Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global objects/Date/toTimeString

The toTimeString() method returns the time portion of a Date object in human readable form in English.

Syntax

dateObj.toTimeString()

Return value

A string representing the time portion of the given date 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 toTimeString() 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; simple string slicing approaches may not produce consistent results across multiple engines.

Examples

A basic usage of toTimeString()

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

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

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript (ECMA-262)The definition of 'Date.prototype.toTimeString' in that specification.

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile						Server
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet	Node.js
`toTimeString`	Chrome Full support 1	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 1	IE Full support 5.5	Opera Full support 5	Safari Full support 1	WebView Android Full support 1	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 4	Opera Android Full support 10.1	Safari iOS Full support 1	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0	nodejs Full support 0.1.100

Legend

Full support: Full support