The subtract() method of Temporal.Instant instances returns a new Temporal.Instant object representing this instant moved backward by a given duration (in a form convertible by Temporal.Duration.from()).

If you want to subtract two instants and get a duration, use since() or until() instead.

Syntax

subtract(duration)

Parameters

duration

A string, an object, or a Temporal.Duration instance representing a duration to subtract from this instant. It is converted to a Temporal.Duration object using the same algorithm as Temporal.Duration.from().

Return value

A new Temporal.Instant object representing subtracting duration from this instant. If duration is positive, then the returned instant is earlier than this instant; if duration is negative, then the returned instant is later than this instant.

Exceptions

RangeError

Thrown in one of the following cases:

• duration is a calendar duration (it has a non-zero years, months, or weeks), or has a non-zero days, because calendar durations are ambiguous without a calendar and time reference.
• The result is not in the representable range, which is ±10⁸ days, or about ±273,972.6 years, from the Unix epoch.

Description

Subtracting a duration is equivalent to adding its negation, so all the same considerations apply.

Examples

Subtracting a Temporal.Duration

const instant = Temporal.Instant.fromEpochMilliseconds(1000);
const duration = Temporal.Duration.from("PT1S"); // One-second duration
const newInstant = instant.subtract(duration);
console.log(newInstant.epochMilliseconds); // 0

For more examples, see add().

Specifications

Browser compatibility

See also

• Temporal.Instant
• Temporal.Duration
• Temporal.Instant.prototype.add()
• Temporal.Instant.prototype.since()
• Temporal.Instant.prototype.until()