Reading date components

JavaScript course · Intermediate · Lesson 113/134

Learn to read date components with getFullYear, getMonth and getDate.

Reading date components

You read the parts of a Date object with methods that start with get. Each method returns a number.

const d = new Date(2024, 4, 12);
d.getFullYear(); // 2024
d.getMonth();    // 4 (May)
d.getDate();     // 12
d.getDay();      // 1 (Monday)

getMonth returns the month from 0 to 11; May is 4. getDate returns the day of the month from 1 to 31. getDay returns the weekday from 0 to 6; 0 is Sunday.

Reading hours and minutes

You can also read time parts like hours and minutes. The same get family applies.

const t = new Date();
t.getHours();   // 0-23
t.getMinutes(); // 0-59
t.getSeconds(); // 0-59

getHours returns the hour in 24-hour format. Minutes and seconds range from 0 to 59. With these values you build a clock or a time stamp.

Exercise Log the month and day values

The event variable holds the date 12 May 2024. Read the month with getMonth() and the day with getDate(), and log both with console.log.

Show example solution

getMonth returns the month 0-11; getDate returns the day of the month 1-31.
Example solution:
const event = new Date(2024, 4, 12);
console.log(event.getMonth());
console.log(event.getDate());

Test yourself

Which month is created by new Date(2024, 3, 10)?
```
new Date(2024, 3, 10)
```
- April (4th month)
- March (3rd month)
- May (5th month)
- January (1st month)
Show answer

April (4th month) — Correct! The month index starts at zero, so 3 gives April.

Read the month value

const d = new Date(2024, 2, 15);
const month = d.____;
console.log(month);

Show answer

const d = new Date(2024, 2, 15);
const month = d.getMonth();
console.log(month);

Match the get methods

getFullYear()

year
getMonth()

month (0-11)
getDate()

day (1-31)
getDay()

weekday

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Reading date components