Date.now()

Summary

The Date.now() method returns the number of milliseconds elapsed since 1 January 1970 00:00:00 UTC.

Syntax

var timeInMs = Date.now();

Parameters

None.

Description

The now() method returns the milliseconds elapsed since 1 January 1970 00:00:00 UTC up until now as a Number.

Because now is a static method of Date, you always use it as Date.now().

Polyfill

This method was standardized in ECMA-262 5^th edition. Engines which have not been updated to support this method can work around the absence of this method using the following shim:

if (!Date.now) {
  Date.now = function now() {
    return new Date().getTime();
  };
}

Specifications

Browser compatibility

Based on Kangax's compat table.

See also

• window.performance.now - provides timestamps with sub-millisecond resolution for use in measuring web page performance
• console.time / console.timeEnd