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Developer Code Snippets

Copy-paste code examples for working with dates and times

Get Current Timestamp

Get the current Unix timestamp in seconds or milliseconds

// Current timestamp in milliseconds
const timestampMs = Date.now();
console.log(timestampMs); // 1705334400000

// Current timestamp in seconds
const timestampSec = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000);
console.log(timestampSec); // 1705334400

// Using Date object
const date = new Date();
console.log(date.getTime()); // milliseconds

Convert Timestamp to Date

Convert a Unix timestamp to a readable date format

// From seconds
const timestampSec = 1705334400;
const dateFromSec = new Date(timestampSec * 1000);
console.log(dateFromSec.toISOString());
// 2024-01-15T12:00:00.000Z

// From milliseconds
const timestampMs = 1705334400000;
const dateFromMs = new Date(timestampMs);
console.log(dateFromMs.toLocaleString());

// Format options
const options = {
  weekday: 'long',
  year: 'numeric',
  month: 'long',
  day: 'numeric',
  hour: '2-digit',
  minute: '2-digit'
};
console.log(dateFromMs.toLocaleDateString('en-US', options));

Timezone Conversion

Convert between different timezones

const date = new Date();

// Convert to specific timezone
const options = {
  timeZone: 'America/New_York',
  year: 'numeric',
  month: 'long',
  day: 'numeric',
  hour: '2-digit',
  minute: '2-digit',
  timeZoneName: 'short'
};

console.log(date.toLocaleString('en-US', options));
// January 15, 2024 at 07:00 AM EST

// Multiple timezones
const timezones = ['America/New_York', 'Europe/London', 'Asia/Tokyo'];
timezones.forEach(tz => {
  console.log(`${tz}: ${date.toLocaleString('en-US', { timeZone: tz })}`);
});

Tips & Best Practices

✓
Always use UTC for storage

Store timestamps in UTC and convert to local time only for display.

✓
Use ISO 8601 format

When exchanging dates as strings, use ISO 8601 format for consistency.

⚠
Handle DST transitions

Be aware of daylight saving time when scheduling recurring events.

⚠
Use timezone libraries

Don't manually calculate timezone offsets - use proper libraries.