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Date.prototype.toDateString()

The toDateString() method of Date instances returns a string representing the date portion of this date interpreted in the local timezone.

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Syntax

js
toDateString()

Parameters

None.

Return value

A string representing the date portion of the given date (see description for the format). Returns "Invalid Date" if the date is invalid.

Description

Date instances refer to a specific point in time. toDateString() interprets the date in the local timezone and formats the date part in English. It always uses the following format, separated by spaces:

  1. First three letters of the week day name
  2. First three letters of the month name
  3. Two-digit day of the month, padded on the left a zero if necessary
  4. Four-digit year (at least), padded on the left with zeros if necessary. May have a negative sign

For example: "Thu Jan 01 1970".

  • If you only want to get the time part, use toTimeString().
  • If you want to get both the date and time, use toString().
  • If you want to make the date interpreted as UTC instead of local timezone, use toUTCString().
  • If you want to format the date in a more user-friendly format (e.g. localization), use toLocaleTimeString().

Examples

Using toDateString()

js
const d = new Date(0);

console.log(d.toString()); // "Thu Jan 01 1970 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)"
console.log(d.toDateString()); // "Thu Jan 01 1970"

Specifications

Browser compatibility

Desktop Mobile Server
Chrome Edge Firefox Opera Safari Chrome Android Firefox for Android Opera Android Safari on IOS Samsung Internet WebView Android Deno Node.js
toDateString 1 12 1 5 1 18 4 10.1 1 1.0 4.4 1.0 0.10.0

See also

© 2005–2023 MDN contributors.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date/toDateString