How do I format this date so that the alert displays the date in MM/dd/yyyy format?
<script type=text/javascript>
var date = new Date();
alert(date);
</script>
You prototype a method so you never have to do this irritating task again:
Date.prototype.toFormattedString = function (f)
{
var nm = this.getMonthName();
var nd = this.getDayName();
f = f.replace(/yyyy/g, this.getFullYear());
f = f.replace(/yy/g, String(this.getFullYear()).substr(2,2));
f = f.replace(/MMM/g, nm.substr(0,3).toUpperCase());
f = f.replace(/Mmm/g, nm.substr(0,3));
f = f.replace(/MM*/g, nm.toUpperCase());
f = f.replace(/Mm*/g, nm);
f = f.replace(/mm/g, String(this.getMonth()+1).padLeft('0',2));
f = f.replace(/DDD/g, nd.substr(0,3).toUpperCase());
f = f.replace(/Ddd/g, nd.substr(0,3));
f = f.replace(/DD*/g, nd.toUpperCase());
f = f.replace(/Dd*/g, nd);
f = f.replace(/dd/g, String(this.getDate()).padLeft('0',2));
f = f.replace(/d*/g, this.getDate());
return f;
};
(and yes you could chain those replaces, but it's not here for readability before anyone asks)
As requested, additional prototypes to support the above snippet.
Date.prototype.getMonthName = function ()
{
return this.toLocaleString().replace(/[^a-z]/gi,'');
};
//n.b. this is sooo not i18n safe :)
Date.prototype.getDayName = function ()
{
switch(this.getDay())
{
case 0: return 'Sunday';
case 1: return 'Monday';
case 2: return 'Tuesday';
case 3: return 'Wednesday';
case 4: return 'Thursday';
case 5: return 'Friday';
case 6: return 'Saturday';
}
};
String.prototype.padLeft = function (value, size)
{
var x = this;
while (x.length < size) {x = value + x;}
return x;
};
and usage example:
alert((new Date()).toFormattedString('dd Mmm, yyyy'));
