HTMLModElement: dateTime property

The dateTime property of the HTMLModElement interface is a string containing a machine-readable date with an optional time value. It reflects the datetime HTML attribute of the <del> and <ins> elements.

Value

A string. For valid string formats, see the datetime valid values.

Examples

Given the following HTML:

<p>The paragraph <del datetime="2021-11-01">has been</del> changed</p>

We can get the value of the dateTime attribute of the <del> element:

const deletedText = document.querySelector("del");
console.log(deletedText.dateTime); // "2021-11-01"

We can also set the dateTime property. Here, we create an <ins> element, then set the dateTime property of the <ins> element to the current date in YYYY-MM-DD format then insert it after the deleted text:

const insertedText = document.createElement("ins");
const now = new Date();
insertedText.dateTime = `${now.getFullYear()}-${now.getMonth() + 1}-${now.getDate()}`;
insertedText.appendChild(document.createTextNode("was"));
deletedText.insertAdjacentElement("afterend", insertedText);

If our script ran on January 9, 2025, our HTML would be as follows:

<p>
  The paragraph <del datetime="2021-11-01">has been</del
  ><ins datetime="2025-1-9">was</ins> changed
</p>

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• <del>
• <ins>
• HTMLModElement
• HTMLModElement.cite
• HTMLTimeElement.dateTime
• Date strings
• Local date and time strings
• Date
• Element.insertAdjacentElement()