Automatically displaying "Date Modified" using "r Sys.Date()" in YAML

[arvindvenkatadri]

Description

I often use the following qmd format to write my documents for my Quarto website:

---
title: "Post With NO Code"
author: "Harlow Malloc"
date: "2024-10-02"
date-modified: "`r Sys.Date()`"
categories: [news, code, analysis]
image: "image.jpg"
---

This is a post with NO executable code.

I would like the post to have an updated date-modified field every time I make changes in the text.

I noticed the following:

• If my document contains no R code within the body, the YAML field date-modified renders as INVALID DATE.
• Even if I do not wish to use any code in that particular document, I must include a dummy R setup chunk, to ensure that the date-modified field renders properly. So I need to so something like this:

---
title: "Post With NO Code"
author: "Harlow Malloc"
date: "2024-10-02"
date-modified: "`r Sys.Date()`"
categories: [news, code, analysis]
image: "image.jpg"
---

```{r}
#| label: dummy-setup
#| echo: false
```

This is a post with NO executable code, but with some dummy R chunk to ensure that the `date-modified` field renders properly. 

I wonder if others have faced a similar occurrence?

I am using Quarto 1.9.16, R Version: 4.5.2 on macOS Tahoe 26.3.1 (a).

Thank you!

[mcanouil]

Don't use R inside YAML, see Dates and Date Formatting.

See Inline code for why you "need" a code cell and/or how to prevent it.