JavaScript Date

The Date object in JavaScript is used to work with dates and times. It provides various methods to create, manipulate, and format dates.

1. Creating a Date Object

You can create a Date object using the new Date() constructor in several ways:

1.1. Current Date and Time

let currentDate = new Date();
console.log(currentDate);  // Output: Current date and time

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1.2. Specific Date and Time

let specificDate = new Date('2025-01-19T10:20:30Z');
console.log(specificDate);  // Output: Sun Jan 19 2025 10:20:30 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

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1.3. Using Year, Month, Day, etc.

let customDate = new Date(2025, 0, 19, 10, 20, 30);
console.log(customDate);  // Output: Sun Jan 19 2025 10:20:30 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

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Note: The month is zero-indexed (January is 0).

2. Getting Date and Time Components

The Date object provides several methods to get individual date and time components:

getFullYear(): Returns the year.

console.log(currentDate.getFullYear());  // Output: 2025

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getMonth(): Returns the month (0-11).

console.log(currentDate.getMonth());  // Output: 0 (January)

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getDate(): Returns the day of the month (1-31).
```
console.log(currentDate.getDate());  // Output: 19
```
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getDay(): Returns the day of the week (0-6).

console.log(currentDate.getDay());  // Output: 0 (Sunday)

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getHours(): Returns the hour (0-23).

console.log(currentDate.getHours());  // Output: 10

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getMinutes(): Returns the minutes (0-59).

console.log(currentDate.getMinutes());  // Output: 20

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getSeconds(): Returns the seconds (0-59).

console.log(currentDate.getSeconds());  // Output: 30

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3. Setting Date and Time Components

You can set individual date and time components using the following methods:

setFullYear(year): Sets the year.

currentDate.setFullYear(2030);
console.log(currentDate.getFullYear());  // Output: 2030

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setMonth(month): Sets the month (0-11).

currentDate.setMonth(6);
console.log(currentDate.getMonth());  // Output: 6 (July)

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setDate(day): Sets the day of the month (1-31).

currentDate.setDate(15);
console.log(currentDate.getDate());  // Output: 15

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setHours(hours): Sets the hour (0-23).

currentDate.setHours(8);
console.log(currentDate.getHours());  // Output: 8

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4. Formatting Dates

JavaScript provides some basic methods to format dates:

toDateString(): Converts the date to a readable string.

console.log(currentDate.toDateString());  // Output: Sun Jan 15 2030

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toISOString(): Converts the date to an ISO 8601 string.

console.log(currentDate.toISOString());  // Output: 2030-01-15T08:20:30.000Z

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toLocaleDateString(): Converts the date to a string based on the local date format.
```
console.log(currentDate.toLocaleDateString());  // Output: 1/15/2030
```
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5. Calculating Time Differences

You can calculate the difference between two dates by subtracting them, which returns the difference in milliseconds.

Example: Difference Between Two Dates

let date1 = new Date('2025-01-01');
let date2 = new Date('2025-01-19');
let difference = date2 - date1;

let daysDifference = difference / (1000 * 60 * 60 * 24);
console.log(daysDifference);  // Output: 18

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Summary of JavaScript Date

new Date(): Used to create a date object with the current date and time or a specific date.
getFullYear(), getMonth(), getDate(): Methods to get individual date components.
setFullYear(), setMonth(), setDate(): Methods to set individual date components.
Formatting: Use toDateString(), toISOString(), and toLocaleDateString() for date formatting.
Calculations: Subtract date objects to find the time difference in milliseconds.