Date.prototype.toDateString()

The toDateString() method returns the date portion of a Date object in English in the following format separated by spaces:

  1. First three letters of the week day name
  2. First three letters of the month name
  3. Two digit day of the month, padded on the left a zero if necessary
  4. Four digit year (at least), padded on the left with zeros if necessary

E.g. "Thu Jan 01 1970".

Syntax

dateObj.toDateString()

Return value

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

Description

Date instances refer to a specific point in time. Calling toString() will return the date formatted in a human readable form in 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 time portion; such a thing can be accomplished with the toTimeString() 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()

var d = new Date(1993, 5, 28, 14, 39, 7);

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

Note: Month are 0-indexed when used as an argument of Date (thus 0 corresponds to January and 11 to December).

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 Latest Draft (ECMA-262)
The definition of 'Date.prototype.toDateString' in that specification.		 Draft

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub
DesktopMobileServer
ChromeEdgeFirefoxInternet ExplorerOperaSafariAndroid webviewChrome for AndroidFirefox for AndroidOpera for AndroidSafari on iOSSamsung InternetNode.js
toDateStringChrome Full support 1Edge Full support 12Firefox Full support 1IE Full support 5.5Opera Full support YesSafari Full support YesWebView Android Full support 1Chrome Android Full support 18Firefox Android Full support 4Opera Android Full support YesSafari iOS Full support YesSamsung Internet Android Full support 1.0nodejs Full support Yes

Legend

Full support  
Full support

See also

Related Topics
  1. Standard built-in objects
  2. Date
  3. Properties
    1. Date.prototype
  4. Methods
    1. Date.UTC()
    2. Date.now()
    3. Date.parse()
    4. Date.prototype.getDate()
    5. Date.prototype.getDay()
    6. Date.prototype.getFullYear()
    7. Date.prototype.getHours()
    8. Date.prototype.getMilliseconds()
    9. Date.prototype.getMinutes()
    10. Date.prototype.getMonth()
    11. Date.prototype.getSeconds()
    12. Date.prototype.getTime()
    13. Date.prototype.getTimezoneOffset()
    14. Date.prototype.getUTCDate()
    15. Date.prototype.getUTCDay()
    16. Date.prototype.getUTCFullYear()
    17. Date.prototype.getUTCHours()
    18. Date.prototype.getUTCMilliseconds()
    19. Date.prototype.getUTCMinutes()
    20. Date.prototype.getUTCMonth()
    21. Date.prototype.getUTCSeconds()
    22. Date.prototype.getYear()
    23. Date.prototype.setDate()
    24. Date.prototype.setFullYear()
    25. Date.prototype.setHours()
    26. Date.prototype.setMilliseconds()
    27. Date.prototype.setMinutes()
    28. Date.prototype.setMonth()
    29. Date.prototype.setSeconds()
    30. Date.prototype.setTime()
    31. Date.prototype.setUTCDate()
    32. Date.prototype.setUTCFullYear()
    33. Date.prototype.setUTCHours()
    34. Date.prototype.setUTCMilliseconds()
    35. Date.prototype.setUTCMinutes()
    36. Date.prototype.setUTCMonth()
    37. Date.prototype.setUTCSeconds()
    38. Date.prototype.setYear()
    39. Date.prototype.toDateString()
    40. Date.prototype.toGMTString()
    41. Date.prototype.toISOString()
    42. Date.prototype.toJSON()
    43. Date.prototype.toLocaleDateString()
    44. Date.prototype.toLocaleFormat()
    45. Date.prototype.toLocaleString()
    46. Date.prototype.toLocaleTimeString()
    47. Date.prototype.toSource()
    48. Date.prototype.toString()
    49. Date.prototype.toTimeString()
    50. Date.prototype.toUTCString()
    51. Date.prototype.valueOf()
    52. Date.prototype[@@toPrimitive]
  5. Inheritance:
  6. Function
  7. Properties
    1. Function.arguments
    2. Function.arity
    3. Function.caller
    4. Function.displayName
    5. Function.length
    6. Function.name
    7. Function.prototype
  8. Methods
    1. Function.prototype.apply()
    2. Function.prototype.bind()
    3. Function.prototype.call()
    4. Function.prototype.isGenerator()
    5. Function.prototype.toSource()
    6. Function.prototype.toString()
  9. Object
  10. Properties
    1. Object.prototype.__count__
    2. Object.prototype.__noSuchMethod__
    3. Object.prototype.__parent__
    4. Object.prototype.__proto__
    5. Object.prototype.constructor
  11. Methods
    1. Object.prototype.__defineGetter__()
    2. Object.prototype.__defineSetter__()
    3. Object.prototype.__lookupGetter__()
    4. Object.prototype.__lookupSetter__()
    5. Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty()
    6. Object.prototype.isPrototypeOf()
    7. Object.prototype.propertyIsEnumerable()
    8. Object.prototype.toLocaleString()
    9. Object.prototype.toSource()
    10. Object.prototype.toString()
    11. Object.prototype.unwatch()
    12. Object.prototype.valueOf()
    13. Object.prototype.watch()
    14. Object.setPrototypeOf()