# 
[](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@thi.ng/date)
[](https://mastodon.thi.ng/@toxi)
> [!NOTE]
> This is one of 215 standalone projects. LLM-free, human-made and
> cared for software, maintained as part of the
> [@thi.ng/umbrella](https://codeberg.org/thi.ng/umbrella/) ecosystem and
> anti-framework.
>
> 🚀 Please help me to work full-time on these projects by [sponsoring
> me](https://codeberg.org/thi.ng/umbrella/src/branch/develop/CONTRIBUTING.md#donations).
> Thank you! ❤️
- [About](#about)
- [Status](#status)
- [Installation](#installation)
- [Dependencies](#dependencies)
- [Usage examples](#usage-examples)
- [API](#api)
- [DateTime](#datetime)
- [Math & comparison](#math--comparison)
- [Iterators](#iterators)
- [Relative dates](#relative-dates)
- [Parsing](#parsing)
- [Formatting](#formatting)
- [Date & time formatters](#date--time-formatters)
- [Timecodes](#timecodes)
- [Locales](#locales)
- [Authors](#authors)
- [License](#license)
## About
Datetime types, relative dates, math, iterators, composable formatters, locales.
## Status
**STABLE** - used in production
[Search or submit any issues for this package](https://codeberg.org/thi.ng/umbrella/issues?q=%5Bdate%5D)
## Installation
```bash
yarn add @thi.ng/date
```
ESM import:
```ts
import * as date from "@thi.ng/date";
```
Browser ESM import:
```html
```
[JSDelivr documentation](https://www.jsdelivr.com/)
For Node.js REPL:
```js
const date = await import("@thi.ng/date");
```
Package sizes (brotli'd, pre-treeshake): ESM: 5.43 KB
## Dependencies
- [@thi.ng/api](https://codeberg.org/thi.ng/umbrella/src/branch/develop/packages/api)
- [@thi.ng/checks](https://codeberg.org/thi.ng/umbrella/src/branch/develop/packages/checks)
- [@thi.ng/strings](https://codeberg.org/thi.ng/umbrella/src/branch/develop/packages/strings)
Note: @thi.ng/api is in _most_ cases a type-only import (not used at runtime)
## Usage examples
Five projects in this repo's
[/examples](https://codeberg.org/thi.ng/umbrella/src/branch/develop/examples)
directory are using this package:
| Screenshot | Description | Live demo | Source |
|:----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|:--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|:-----------------------------------------------------|:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 
| Heatmap visualization of this mono-repo's commits | | [Source](https://codeberg.org/thi.ng/umbrella/src/branch/develop/examples/commit-heatmap) |
| 
| CSP channel-based event handling, async transducers & reactive UI components | [Demo](https://demo.thi.ng/umbrella/csp-bus/) | [Source](https://codeberg.org/thi.ng/umbrella/src/branch/develop/examples/csp-bus) |
| 
| Mastodon API feed reader with support for different media types, fullscreen media modal, HTML rewriting | [Demo](https://demo.thi.ng/umbrella/mastodon-feed/) | [Source](https://codeberg.org/thi.ng/umbrella/src/branch/develop/examples/mastodon-feed) |
| 
| Live coding playground for 2D geometry generation using @thi.ng/pointfree-lang | [Demo](https://demo.thi.ng/umbrella/pointfree-geom/) | [Source](https://codeberg.org/thi.ng/umbrella/src/branch/develop/examples/pointfree-geom) |
| 
| Zig-based To-Do list, DOM creation, local storage task persistence | [Demo](https://demo.thi.ng/umbrella/zig-todo-list/) | [Source](https://codeberg.org/thi.ng/umbrella/src/branch/develop/examples/zig-todo-list) |
## API
[Generated API docs](https://docs.thi.ng/umbrella/date/)
TODO - Please see tests and doc strings in source for now...
### DateTime
The `DateTime` class acts as a thin wrapper around **UTC** epochs/timestamps,
with the constructor supporting coercions and varying granularity/precision
(from years to milliseconds). Default precision is milliseconds.
| Key | Precision |
|-----|-------------|
| `y` | Year |
| `M` | Month |
| `d` | Day |
| `h` | Hour |
| `m` | Minute |
| `s` | Second |
| `t` | Millisecond |
Note: `DateTime` instances also define the above keys as properties, plus
getters for week-in-year (`.w`) and quarter (`.q`).
```ts
import { dateTime } from "@thi.ng/date";
// create w/ current date (or pass epoch, string, Date or DateTime instances)
const a = dateTime();
// DateTime { y: 2020, M: 8, d: 19, h: 12, m: 17, s: 16, t: 884 }
// provide additional precision (here year only)
const b = dateTime(a, "y");
// or
const b = a.withPrecision("y")
// DateTime { y: 2020, M: 0, d: 1, h: 0, m: 0, s: 0, t: 0 }
a.toString();
// Sat Sep 19 2020 12:17:16 GMT'
a.toISOString()
// '2020-09-19T12:17:16.884Z'
b.toISOString();
// 2020-01-01T00:00:00.000Z
a.isLeapYear()
// true
a.daysInMonth()
// 30
a.dayInYear()
// 263
a.weekInYear()
// 38
a.isAfter(b)
// true\
b.isBefore(a)
// true
```
### Math & comparison
DateTime instances support basic math to derive future/past instances, given an
offset period. Period identifiers are any `Precision` ID (see above) or `w`
(week, aka 7 days) or `q` (quarter, aka 3 months):
```ts
import { dateTime, difference, absDifference, asDays } from "@thi.ng/date";
const a = dateTime();
// DateTime { y: 2020, M: 8, d: 19, h: 12, m: 17, s: 16, t: 884 }
// create new instance 61 seconds in the future
// any `Period` ID can be used
a.add(61, "s")
// DateTime { y: 2020, M: 8, d: 19, h: 12, m: 18, s: 17, t: 884 }
// ...or 90 days ago
a.add(-90, "d")
// DateTime { y: 2020, M: 5, d: 21, h: 12, m: 17, s: 16, t: 884 }
// ...or 2 quarters (aka 2x 3 months) ahead of time
a.add(2, "q").toISOString()
// "2021-03-19T12:17:16.884Z"
// check for equivalence
a.equiv("2020-09-19T12:17:16.884Z")
// true
// are dates equal (with tolerance of ±100 ms)
a.eqDelta(a.add(99, "t"), 100)
// true
a.compare(a.add(1, "s"))
// -1000
// compute (signed) difference between dates (in milliseconds)
difference(a, "1970-01-01") === a.getTime()
// true
// difference = a - b
difference("2020-02", "2021-02")
// -31622400000
// always produces unsigned result
absDifference("2020-02", "2021-02")
// 31622400000
// compute abs difference in days
asDays(absDifference("2020-02", "2021-02"))
// 366 (because 2020 was a leap year)
```
### Iterators
Several iterators are provided to produce timestamps of various granularities
between two given dates. Originally, these were intended for visualization
purposes (i.e. as axis tick label generators for
[@thi.ng/viz](https://codeberg.org/thi.ng/umbrella/src/branch/develop/packages/viz)).
- `years()`
- `querters()`
- `months()`
- `weeks()`
- `days()`
- `hours()`
- `minutes()`
- `seconds()`
- `milliseconds()`
```ts
import { months, FMT_yyyyMMdd } from "@thi.ng/date";
[...months("2021-01-03", "2021-07-16")]
// [
// 1609459200000,
// 1612137600000,
// 1614556800000,
// 1617235200000,
// 1619827200000,
// 1622505600000,
// 1625097600000
// ]
[...months("2021-01-03", "2021-07-16")].map((x) => FMT_yyyyMMdd(x))
// [
// '2021-02-01',
// '2021-03-01',
// '2021-04-01',
// '2021-05-01',
// '2021-06-01',
// '2021-07-01'
// ]
```
### Relative dates
#### Parsing
Relative dates can be obtained via
[`parseRelative()`](https://docs.thi.ng/umbrella/date/functions/parseRelative.html)
or [`relative()`](https://docs.thi.ng/umbrella/date/functions/relative.html).
```ts
import { dateTime, parseRelative } from "@thi.ng/date";
const now = dateTime();
// DateTime { y: 2021, M: 2, d: 21, h: 14, m: 26, s: 0, t: 661 }
// see the linked documentation for all supported formats
parseRelative("2 weeks ago", now);
// DateTime { y: 2021, M: 2, d: 7, h: 14, m: 26, s: 0, t: 661 }
parseRelative("an hour", now);
// DateTime { y: 2021, M: 2, d: 21, h: 15, m: 26, s: 0, t: 661 }
parseRelative("tomorrow", now);
// DateTime { y: 2021, M: 2, d: 22, h: 14, m: 26, s: 0, t: 661 }
parseRelative("-1 month", now)
// DateTime { y: 2021, M: 1, d: 21, h: 14, m: 26, s: 0, t: 661 }
```
#### Formatting
Dates can be formatted as relative descriptions using
[`formatRelative()`](https://docs.thi.ng/umbrella/date/functions/formatRelative.html)
and
[`formatRelativeParts()`](https://docs.thi.ng/umbrella/date/functions/formatRelativeParts.html).
Both functions use the currently active [locale](#locales) and accept an
optional reference date (default: `now()`).
```ts
import {
setLocale, withLocale, DE_LONG, EN_LONG,
formatRelative, formatRelativeParts, formatDuration,
decomposeDifference
} from "@thi.ng/date";
setLocale(EN_LONG);
formatRelative("2020-06-01", "2021-07-01")
// "1 year ago"
formatRelative("2020-08-01", "2021-07-01")
// "11 months ago"
formatRelative("2021-07-01 13:45", "2021-07-01 12:05")
// "in 2 hours"
formatRelative("2021-07-01 12:23:24", "2021-07-01 12:05")
// "in 18 minutes"
// with default precision (seconds)
formatRelativeParts("2012-12-25 17:59:34", "2021-07-16 12:05")
// "8 years, 6 months, 21 days, 17 hours, 5 minutes, 26 seconds ago"
// with day precision
formatRelativeParts("2012-12-25 17:59:34", "2021-07-16 12:05", "d")
// "8 years, 6 months, 22 days ago"
// with month precision
formatRelativeParts("2012-12-25 17:59:34", "2021-07-16 12:05", "M")
// "8 years, 7 months ago"
formatRelativeParts("2021-07-16", "2021-01-01", "y")
// "in less than 1 year"
// with locale DE_LONG
withLocale(DE_LONG, () => formatRelativeParts("2020-01-01 12:34"))
// "vor 1 Jahr, 6 Monaten, 15 Tagen, 23 Stunden, 38 Minuten, 9 Sekunden"
// obtain the relative parts in raw form
// returns tuple of: [sign, years, months, days, hours, mins, secs, millis]
decomposeDifference("2020-01-01 12:34", Date.now())
// [-1, 1, 6, 15, 23, 38, 9, 703]
// format a duration (in ms), optionally with given precision
formatDuration(45296000)
// "12 h, 34 min, 56 s"
formatDuration(45296000, "h")
// "13 h"
formatDuration(45296000,"d")
// "< 1 d"
```
### Date & time formatters
Custom date/time formatters can be assembled via
[`defFormat()`](https://docs.thi.ng/umbrella/date/functions/defFormat.html),
using the following partial format identifiers. The `MMM` and `E` formatters use
the currently active [locale](#locales). To escape a formatter and use as a
string literal, prefix the term with `\\`.
| ID | Description |
|--------|---------------------------------------------|
| `yy` | Short year (2 digits) |
| `yyyy` | Full year (4 digits) |
| `M` | Unpadded month |
| `MM` | Zero-padded 2-digit month |
| `MMM` | Month name in current locale (e.g. `Feb`) |
| `d` | Unpadded day of month |
| `dd` | Zero-padded 2-digit day of month |
| `E` | Weekday name in current locale (e.g. `Mon`) |
| `w` | Unpadded week-in-year (ISO8601) |
| `ww` | Zero-padded 2-digit week-in-year (ISO8601) |
| `q` | Unpadded quarter |
| `H` | Unpadded hour of day (0-23) |
| `HH` | Zero-padded 2-digit hour of day (0-23) |
| `h` | Unpadded hour of day (1-12) |
| `m` | Unpadded minute of hour |
| `mm` | Zero-padded 2-digit minute of hour |
| `s` | Unpadded second of minute |
| `ss` | Zero-padded 2-digit second of minute |
| `S` | Unpadded millisecond of second |
| `SS` | Zero-padded 3-digit millisecond of second |
| `A` | 12-hour AM/PM marker (uppercase) |
| `a` | 12-hour am/pm marker (lowercase) |
| `Z` | Timezone offset in signed `±HH:mm` format |
| `ZZ` | Same as `Z`, but special handling for UTC |
| `/ED` | Locale-specific weekday-day separator |
| `/DM` | Locale-specific day-month separator |
| `/MY` | Locale-specific month-year separator |
| `/HM` | Locale-specific hour-minute separator |
| `/MS` | Locale-specific minute-second separator |
(Format IDs somewhat based on Java's
[SimpleDateFormat](https://docs.oracle.com/en/java/javase/12/docs/api/java.base/java/text/SimpleDateFormat.html))
The following preset formatters are available:
- `FMT_ISO` - `"2020-09-13T21:42:07.123Z"`
- `FMT_ISO_SHORT` - `"2020-09-13T21:42:07Z"`
- `FMT_yyyyMMdd` - `"2020-09-13"`
- `FMT_yyyyMMdd_ALT` - `"20200913"`
- `FMT_Mdyyyy` - `"9/13/2020"`
- `FMT_MMMdyyyy` - `"Sep 13 2020"`
- `FMT_dMyyyy` - `"13/9/2020"`
- `FMT_dMMMyyyy` - `"13 Sep 2020"`
- `FMT_yyyyMMdd_HHmmss` - `20200913-214207`
- `FMT_HHmm` - `"21:42"`
- `FMT_hm` - `"9:42 PM"`
- `FMT_HHmmss` - `"21:42:07"`
- `FMT_HHmmss_ALT` - `"214207"`
- `FMT_hms` - `"9:42:07 PM"`
- `FMT_yyyy` - `"2020"` (4 digit year)
- `FMT_MM` - `"12"` (2 digit month)
- `FMT_ww` - `"52"` (2 digit week)
- `FMT_dd` - `"28"` (2 digit day in month)
- `FMT_HH` - `"23"` (2 digit hour, 24h system)
- `FMT_mm` - `"59"` (2 digit minute)
- `FMT_ss` - `"01"` (2 digit second)
All formatters are fully composable/nestable, i.e. new formats can be created
using existing formats like so:
```ts
import { defFormat, FMT_HHmmss, FMT_yyyyMMdd } from "@thi.ng/date";
defFormat([FMT_yyyyMMdd, " @ ", FMT_HHmmss])();
// "2024-02-28 @ 12:05:47"
```
### Timecodes
For timebased media applications, the higher-order `defTimecode()` can be used
to create a formatter for a given FPS (frames / second, in [1..1000] range),
e.g. `HH:mm:ss:ff`. The returned function takes a single arg (time in
milliseconds) and returns formatted string.
The timecode considers days too, but only includes them in the result if the day
part is non-zero. The 4 separators between each field can be customized via 2nd
arg (default: all `:`).
```ts
import { defTimecode, DAY, HOUR, MINUTE, SECOND } from "@thi.ng/date";
const a = defTimecode(30);
a(1*HOUR + 2*MINUTE + 3*SECOND + 4*1000/30)
// "01:02:03:04"
a(DAY);
// "01:00:00:00:00"
const b = defTimecode(30, ["d ", "h ", "' ", '" ']);
b(DAY + HOUR + 2*MINUTE + 3*SECOND + 999)
// "01d 01h 02' 03" 29"
```
### Locales
The following locale presets are available by default:
| Preset | Example |
|------------|----------------------------------|
| `DE_SHORT` | `29.6.2021 @ 5:48` |
| `DE_LONG` | `Dienstag, 29. Juni 2021 @ 5:48` |
| `EN_SHORT` | `29/06/2021 @ 5.48 am` |
| `EN_LONG` | `Tuesday 29 June 2021 @ 5.48 am` |
| `ES_LONG` | `martes 29 junio 2021 @ 5:48` |
| `FR_LONG` | `mardi 29 juin 2021 @ 5h 48` |
| `IT_LONG` | `martedì 29 giugno 2021 @ 5.48` |
The `MMM` (month) and `E` (weekday) formatters make use of the strings provided
by the current `LOCALE` (default: `EN_SHORT`) and can be set/changed via the
`setLocale()` function:
```ts
import {
dateTime, defFormat, setLocale,
EN_SHORT, EN_LONG
} from "@thi.ng/date";
const fmt = defFormat(["E", " ", "d", " ", "MMM", " ", "yyyy"]);
setLocale(EN_SHORT); // also the default
// {
// months: [
// 'Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun',
// 'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec'
// ],
// days: [ 'Sun', 'Mon', 'Tue', 'Wed', 'Thu', 'Fri', 'Sat' ]
// }
fmt(dateTime());
// Sat 19 Sep 2020
setLocale(EN_LONG);
fmt(dateTime());
// Saturday 19 September 2020
```
Use [`withLocale()`](https://docs.thi.ng/umbrella/date/functions/withLocale.html)
to only temporarily set a locale and execute a function with it, then
automatically restoring the currently active locale.
```ts
import { dateTime, withLocale, FR_LONG } from "@thi.ng/date";
fmt(dateTime());
// 'Fri 16 Jul 2021'
withLocale(FR_LONG, () => fmt(dateTime()));
// 'vendredi 16 juillet 2021'
fmt(dateTime());
// 'Fri 16 Jul 2021'
```
## Authors
- [Karsten Schmidt](https://thi.ng)
If this project contributes to an academic publication, please cite it as:
```bibtex
@misc{thing-date,
title = "@thi.ng/date",
author = "Karsten Schmidt",
note = "https://thi.ng/date",
year = 2020
}
```
## License
© 2020 - 2026 Karsten Schmidt // Apache License 2.0