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JavaScript - get current time

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Created by:

Savannah

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In this article, we would like to show you how to get the current time using Date class in JavaScript.

Quick solution:

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var now = Date.now();
​
console.log('Current unix millisecond time: ' + now);

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1. Predefined methods example

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var now = new Date();
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console.log('Current unix millisecond time: ' + now.getTime());
console.log('Current date: ' + now.toDateString());
console.log('Current time: ' + now.toTimeString());
console.log('Current date & time: ' + now.toString());

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Note: during using to...String methods it is necessaryto be careful because of specific formatting of data and time on the locale.

3. Custom formatting

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JavaScript API provides different methods that let us create our own date and time formatting.

3.1. Modern JavaScript (>= ES6) custom date & time formatting example

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renderNumber method can be replaced with built-in padStart method when modern JavaScript API is used.

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const renderNumber = (value, length) =>
{
    let result = String(value);
​
    for (; length > result.length; length -= 1)
        result = '0' + result;
​
    return result;
};
​
const renderDate = (date) =>
{
    const year = renderNumber(date.getFullYear(), 4);
    const month = renderNumber(date.getMonth() + 1, 2);
    const day = renderNumber(date.getDate(), 2);
​
    return `${year}.${month}.${day}`;
};
​
const renderTime = (date) =>
 {
    const hours = renderNumber(date.getHours(), 2);
    const minutes = renderNumber(date.getMinutes(), 2);
    const seconds = renderNumber(date.getSeconds(), 2);
    const milliseconds = renderNumber(date.getMilliseconds(), 3);
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    return `${hours}:${minutes}:${seconds}.${milliseconds}`;
};
​
const renderDateTime = (date) =>
{
    const dateText = renderDate(date);
    const timeText = renderTime(date);
  
    return `${dateText} ${timeText}`;
};
​
// Usage example:
​
var now = new Date();
​
var date = renderDate(now);
var time = renderTime(now);
var dateTime = renderDateTime(now);
​
console.log('Current date: ' + date);
console.log('Current time: ' + time);
console.log('Current date & time: ' + dateTime);

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3.1. Old JavaScript custom date & time formatting example

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function renderNumber(value, length) {
    var result = String(value);
    for(; length > result.length; length -= 1) {
        result = '0' + result;
    }
    return result;
}
​
function renderDate(date) {
    var year = date.getFullYear();
    var month = date.getMonth() + 1;
    var day = date.getDate();
​
    var text = renderNumber(year, 4) 
        + '.' + renderNumber(month, 2) 
        + '.' + renderNumber(day, 2);
    return text;
}
​
function renderTime(date) {
    var hour = date.getHours();
    var minute = date.getMinutes();
    var second = date.getSeconds();
    var millisecond = date.getMilliseconds();
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    var text = renderNumber(hour, 2) 
        + ':' + renderNumber(minute, 2) 
        + ':' + renderNumber(second, 2) 
        + '.' + renderNumber(millisecond, 3);
    return text;
}
​
function renderDateTime(date) {
    var dateText = renderDate(date);
    var timeText = renderTime(date);
  
    return dateText + ' ' + timeText;
}
​
// Usage example:
​
var now = new Date();
​
var date = renderDate(now);
var time = renderTime(now);
var dateTime = renderDateTime(now);
​
console.log('Current date: ' + date);
console.log('Current time: ' + time);
console.log('Current date & time: ' + dateTime);