Date Formats

In JavaScript, date formats can vary depending on the region, use case, and how you want to display the date. Here are some common date formats and methods for displaying them

ISO 8601 Format (Default)

The default format in JavaScript for a date object is the ISO 8601 format: YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ.

const date = new Date();
console.log(date.toISOString()); // "2024-11-08T08:00:00.000Z"

This format is widely used for date storage in databases and APIs.

Locale-Specific Date Formats

JavaScript allows formatting dates according to the user's locale using the toLocaleDateString() method.

const date = new Date();
console.log(date.toLocaleDateString("en-US")); // "11/8/2024" (MM/DD/YYYY)
console.log(date.toLocaleDateString("en-GB")); // "08/11/2024" (DD/MM/YYYY)
console.log(date.toLocaleDateString("fr-FR")); // "08/11/2024" (DD/MM/YYYY)

You can also specify the options to customize the output.

const options = { year: "numeric", month: "long", day: "numeric" };
console.log(date.toLocaleDateString("en-US", options)); // "November 8, 2024"

Custom Date Format (Manual Formatting)

If you need a custom format, you can manually extract date components (year, month, day, etc.) using Date methods and construct a custom format.

const date = new Date();
const day = String(date.getDate()).padStart(2, "0");
const month = String(date.getMonth() + 1).padStart(2, "0"); // Months are 0-indexed
const year = date.getFullYear();
console.log(`${month}/${day}/${year}`); // "11/08/2024"

Unix Timestamp

A Unix timestamp is the number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970 (the Unix epoch). You can get this using Date.now() or getTime().

const timestamp = Date.now();
console.log(timestamp); // 1636774747418 (milliseconds)

If you need a Unix timestamp in seconds, divide the result by 1000.

const unixTimestampInSeconds = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000);
console.log(unixTimestampInSeconds); // 1636774747 (seconds)

UTC Format

You can also format dates in UTC using toUTCString().

const date = new Date();
console.log(date.toUTCString()); // "Fri, 08 Nov 2024 08:00:00 GMT"

Custom Time Format

For custom time formats (e.g., HH:mm:ss), you can use the getHours(), getMinutes(), and getSeconds() methods.

const date = new Date();
const hours = String(date.getHours()).padStart(2, "0");
const minutes = String(date.getMinutes()).padStart(2, "0");
const seconds = String(date.getSeconds()).padStart(2, "0");
console.log(`${hours}:${minutes}:${seconds}`); // "08:00:00"

Using Libraries for More Advanced Formatting

For more advanced or complex date formatting, libraries like date-fns or moment.js (though now deprecated) can help you with different custom formats easily.

Example with date-fns:

import { format } from "date-fns";
const date = new Date();
console.log(format(date, "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss")); // "2024-11-08 08:00:00"

Example with moment.js:

const moment = require("moment");
const date = moment();
console.log(date.format("YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss")); // "2024-11-08 08:00:00"

RFC 2822 Format

You can also convert the date to the RFC 2822 format using toString() or toUTCString().

const date = new Date();
console.log(date.toString()); // "Fri Nov 08 2024 08:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)"

Custom Full Date Format

This format includes the full weekday name, month, and year, like Day, Month Date, Year.

const date = new Date();
const options = {
    weekday: "long",
    year: "numeric",
    month: "long",
    day: "numeric",
};
console.log(date.toLocaleDateString("en-US", options)); // "Friday, November 8, 2024"

Summary of Common Date Formats

Format Type	Example	Code Example
ISO 8601	`2024-11-08T08:00:00.000Z`	`date.toISOString()`
US Locale (MM/DD/YYYY)	`11/08/2024`	`date.toLocaleDateString('en-US')`
UK Locale (DD/MM/YYYY)	`08/11/2024`	`date.toLocaleDateString('en-GB')`
Custom (MM/DD/YYYY)	`11/08/2024`	`const format = '${month}/${day}/${year}'`
Unix Timestamp (milliseconds)	`1636774747418`	`Date.now()`
UTC Format	`Fri, 08 Nov 2024 08:00:00 GMT`	`date.toUTCString()`
Time Format (HH:mm:ss)	`08:00:00`	`const format = '${hours}:${minutes}:${seconds}'`
Full Date Format (weekday, month, day)	`Friday, November 8, 2024`	`date.toLocaleDateString('en-US', options)`

These formats can be adapted further depending on your requirements.

FAQ

Examples