4 ways to format datetime in JavaScript with sample codes

How to format Date in JavaScript.

There are 4 ways to format date time.

This article explains those methods with code examples.

Table of Contents

1. Format by using Date.toISOString()
2. Format by template literal
3. Format by Date utility methods
4. Format by Date.js library

1. Format by using Date.toISOString()

The first method is formatting by Date.toISOString().

What’s Date.toISOString() ? :

The toISOString() method returns a string in simplified extended ISO format (ISO 8601), which is always 24 or 27 characters long (YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ or ±YYYYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss.sssZ, respectively). The timezone is always zero UTC offset, as denoted by the suffix Z.

Quote : https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date/toISOString

Example code to format date by using this method :

const date1 = new Date();
console.log(date1.toISOString());
  /// => 2023-02-21T01:47:27.185Z

const date2 = new Date('2023-01-01');
console.log(date2.toISOString());
  /// => 2023-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

The timestamp returned is a string representing the given date in ISO 8601 format, based on Coordinated Universal Time. ( Reference : ISO 8601 on Wikipedia)

2. Format by template literal

If you want to format the date and time on your own…

Try to use template literal.

Example code to format datetime by template literal :

/**
 * Utitily func to format date time.
 **/
function getTimeStamp(date){
  return `
    ${date.getFullYear()}-${date.getMonth()+1}-${date.getDate()}
    ${date.getHours()}:${date.getMinutes()}:${date.getSeconds()}
  `.trim().replace(/\s+/, ' ');
}

const date1 = new Date();
console.log(getTimeStamp(date1));
  /// => 2023-2-21 10:58:59

const date2 = new Date('2023-01-01');
console.log(getTimeStamp(date2));
  /// => 2023-1-1 9:0:0

Variables can be expanded in template literals with the statement like ${blabla} .

This is a useful approach when existing methods are insufficient.

3. Format by Date utility methods

Date also has many formatting methods not only toISOString().

List of methods that can format Date :

Use them for different purposes.

4. Format by Date.js library

Date.js is useful library for parsing and formatting Date.

Github : datejs/Datejs :

https://github.com/datejs/Datejs

Sample code to format date by Date.js :

new Date().toString()                  // "Wed Oct 31 2007 16:18:10 GMT-0700 (Pacfic Daylight Time)"
new Date().toString("M/d/yyyy")        // "10/31/2007"

Date.today().toString("d-MMM-yyyy")    // "31-Oct-2007"
new Date().toString("HH:mm")           // "16:18"

Date.today().toString("MMMM dS, yyyy") // "April 12th, 2008"

Format Specifiers can be used for date formatting.

So useful 🙂

Code Ronna