JavaScript Date Objects
JavaScript Date Object lets us work with dates:
Mon May 16 2022 15:47:16 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)
Year: 2022 Month: 5 Day: 16 Hours: 15 Minutes: 47 Seconds: 16
Example
const d = new Date();
Try it Yourself »
JavaScript Date Output
By default, JavaScript will use the browser's time zone and display a date as a
full text string:
Mon May 16 2022 15:47:16 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)
You will learn much more about how to display dates, later in this tutorial.
Creating Date Objects
Date objects are created with the new Date() constructor.
There are 4 ways to create a new date object:
new Date()
new Date(year, month, day, hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds)
new Date(milliseconds)
new Date(date string)
new Date()
new Date() creates a new date object with the current date and time:
Example
const d = new Date();
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Date objects are static. The computer time is ticking, but date objects are not.
new Date(year, month, ...)
new Date(year, month, ...) creates a new date object with a specified date
and time.
7 numbers specify year, month, day, hour, minute, second, and millisecond (in
that order):
Example
const d = new Date(2018, 11, 24, 10, 33, 30, 0);
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Note: JavaScript counts months from 0 to 11:
January = 0.
December = 11.
Specifying a month higher than 11, will not result in an error but add the
overflow to the next year:
Specifying:
const d = new Date(2018, 15, 24, 10, 33, 30);
Is the same as:
const d = new Date(2019, 3, 24, 10, 33, 30);
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Specifying a day higher than max, will not result in an error but add the overflow
to the next month:
Specifying:
const d = new Date(2018, 5, 35, 10, 33, 30);
Is the same as:
const d = new Date(2018, 6, 5, 10, 33, 30);
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Using 6, 4, 3, or 2 Numbers
6 numbers specify year, month, day, hour, minute, second:
Example
const d = new Date(2018, 11, 24, 10, 33, 30);
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5 numbers specify year, month, day, hour, and minute:
Example
const d = new Date(2018, 11, 24, 10, 33);
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4 numbers specify year, month, day, and hour:
Example
const d = new Date(2018, 11, 24, 10);
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3 numbers specify year, month, and day:
Example
const d = new Date(2018, 11, 24);
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2 numbers specify year and month:
Example
const d = new Date(2018, 11);
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You cannot omit month. If you supply only one parameter it will be treated as
milliseconds.
Example
const d = new Date(2018);
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Previous Century
One and two digit years will be interpreted as 19xx:
Example
const d = new Date(99, 11, 24);
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Example
const d = new Date(9, 11, 24);
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new Date(dateString)
new Date(dateString) creates a new date object from a date string:
Example
const d = new Date("October 13, 2014 11:13:00");
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Date strings are described in the next chapter.
JavaScript Stores Dates as
Milliseconds
JavaScript stores dates as number of milliseconds since January 01, 1970,
00:00:00 UTC (Universal Time Coordinated).
Zero time is January 01, 1970 00:00:00 UTC.
Now the time is: 1652741236645 milliseconds past January 01, 1970
new Date(milliseconds)
new Date(milliseconds) creates a new date object as zero time plus
milliseconds:
Example
const d = new Date(0);
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01 January 1970 plus 100 000 000 000 milliseconds is approximately 03 March
1973:
Example
const d = new Date(100000000000);
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January 01 1970 minus 100 000 000 000 milliseconds is approximately October
31 1966:
Example
const d = new Date(-100000000000);
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Example
const d = new Date(86400000);
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One day (24 hours) is 86 400 000 milliseconds.
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Date Methods
When a Date object is created, a number of methods allow you to operate on it.
Date methods allow you to get and set the year, month, day, hour, minute,
second, and millisecond of date objects, using either local time or UTC
(universal, or GMT) time.
Date methods and time zones are covered in the next chapters.
Displaying Dates
JavaScript will (by default) output dates in full text string format:
Example
Mon May 16 2022 15:47:16 GMT-0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)
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When you display a date object in HTML, it is automatically converted to a
string, with the toString() method.
Example
const d = new Date();
[Link]();
Try it Yourself »
The toUTCString() method converts a date to a UTC string (a date display
standard).
Example
const d = new Date();
[Link]();
Try it Yourself »
The toDateString() method converts a date to a more readable format:
Example
const d = new Date();
[Link]();
Try it Yourself »
The toISOString() method converts a Date object to a string, using the ISO
standard format:
Example
const d = new Date();
[Link]();
Try it Yourself »
Complete JavaScript Date Reference
For a complete Date reference, go to our:
Complete JavaScript Date Reference.
The reference contains descriptions and examples of all Date properties and
methods.
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