[WIP] Fix word-number phrases parsing (e.g., "two days later", "two days from now") by Copilot · Pull Request #1317 · scrapinghub/dateparser

Copilot · 2026-02-26T14:57:51Z

Phrases like "two days later" and "two days from now" returned None due to two bugs in the English simplification pipeline.

Root Causes

later pattern — regex required \d+, but word-to-number substitutions ("two" → "2") run after it, so the pattern never matched word numbers.
from now simplification — (?<=from\s+)now → in used a lookbehind that replaced only now, leaving from in the string (e.g., "two days from in"), which is unparseable regardless of ordering.

Changes

en.yaml / en.py — later pattern: Extended the capture group to match word numbers alongside digits:

(\d+[.,]?\d*|one|two|three|four|five|six|seven|eight|nine|ten|eleven|twelve)
  (decade|year|month|week|day|hour|minute|second)s? later  →  in \1 \2

en.yaml / en.py — from now simplification: Replaced broken lookbehind with a full-phrase match:
```
- (?<=from\s+)now: in
+ from\s+now: in
```
Tests: Added test_word_numbers_with_later_and_from_now covering both patterns with word numbers, numeric values, and singular/plural variants. Calendar-based units (months, years) assert only result > base_date since they aren't fixed-length deltas.

Before / After

base = datetime(2025, 6, 15, 12, 0, 0)
settings = {"RELATIVE_BASE": base}

dateparser.parse("two days later",    settings=settings)  # None  →  2025-06-17
dateparser.parse("three weeks later", settings=settings)  # None  →  2025-07-06
dateparser.parse("two days from now", settings=settings)  # None  →  2025-06-17
dateparser.parse("2 days later",      settings=settings)  # 2025-06-17 (unchanged)

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Co-authored-by: serhii73 <24910277+serhii73@users.noreply.github.com>

codecov · 2026-02-26T15:10:36Z

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 96.63%. Comparing base (8cdcf80) to head (3f4c729).
⚠️ Report is 1 commits behind head on fix/word-number-phrases-parsing.

Additional details and impacted files

@@                       Coverage Diff                        @@
##           fix/word-number-phrases-parsing    #1317   +/-   ##
================================================================
  Coverage                            96.63%   96.63%           
================================================================
  Files                                  235      235           
  Lines                                 2915     2915           
================================================================
  Hits                                  2817     2817           
  Misses                                  98       98

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Copilot

Pull request overview

Fixes English relative phrase parsing for expressions like “two days later” / “two days from now” by adjusting the English simplification rules so word-number quantities are recognized and “from now” is simplified correctly before parsing.

Changes:

Update English simplifications to match word numbers in the … later pattern.
Replace the broken from now lookbehind simplification with a full-phrase match.
Add parameterized tests covering word numbers, numeric values, and pluralization variants for both “later” and “from now”.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
`tests/test_date_parser.py`	Adds regression tests for word-number + “later/from now” relative parsing.
`dateparser_data/supplementary_language_data/date_translation_data/en.yaml`	Updates English simplification regexes for “from now” and “later”.
`dateparser/data/date_translation_data/en.py`	Mirrors the English simplification updates in the Python translation data.

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Copilot · 2026-02-26T15:14:28Z

dateparser_data/supplementary_language_data/date_translation_data/en.yaml

+    - from\s+now: in
    - less than 1 minute ago: 45 second ago
-    - (\d+[.,]?\d*) (decade|year|month|week|day|hour|minute|second)s? later: in \1 \2
+    - (\d+[.,]?\d*|one|two|three|four|five|six|seven|eight|nine|ten|eleven|twelve) (decade|year|month|week|day|hour|minute|second)s? later: in \1 \2


The later simplification now hardcodes the supported word-number list (one…twelve) even though the same word→digit mappings are defined immediately below. This duplication is easy to desync if more number words get added later. Consider keeping the later regex numeric-only and moving it after the word→digit simplifications (or otherwise centralizing the number-word pattern) so future additions don’t require editing multiple rules.

Copilot · 2026-02-26T15:14:28Z

dateparser/data/date_translation_data/en.py

        {
-            "(\\d+[.,]?\\d*) (decade|year|month|week|day|hour|minute|second)s? later": "in \\1 \\2"
+            "(\\d+[.,]?\\d*|one|two|three|four|five|six|seven|eight|nine|ten|eleven|twelve) (decade|year|month|week|day|hour|minute|second)s? later": "in \\1 \\2"
        },


The later simplification regex now embeds a word-number alternation (one…twelve) while separate simplifications below already convert those words to digits. This duplicates the source of truth and can drift if more number words are added later. Consider reordering so word→digit conversions run before the later rule (keeping the later pattern numeric-only), or otherwise centralizing the number-word pattern.

…ocumentation-examples

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

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Copilot · 2026-02-26T15:20:18Z

tests/test_date_parser.py

                result,
                f"{description}: Expected {expected}, got {result}",
            )
+


There’s trailing whitespace on this blank line; please remove it to keep the file clean (and avoid potential lint/pre-commit failures).

Suggested change

Copilot · 2026-02-26T15:20:19Z

tests/test_date_parser.py

+    def test_word_numbers_advanced(self, date_string, expected_delta, description):
+        """Test number parsing with word numbers (1-12) in 'from now' phrases."""


The PR description says a test named test_word_numbers_with_later_and_from_now was added, but the new test here is named test_word_numbers_advanced. Please either rename the test to match its scope (e.g., explicitly mention from now) or update the PR description so they stay in sync.

* Fix word-number phrases parsing (e.g., 'two days later') Close #1314 * Fix word-number phrases parsing (e.g., "two days later", "two days from now") (#1317) * Initial plan * Fix word-number phrases parsing for 'later' and 'from now' patterns Co-authored-by: serhii73 <24910277+serhii73@users.noreply.github.com> --------- Co-authored-by: copilot-swe-agent[bot] <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: serhii73 <24910277+serhii73@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Serhii A <aserhii@protonmail.com> * Update tests/test_date_parser.py Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> * Apply pre-commit * Fix approximate day counts in word number tests - Update 'four months later' from 120 to 122 days (June 15 to Oct 15, 2025) - Update 'six years later' from 2190 to 2191 days (accounts for leap year in 2028) - These values now match the actual calendar arithmetic performed by the parser --------- Co-authored-by: Copilot <198982749+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: serhii73 <24910277+serhii73@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Copilot <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

Initial plan

109f6f2

Copilot AI assigned Copilot and serhii73 Feb 26, 2026

Copilot started work on behalf of serhii73 February 26, 2026 14:57 View session

Fix word-number phrases parsing for 'later' and 'from now' patterns

3f4c729

Co-authored-by: serhii73 <24910277+serhii73@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Update documentation with additional examples~~ Fix word-number phrases parsing (e.g., "two days later", "two days from now") Feb 26, 2026

Copilot finished work on behalf of serhii73 February 26, 2026 15:05

serhii73 changed the base branch from master to fix/word-number-phrases-parsing February 26, 2026 15:08

serhii73 requested a review from Copilot February 26, 2026 15:09

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of serhii73 February 26, 2026 15:10 View session

serhii73 changed the title ~~Fix word-number phrases parsing (e.g., "two days later", "two days from now")~~ [WIP] Fix word-number phrases parsing (e.g., "two days later", "two days from now") Feb 26, 2026

serhii73 marked this pull request as ready for review February 26, 2026 15:10

Copilot AI reviewed Feb 26, 2026

View reviewed changes

Merge branch 'fix/word-number-phrases-parsing' into copilot/improve-d…

10d81b8

…ocumentation-examples

serhii73 requested a review from Copilot February 26, 2026 15:15

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of serhii73 February 26, 2026 15:15 View session

Copilot AI reviewed Feb 26, 2026

View reviewed changes

serhii73 merged commit cb15eae into fix/word-number-phrases-parsing Feb 27, 2026
6 checks passed

serhii73 deleted the copilot/improve-documentation-examples branch February 27, 2026 12:03

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[WIP] Fix word-number phrases parsing (e.g., "two days later", "two days from now")#1317

[WIP] Fix word-number phrases parsing (e.g., "two days later", "two days from now")#1317
serhii73 merged 3 commits intofix/word-number-phrases-parsingfrom
copilot/improve-documentation-examples

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		def test_word_numbers_advanced(self, date_string, expected_delta, description):
		"""Test number parsing with word numbers (1-12) in 'from now' phrases."""

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