Date methods allow you to set various date values, such as years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds, and milliseconds, for a Date Object.
Set Date methods are used to set specific parts of a date.
|
Method |
Description |
|
setDate() |
Specify the day as a number between 1 and 31. |
|
setFullYear() |
Specify the year (optionally month and day) |
|
setHours() |
Specify the hour (0-23) |
|
setMilliseconds() |
Specify the milliseconds (0-999) |
|
setMinutes() |
Specify the minutes (0-59) |
|
setMonth() |
Specify the month (0-11) |
|
setSeconds() |
Specify the seconds (0-59) |
|
setTime() |
Specify the time (milliseconds since January 1, 1970) |
The setFullYear() method updates the year of a date object. In this example, it sets the year to 2020:
Example
| const d = new Date(); d.setFullYear(2020); |
The setFullYear() method can also optionally set the month and day.
Example
| const d = new Date(); d.setFullYear(2020, 11, 3); |
The setMonth() method updates the month of a date object, with values ranging from 0 to 11.
Example
| const d = new Date(); d.setMonth(11); |
The setDate() method updates the day of a date object to a value between 1 and 31.
Example
| const d = new Date(); d.setDate(15); |
The setDate() method can also be used to add days to a date object.
Example
| const d = new Date(); d.setDate(d.getDate() + 50); |
| If adding days causes the month or year to change, the Date object automatically adjusts accordingly. |
The setHours() method updates the hours of a date object, with values ranging from 0 to 23.
Example
| const d = new Date(); d.setHours(22); |
The setMinutes() method updates the minutes of a date object, with values ranging from 0 to 59.
Example
| const d = new Date(); d.setMinutes(30); |
The setSeconds() method updates the seconds of a date object, with values ranging from 0 to 59.
Example
| const d = new Date(); d.setSeconds(30); |
Comparing dates is straightforward.
Here’s an example comparing today’s date with January 14, 2100:
Example
| let text = “”; const today = new Date(); const someday = new Date(); someday.setFullYear(2100, 0, 14); if (someday > today) { text = “Today is before January 14, 2100.”; } else { text = “Today is after January 14, 2100.”; } |
| In JavaScript, months are indexed from 0 to 11, where January is 0 and December is 11. |