Tutorials References Exercises Videos Menu
Create Website Get Certified Upgrade

JS Tutorial

JS HOME JS Introduction JS Where To JS Output JS Statements JS Syntax JS Comments JS Variables JS Let JS Const JS Operators JS Arithmetic JS Assignment JS Data Types JS Functions JS Objects JS Events JS Strings JS String Methods JS String Search JS String Templates JS Numbers JS BigInt JS Number Methods JS Number Properties JS Arrays JS Array Methods JS Array Sort JS Array Iteration JS Array Const JS Dates JS Date Formats JS Date Get Methods JS Date Set Methods JS Math JS Random JS Booleans JS Comparisons JS If Else JS Switch JS Loop For JS Loop For In JS Loop For Of JS Loop While JS Break JS Iterables JS Sets JS Maps JS Typeof JS Type Conversion JS Bitwise JS RegExp JS Precedence JS Errors JS Scope JS Hoisting JS Strict Mode JS this Keyword JS Arrow Function JS Classes JS Modules JS JSON JS Debugging JS Style Guide JS Best Practices JS Mistakes JS Performance JS Reserved Words

JS Versions

JS Versions JS 2009 (ES5) JS 2015 (ES6) JS 2016 JS 2017 JS 2018 JS 2019 JS 2020 JS 2021 JS IE / Edge JS History

JS Objects

Object Definitions Object Properties Object Methods Object Display Object Accessors Object Constructors Object Prototypes Object Iterables Object Sets Object Maps Object Reference

JS Functions

Function Definitions Function Parameters Function Invocation Function Call Function Apply Function Bind Function Closures

JS Classes

Class Intro Class Inheritance Class Static

JS Async

JS Callbacks JS Asynchronous JS Promises JS Async/Await

JS HTML DOM

DOM Intro DOM Methods DOM Document DOM Elements DOM HTML DOM Forms DOM CSS DOM Animations DOM Events DOM Event Listener DOM Navigation DOM Nodes DOM Collections DOM Node Lists

JS Browser BOM

JS Window JS Screen JS Location JS History JS Navigator JS Popup Alert JS Timing JS Cookies

JS Web APIs

Web API Intro Web Forms API Web History API Web Storage API Web Worker API Web Fetch API Web Geolocation API

JS AJAX

AJAX Intro AJAX XMLHttp AJAX Request AJAX Response AJAX XML File AJAX PHP AJAX ASP AJAX Database AJAX Applications AJAX Examples

JS JSON

JSON Intro JSON Syntax JSON vs XML JSON Data Types JSON Parse JSON Stringify JSON Objects JSON Arrays JSON Server JSON PHP JSON HTML JSON JSONP

JS vs jQuery

jQuery Selectors jQuery HTML jQuery CSS jQuery DOM

JS Graphics

JS Graphics JS Canvas JS Plotly JS Chart.js JS Google Chart JS D3.js

JS Examples

JS Examples JS HTML DOM JS HTML Input JS HTML Objects JS HTML Events JS Browser JS Editor JS Exercises JS Quiz JS Certificate

JS References

JavaScript Objects HTML DOM Objects


JavaScript Get Date Methods


The new Date() Constructor

In JavaScript, date objects are created with new Date().

new Date() returns a date object with the current date and time.

Get the Current Time

const date = new Date();
Try it Yourself »

Date Get Methods

Method Description
getFullYear() Get year as a four digit number (yyyy)
getMonth() Get month as a number (0-11)
getDate() Get day as a number (1-31)
getDay() Get weekday as a number (0-6)
getHours() Get hour (0-23)
getMinutes() Get minute (0-59)
getSeconds() Get second (0-59)
getMilliseconds() Get millisecond (0-999)
getTime() Get time (milliseconds since January 1, 1970)

Note 1

The get methods above return Local time.

Universal time (UTC) is documented at the bottom of this page.

Note 2

The get methods return information from existing date objects.

In a date object, the time is static. The "clock" is not "running".

The time in a date object is NOT the same as current time.


The getFullYear() Method

The getFullYear() method returns the year of a date as a four digit number:

Examples

const d = new Date("2021-03-25");
d.getFullYear();
Try it Yourself »
const d = new Date();
d.getFullYear();
Try it Yourself »

Warning !

Old JavaScript code might use the non-standard method getYear().

getYear() is supposed to return a 2-digit year.

getYear() is deprecated. Do not use it!


The getMonth() Method

The getMonth() method returns the month of a date as a number (0-11).

Note

In JavaScript, January is month number 0, February is number 1, ...

Finally, December is month number 11.

Examples

const d = new Date("2021-03-25");
d.getMonth();
Try it Yourself »
const d = new Date();
d.getMonth();
Try it Yourself »

Note

You can use an array of names to return the month as a name:

Examples

const months = ["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"];

const d = new Date("2021-03-25");
let month = months[d.getMonth()];
Try it Yourself »
const months = ["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"];

const d = new Date();
let month = months[d.getMonth()];
Try it Yourself »

The getDate() Method

The getDate() method returns the day of a date as a number (1-31):

Examples

const d = new Date("2021-03-25");
d.getDate();
Try it Yourself »
const d = new Date();
d.getDate();
Try it Yourself »


The getHours() Method

The getHours() method returns the hours of a date as a number (0-23):

Examples

const d = new Date("2021-03-25");
d.getHours();
Try it Yourself »
const d = new Date();
d.getHours();
Try it Yourself »

The getMinutes() Method

The getMinutes() method returns the minutes of a date as a number (0-59):

Examples

const d = new Date("2021-03-25");
d.getMinutes();
Try it Yourself »
const d = new Date();
d.getMinutes();
Try it Yourself »

The getSeconds() Method

The getSeconds() method returns the seconds of a date as a number (0-59):

Examples

const d = new Date("2021-03-25");
d.getSeconds();
Try it Yourself »
const d = new Date();
d.getSeconds();
Try it Yourself »

The getMilliseconds() Method

The getMilliseconds() method returns the milliseconds of a date as a number (0-999):

Examples

const d = new Date("2021-03-25");
d.getMilliseconds();
Try it Yourself »
const d = new Date();
d.getMilliseconds();
Try it Yourself »

The getDay() Method

The getDay() method returns the weekday of a date as a number (0-6).

Note

In JavaScript, the first day of the week (day 0) is Sunday.

Some countries in the world consider the first day of the week to be Monday.

Examples

const d = new Date("2021-03-25");
d.getDay();
Try it Yourself »
const d = new Date();
d.getDay();
Try it Yourself »

Note

You can use an array of names, and getDay() to return weekday as a name:

Examples

const days = ["Sunday", "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday"];

const d = new Date("2021-03-25");
let day = days[d.getDay()];
Try it Yourself »
const days = ["Sunday", "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday"];

const d = new Date();
let day = days[d.getDay()];
Try it Yourself »

The getTime() Method

The getTime() method returns the number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970:

Examples

const d = new Date("1970-01-01");
d.getTime();
Try it Yourself »
const d = new Date("2021-03-25");
d.getTime();
Try it Yourself »
const d = new Date();
d.getTime();
Try it Yourself »

The Date.now() Method

Date.now() returns the number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970.

Examples

let ms = Date.now();
Try it Yourself »

Calculate the number of years since 1970/01/01:

const minute = 1000 * 60;
const hour = minute * 60;
const day = hour * 24;
const year = day * 365;

let years = Math.round(Date.now() / year);
Try it Yourself »

Date.now() is a static method of the Date object.

You cannot use it on a date object like myDate.now().

The syntax is always Date.now().


UTC Date Get Methods

Method Same As Description
getUTCDate() getDate()Returns the UTC date
getUTCFullYear() getFullYear()Returns the UTC year
getUTCMonth() getMonth()Returns the UTC month
getUTCDay() getDay()Returns the UTC day
getUTCHours() getHours()Returns the UTC hour
getUTCMinutes() getMinutes()Returns the UTC minutes
getUTCSeconds() getSeconds()Returns the UTC seconds
getUTCMilliseconds() getMilliseconds()Returns the UTC milliseconds

UTC methods use UTC time (Coordinated Universal Time).

UTC time is the same as GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).

The difference between Local time and UTC time can be up to 24 hours.






The getTimezoneOffset() Method

The getTimezoneOffset() method returns the difference (in minutes) between local time an UTC time:

Example

let diff = d.getTimezoneOffset();
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.

Test Yourself With Exercises

Exercise:

Use the correct Date method to get the month (0-11) out of a date object.

const d = new Date();
month = ;

Start the Exercise