mismatch of two or more days',
		args.error2 or 'No date, and posted before November 4, 2010',
		args.error3 or 'Invalid id_str'
	}
	if mw.title.getCurrentTitle():inNamespace(0) and args.error_cat then
		for i = 1, 3 do errors[i] = errors[i] .. '[[' .. args.error_cat .. ']]' end
	end
	-- #if:{{{date|}}}
	if not args.date:match('^%s*$') then
		local testResult = p.getDate{ args = { date = args.date, id_str = args.id_str }}
		if testResult == -2 then return errors[3] end
		if abs_datediff(testResult) > 1 then return errors[1] end
	elseif not args.id_str:match('^%s*$') then
		local testResult = p.getDate{ args = { id_str = args.id_str }}
		if testResult == -1 then return errors[2] end
		if testResult == -2 then return errors[3] end
	end
end

return p