Date.prototype.setYear()

Deprecated: This feature is no longer recommended. Though some browsers might still support it, it may have already been removed from the relevant web standards, may be in the process of being dropped, or may only be kept for compatibility purposes. Avoid using it, and update existing code if possible; see the compatibility table at the bottom of this page to guide your decision. Be aware that this feature may cease to work at any time.

The setYear() method of Date instances sets the year for a specified date according to local time.

However, the way the legacy setYear() method sets year values is different from how the preferred setFullYear() method sets year values — and in some cases, also different from how new Date() and Date.parse() set year values. Specifically, given two-digit numbers, such as 22 and 61:

  • setYear() interprets any two-digit number as an offset to 1900; so date.setYear(22) results in the year value being set to 1922, and date.setYear(61) results in the year value being set to 1961. (In contrast, while new Date(61, 1) also results in the year value being set to 1961, new Date("2/1/22") results in the year value being set to 2022; and similarly for Date.parse()).

  • setFullYear() does no special interpretation but instead uses the literal two-digit value as-is to set the year; so date.setFullYear(61) results in the year value being set to 0061, and date.setFullYear(22) results in the year value being set to 0022.

Because of those differences in behavior, you should no longer use the legacy setYear() method, but should instead use the preferred setFullYear() method.

Syntax

js
setYear(yearValue)

Parameters

yearValue

An integer.

Return value

Changes the Date object in place, and returns its new timestamp. If yearValue is NaN (or other values that get coerced to NaN, such as undefined), the date is set to Invalid Date and NaN is returned.

Description

If yearValue is a number between 0 and 99 (inclusive), then the year for dateObj is set to 1900 + yearValue. Otherwise, the year for dateObj is set to yearValue.

Examples

Using setYear()

The first two lines set the year to 1996. The third sets the year to 2000.

js
const theBigDay = new Date();

theBigDay.setYear(96);
theBigDay.setYear(1996);
theBigDay.setYear(2000);

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript Language Specification
# sec-date.prototype.setyear

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also