Date.prototype.toDateString()

The toDateString() method returns the date portion of a Date object in human readable form in American English.

Syntax

JavaScript
<var>dateObj</var>.toDateString()

Return value

A string representing the date portion of the given Date object in human readable form in American English.

Description

Date instances refer to a specific point in time. Calling toString() will return the date formatted in a human readable form in American English. In SpiderMonkey, this consists of the date portion (day, month, and year) followed by the time portion (hours, minutes, seconds, and time zone). Sometimes it is desirable to obtain a string of the date portion; such a thing can be accomplished with the toDateString() method.

The toDateString() method is especially useful because compliant engines implementing ECMA-262 may differ in the string obtained from toString() for Date objects, as the format is implementation-dependent and simple string slicing approaches may not produce consistent results across multiple engines.

Examples

A basic usage of toDateString()

JavaScript
var d = new Date(1993, 6, 28, 14, 39, 7);

console.log(d.toString());     // logs Wed Jul 28 1993 14:39:07 GMT-0600 (PDT)
console.log(d.toDateString()); // logs Wed Jul 28 1993

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
ECMAScript 3rd Edition (ECMA-262) Standard Initial definition.
ECMAScript 5.1 (ECMA-262)
The definition of 'Date.prototype.toDateString' in that specification.
Standard  
ECMAScript 2015 (6th Edition, ECMA-262)
The definition of 'Date.prototype.toDateString' in that specification.
Standard  
ECMAScript 2017 Draft (ECMA-262)
The definition of 'Date.prototype.toDateString' in that specification.
Draft  

Browser compatibility

Feature Chrome Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari
Basic support (Yes) (Yes) (Yes) (Yes) (Yes)
Feature Android Chrome for Android Firefox Mobile (Gecko) IE Mobile Opera Mobile Safari Mobile
Basic support (Yes) (Yes) (Yes) (Yes) (Yes) (Yes)

See also

License

© 2016 Mozilla Contributors
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/todatestring

Date JavaScript Method Prototype Reference