Webmaster in a Nutshell, Third Edition

Name

Date

Constructor

new Date( );            // current time
new Date(milliseconds) // from timestamp
new Date(datestring);  // parse string
new Date(year, month, day, hours, minutes, seconds, ms)

With no arguments, the Date( ) constructor creates a Date object set to the current date and time. When one numeric argument is passed, it is taken as the internal numeric representation of the date in milliseconds, as returned by the getTime( ) method. When one string argument is passed, it is taken as a string representation of a date. Otherwise, the constructor is passed between two and seven numeric arguments that specify the individual fields of the local date and time. All but the first two arguments—the year and month fields—are optional. See the static Date.UTC( ) method for an alternative that uses universal time instead of local time.

When called as a function without the new operator, Date( ) ignores any arguments passed to it and returns a string representation of the current date and time.

Methods

The Date object has no properties; instead, all access to date and time values is done through methods. Most methods come in two forms: one that operates using local time, and one that has “UTC” in its name and operates using universal (UTC or GMT) time. These pairs of methods are listed here. Note that the return values and optional arguments described below for most set( ) methods are not supported prior to ECMA standardization. See the various get( ) methods for the legal ranges of each of the ...