JAVASCRIPT

Working with Dates in JavaScript

By Shiva Sunchu

Dec 02, 2024 2 Min Read 122 Views

(Last Updated)

Working with dates and times is a fundamental part of many JavaScript applications, from scheduling events and logging activities to displaying timestamps and performing date calculations. JavaScript provides the Date object as a built-in tool for creating, manipulating, and formatting dates and times.

In this article, we’ll take a comprehensive look at working with dates in JavaScript. We’ll start by exploring how to create and initialize dates using the Date object, followed by common operations like formatting, parsing, and manipulating dates.

Using Date object in JavaScript

Creating Date objects: -
Retrieving Date components: -

Date using the Moment.js library

Key Features of Moment.js

Summary

Using Date object in JavaScript

One built-in datatype that facilitates working with dates and times is the JavaScript Date object. It offers several techniques for creating, modifying, and formatting dates.

Creating Date objects: –

Current Date and Time

const now = new Date();
console.log(now, typeof now) // 2024-10-03T02:43:23.173Z object

Timestamp

const timestamp = Date.now(); // 1727923507074

const dateFromTimestamp = new Date(timestamp);
console.log(dateFromTimestamp)// 2024-10-03T02:45:07.074Z

Creating Date object using string

const dateString = Date();
console.log(dateString, typeof dateString)
// Thu Oct 03 2024 08:18:56 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time) string

const dateFromString = new Date(dateString);
console.log(dateFromString, typeof dateFromString)
// 2024-10-03T02:49:58.000Z object
const dateStringTwo = “15 August 2024”;

const dateFromStringTwo = new Date(dateStringTwo);
console.log(dateFromStringTwo, typeof dateFromStringTwo);
// 2024-08-15T00:00:00.000Z object

Retrieving Date components: –

Once you have a Date object, you can retrieve multiple components using built-in methods

const dateObject = new Date(); // 2024-10-03T03:09:24.714Z

console.log(dateObject.getFullYear()); // 2024 number
console.log(dateObject.getMonth()); // 9 number
console.log(dateObject.getDate()); // 3 number
console.log(dateObject.getDay()); // 4 for Thursday (0 = Sunday)

Date using the Moment.js library

A popular JavaScript library called Moment.js makes manipulating dates and times easier. Compared to the native JavaScript Date object, it offers a richer feature set that makes working with dates more straightforward.

Key Features of Moment.js

Simplified Date Manipulation: Moment.js makes it simple to manipulate dates by providing methods for adding and subtracting time units (days, months, and years).
Flexible Parsing: The library can parse dates from numerous formats, making managing user input or data from different sources easier.
Formatting: Moment.js provides powerful formatting options to display dates in any desired format.
Relative Time: With built-in methods, you may quickly represent relative time (e.g.: – 7 days ago).
Validation: includes methods for validating date formats and checking if a date is valid.

Install the moment.js node package using – npm install moment

Creating moment instances

const date = moment();
console.log(date, typeof date) // Moment<2024-10-03T09:03:48+05:30> object

const dateString = “2024-08-15”;

const dateFromString = moment(dateString);
console.log(dateFromString, typeof dateFromString);
// Moment<2024-08-15T00:00:00+05:30> object

const parsedDate = moment(“03/10/2024”, “DD/MM/YYYY”);
console.log(parsedDate, typeof parsedDate);
// Moment<2024-10-03T00:00:00+05:30> object

Formatting dates

const formattedDateOne = moment().format(“DD-MM-YYYY”);
console.log(formattedDateOne, typeof formattedDateOne);
// 03-10-2024 string

const formattedDateTwo = moment().format(“YYYY-MM-DD”);
console.log(formattedDateTwo, typeof formattedDateTwo);
// 2024-10-03 string

Manipulating dates

const nextWeek = moment().add(7, “days”);
console.log(nextWeek, typeof nextWeek);
// Moment<2024-10-10T09:13:40+05:30> object

const lastMonth = moment().subtract(1, “months”);
console.log(lastMonth, typeof lastMonth);
// Moment<2024-09-03T09:13:40+05:30> object

Validation and Relative time

const isValidDate = moment(“2024-02-30”).isValid();
console.log(isValidDate); // false

const relativeTime = moment(“2020-01-01”).fromNow();
console.log(relativeTime, typeof relativeTime);
// 5 years ago string

Chaining Methods

const now = moment();
console.log(now);
// Moment<2024-10-03T09:26:07+05:30> object

const resultOne = moment().add(5, “days”).subtract(2, “months”);
console.log(resultOne, typeof resultOne);
// Moment<2024-08-08T09:24:59+05:30> object

const resultTwo = moment()
.add(5, “days”)
.subtract(2, “months”)
.format(“DD-MM-YYY”);

console.log(resultTwo, typeof resultTwo);
// 08-08-242024 string

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Summary

Although the built-in JavaScript Date object is compact and a component of the language, Moment.js offers more flexible and user-friendly functionality. In applications where complex date manipulation, formatting, and time zone management are necessary, Moment.js can greatly reduce development time and improve the readability of code. Though Moment.js offers advantages to current codebases, it’s crucial to remember that as of September 2020, it is no longer actively supported. As such, developers should take into account more contemporary options, such as date-fns or Luxon, for new projects.

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About the Author

Shiva Sunchu

Bits, bytes and binary came to life during the later years of my Physics graduation. Absurd! but it dates back to my Diploma days in Electrical Engineering when transistors were introduced. I never thought that the breakdown voltage of a semiconductor would excite me more.