JavaScript date retrieval methods

Date methods allow you to get and set date values (year, month, day, hour, minute, second, millisecond)

Date retrieval methods

The get method is used to get a part of the date (information from the date object). Below are the most commonly used methods (sorted in alphabetical order):

Method Description
getDate() Return the day as a number (1-31)
getDay() Get the name of the week as a number (0-6)
getFullYear() Get four-digit year (yyyy)
getHours() Get hours (0-23)
getMilliseconds() Get milliseconds (0-999)
getMinutes() Get minutes (0-59)
getMonth() Get month (0-11)
getSeconds() Get seconds (0-59)
getTime() Get time (from January 1, 1970 to now)

getTime() method

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

Example

var d = new Date();
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = d.getTime();

Try it yourself

getFullYear() method

getFullYear() The method returns the year of the date in four-digit form:

Example

var d = new Date();
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = d.getFullYear();

Try it yourself

getMonth() method

getMonth() Return the month of the date as a number (0-11):

Example

var d = new Date();
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = d.getMonth();

In JavaScript, the first month (January) is month number 0, so December returns month number 11.

You can use an array of names, and use getMonth() Return the month as a name:

Example

var d = new Date();
var months = 
            [
            "January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", 
            "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"
            ;
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = months[d.getMonth()];

Try it yourself

getDate() method

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

Example

var d = new Date();
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = d.getDate();

Try it yourself

getHours() method

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

Example

var d = new Date();
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = d.getHours();

Try it yourself

getMinutes() method

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

Example

var d = new Date();
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = d.getMinutes();

Try it yourself

getSeconds() method

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

Example

var d = new Date();
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = d.getSeconds();

Try it yourself

getMilliseconds() method

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

Example

var d = new Date();
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = d.getMilliseconds();

Try it yourself

getDay() method

getDay() The method returns the name of the weekday (weekday) as a number (0-6):

Example

var d = new Date();
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = d.getDay();

Try it yourself

In JavaScript, the first day of the week (0) represents "Sunday", even though some countries in the world consider the first day of the week to be "Monday".

You can use an array of names, and use getDay() Returns the name of the week as the name:

Example

var d = new Date();
var days = ["Sunday", "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday"];
document.getElementById("demo").innerHTML = days[d.getDay()];

Try it yourself

UTC date method

The UTC date method is used to handle UTC dates (Universal Time Zone dates):

Method Description
getUTCDate() Is equal to getDate(), but returns UTC date
getUTCDay() Is equal to getDay(), but returns UTC day
getUTCFullYear() Is equal to getFullYear(), but returns UTC year
getUTCHours() Is equal to getHours(), but returns UTC hours
getUTCMilliseconds() Is equal to getMilliseconds(), but returns UTC milliseconds
getUTCMinutes() Is equal to getMinutes(), but returns UTC minutes
getUTCMonth() Is equal to getMonth(), but returns UTC month
getUTCSeconds() Is equal to getSeconds(), but returns UTC seconds

Complete JavaScript Date Reference Manual

For a complete date reference manual, please visit our full JavaScript Date Reference Manual.

This manual includes descriptions and examples of all date properties and methods.