Django template – Is there a built-in way to get current date as type 'date' instead of type 'str'?

So, all my searching didn’t yield a short solution. The answer to the question seems to be: no, there is no buit-in way to get the current date (or datetime) as a variable in the template.

In case others are searching for this topic, I’ll try to give a summary of the possible workarounds that I can up with and that were suggested by other users.

1. I could pass a context variable to the template from my view. In class-based views that could look like this (it is even an example in the docs):

    # file 'my_app/views.py'
    from django.utils import timezone as tz
    from django.views.generic import ListView
   
    class MyView(ListView)
        ...
   
        def get_context_data(self, **kwargs):
            ctx = super().get_context_data(**kwargs)
   
            now = tz.now()
            ctx['now'] = now
            ctx['today'] = tz.localtime(now).date()
   
            return ctx
   

2. I could create a custom context processor that loads that variable to every template. In class-based views that could look like this:

    # file 'context_processors.py'
    from django.utils import timezone as tz
   
    def now_and_today(request):
        now = tz.now()
        return {
            'now': now,
            'today': tz.localtime(now).date(),
        }
   
    # file 'settings.py'
    ...
    TEMPLATES = [
        {
            ...
            'OPTIONS': {
                'context_processors': [
                    ...
                    'context_processors.now_and_today',
                ],
            },
        },
    ]
    ...
   

3. I could create a custom template tag, like this:

    # file 'my_app/custom_template_tags/custom_time_tags.py'
    from django.utils import timezone as tz
    from django import template
    register = template.Library()
   
    @register.simple_tag
    def get_now(request):
        return tz.now()
   
    @register.simple_tag
    def get_today(request):
        return tz.localtime(tz.now()).date()
   

   To be used like this:

    {% load 'custom_time_tags' %}
   
    {% get_today as today %}
    {% for per in person_list %}
        {% if per.brith_date > today %}
            <p>{{ per.name }} is from the future!!<p>
        {% endif %}
    {% endfor %}
   

4. I could also add a property (or even a cached_property) to the model:

    # file 'models.py'
    from django.db import models
    from django.utils import timezone as tz
    from django.utils.functional import cached_property
   
    class Person(models.Model):
        ...
   
        @cached_property
        def is_from_future(self):
            # careful: for long-lived instances do not use 'cached_property' as
            # the time of 'now' might not be right later
            if self.birth_date > tz.localtime(tz.now()).date():
                return True
   
            return False
   

5. And last but not least, I could just do the processing in the view and add a property to the elements:

    # file 'my_app/views.py'
    from django.utils import timezone as tz
   
    def person_list(request):
        today = tz.localtime(tz.now()).date()
   
        person_list = []
        for p in Person.objects.all():
            p.is_from_future = self.birth_date > today
            person_list.append(p)
   
        return render(request, 'some_template.html', {'person_list': person_list})