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Date.prototype.toString()

The toString() method returns a string representing the specified Date object interpreted in the local timezone.

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Syntax

toString()

Return value

A string representing the given date.

Description

The Date object overrides the toString() method of Object. Date.prototype.toString() returns a string representation of the Date as interpreted in the local timezone, containing both the date and the time — it joins the string representation specified in toDateString() and toTimeString() together, adding a space in between.

For example: "Thu Jan 01 1970 04:42:04 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)"

The toString() method is automatically called when a date is coerced to a string, such as const today = 'Today is ' + new Date().

Date.prototype.toString() must be called on Date instances. If the this value does not inherit from Date.prototype, a TypeError is thrown.

  • If you only want to get the date part, use toDateString().
  • If you only want to get the time part, use toTimeString().
  • 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 toLocaleString().

Examples

Using toString()

const x = new Date();
console.log(x.toString()); // Mon Sep 08 1998 14:36:22 GMT-0700 (PDT)

Specifications

Browser compatibility

Desktop Mobile Server
Chrome Edge Firefox Internet Explorer Opera Safari WebView Android Chrome Android Firefox for Android Opera Android Safari on IOS Samsung Internet Deno Node.js
toString 1 12 1 3 3 1 4.4 18 4 10.1 1 1.0 1.0 0.10.0

See also

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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/toString