Date Object (JavaScript)

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JavaScript - Internet Explorer 10

Enables basic storage and retrieval of dates and times.

dateObj = new Date()
dateObj = new Date(dateVal)
dateObj = new Date(year, month, date[, hours[, minutes[, seconds[,ms]]]])

Arguments

dateObj: Required. The variable name to which the Date object is assigned.
dateVal: Required. If a numeric value, dateVal represents the number of milliseconds in Universal Coordinated Time between the specified date and midnight January 1, 1970. If a string, dateVal is parsed according to the rules in Formatting Date and Time Strings (JavaScript). The dateVal argument can also be a VT_DATE value as returned from some ActiveX objects.
year: Required. The full year, for example, 1976 (and not 76).
month: Required. The month as an integer between 0 and 11 (January to December).
date: Required. The date as an integer between 1 and 31.
hours: Optional. Must be supplied if minutes is supplied. An integer from 0 to 23 (midnight to 11pm) that specifies the hour.
minutes: Optional. Must be supplied if seconds is supplied. An integer from 0 to 59 that specifies the minutes.
seconds: Optional. Must be supplied if milliseconds is supplied. An integer from 0 to 59 that specifies the seconds.
ms: Optional. An integer from 0 to 999 that specifies the milliseconds.

Remarks

A Date object contains a number representing a particular instant in time to within a millisecond. If the value of an argument is greater than its range or is a negative number, other stored values are modified accordingly. For example, if you specify 150 seconds, JavaScript redefines that number as two minutes and 30 seconds.

If the number is NaN, the object does not represent a specific instant of time. If you pass no parameters to the Date object, it is initialized to the current time (UTC). A value must be given to the object before you can use it.

The range of dates that can be represented in a Date object is approximately 285,616 years on either side of January 1, 1970.

See Date and Time Calculations (JavaScript) for more information about how to use the Date object and related methods.

Example

The following example illustrates the use of the Date object.

JScript

function dateDemo() {
    var s = "Today's date is: ";

    // Create a date object.
    var dt = new Date();

    // Get the month, day, and year.
    s += (dt.getMonth() + 1) + "/";
    s += dt.getDate() + "/";
    s += dt.getFullYear();

    return (s);
}

Requirements

The Date object was introduced in Internet Explorer before Internet Explorer 6. Some members in the following lists were introduced in later versions.

Properties

The following table lists properties of the Date Object.

Property	Description
constructor Property	Specifies the function that creates an object.
prototype Property	Returns a reference to the prototype for a class of objects.

Functions

The following table lists functions of the Date Object.

Functions	Description
Date.now Function	Returns the number of milliseconds between January 1, 1970, and the current date and time.
Date.parse Function	Parses a string containing a date, and returns the number of milliseconds between that date and midnight, January 1, 1970.
Date.UTC Function	Returns the number of milliseconds between midnight, January 1, 1970 Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) (or GMT) and the supplied date.

Methods

The following table lists methods of the Date Object.

Method	Description
getDate Method	Returns the day-of-the-month value using local time.
getDay Method	Returns the day-of-the-week value using local time.
getFullYear Method	Returns the year value using local time.
getHours Method	Returns the hours value using local time.
getMilliseconds Method	Returns the milliseconds value using local time.
getMinutes Method	Returns the minutes value using local time.
getMonth Method	Returns the month value using local time.
getSeconds Method	Returns seconds value using local time.
getTime Method	Returns the time value in a Date Object as the number of milliseconds since midnight January 1, 1970.
getTimezoneOffset Method	Returns the difference in minutes between the time on the host computer and Universal Coordinated Time (UTC).
getUTCDate Method	Returns the day-of-the-month value using UTC.
getUTCDay Method	Returns the day-of-the-week value using UTC.
getUTCFullYear Method	Returns the year value using UTC.
getUTCHours Method	Returns the hours value using UTC.
getUTCMilliseconds Method	Returns the milliseconds value using UTC.
getUTCMinutes Method	Returns the minutes value using UTC.
getUTCMonth Method	Returns the month value using UTC.
getUTCSeconds Method	Returns the seconds value using UTC.
getVarDate Method	Returns the VT_DATE value in a Date object.
getYear Method	Returns the year value .
hasOwnProperty Method	Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether an object has a property with the specified name.
isPrototypeOf Method	Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether an object exists in another object's prototype chain.
propertyIsEnumerable Method	Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether a specified property is part of an object and whether it is enumerable.
setDate Method	Sets the numeric day of the month using local time.
setFullYear Method	Sets the year value using local time.
setHours Method	Sets the hours value using local time.
setMilliseconds Method	Sets the milliseconds value using local time.
setMinutes Method	Sets the minutes value using local time.
setMonth Method	Sets the month value using local time.
setSeconds Method	Sets the seconds value using local time.
setTime Method	Sets the date and time value in the Date object.
setUTCDate Method	Sets the numeric day of the month using UTC.
setUTCFullYear Method	Sets the year value using UTC.
setUTCHours Method	Sets the hours value using UTC.
setUTCMilliseconds Method	Sets the milliseconds value using UTC.
setUTCMinutes Method	Sets the minutes value using UTC.
setUTCMonth Method	Sets the month value using UTC.
setUTCSeconds Method	Sets the seconds value using UTC.
setYear Method	Sets the year value using local time.
toDateString Method	Returns a date as a string value.
toGMTString Method	Returns a date converted to a string using Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
toISOString Method	Returns a date as a string value in ISO format.
toJSON Method	Used to transform data of an object type before the JSON serialization.
toLocaleDateString Method	Returns a date as a string value appropriate to the host environment's current locale.
toLocaleString Method	Returns an object converted to a string using the current locale.
toLocaleTimeString Method	Returns a time as a string value appropriate to the host environment's current locale.
toString Method	Returns a string representation of an object.
toTimeString Method	Returns a time as a string value.
toUTCString Method	Returns a date converted to a string using UTC.
valueOf Method	Returns the primitive value of the specified object.

Reference

JavaScript Objects

Formatting Date and Time Strings (JavaScript)

new Operator (JavaScript)

var Statement (JavaScript)

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