Date.prototype.toTimeString()
Baseline Widely available
This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.
The toTimeString()
method of Date
instances returns a string representing the time portion of this date interpreted in the local timezone.
Try it
const event = new Date("August 19, 1975 23:15:30");
console.log(event.toTimeString());
// Expected output: "23:15:30 GMT+0200 (CEST)"
// Note: your timezone may vary
Syntax
toTimeString()
Parameters
None.
Return value
A string representing the time portion of the given date (see description for the format). Returns "Invalid Date"
if the date is invalid.
Description
Date
instances refer to a specific point in time. toTimeString()
interprets the date in the local timezone and formats the time part in English. It always uses the format of HH:mm:ss GMT±xxxx (TZ)
, where:
Format String | Description |
---|---|
HH |
Hour, as two digits with leading zero if required |
mm |
Minute, as two digits with leading zero if required |
ss |
Seconds, as two digits with leading zero if required |
±xxxx |
The local timezone's offset — two digits for hours and two digits for minutes (e.g. -0500 , +0800 ) |
TZ |
The timezone's name (e.g. PDT , PST ) |
For example: "04:42:04 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)".
- If you only want to get the date part, use
toDateString()
. - If you want to get both the date and time, use
toString()
. - If you want to make the date interpreted as UTC instead of local timezone, use
toUTCString()
. - If you want to format the date in a more user-friendly format (e.g. localization), use
toLocaleTimeString()
.
Examples
Using toTimeString()
const d = new Date(0);
console.log(d.toString()); // "Thu Jan 01 1970 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)"
console.log(d.toTimeString()); // "00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)"
Specifications
Specification |
---|
ECMAScript® 2025 Language Specification # sec-date.prototype.totimestring |
Browser compatibility
Report problems with this compatibility data on GitHubdesktop | mobile | server | ||||||||||||
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toTimeString |
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- Full support
- Full support