---
schema_version: "1"
id: 99e349bd64d666f75fe427c3db96a27963a79adc4e17b81da355b86c5a49327d
title: Formatting Dates in JavaScript
collection: developer
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/developer/current/en-us/platform/aura-platform/guides/aura/js-cb/js-cb-format-dates.md
canonical_url: https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/aura-platform/guide/js-cb-format-dates.html
source_site: developer.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 1bc3d7462e3a4c62c48ecfc122b975a72a245ea121dec930645e4ea0ced68b95
products:
  - Lightning Aura Components Developer Guide
  - Platform Developer Content
---

# Formatting Dates in JavaScript

The `AuraLocalizationService` JavaScript API provides methods for formatting and localizing dates.

For example, the `formatDate()` method formats a date based on the `formatString` parameter set as the second argument.

```javascript
formatDate (String | Number | Date date, String formatString)
```

The `date` parameter can be a String, Number, or most typically a JavaScript Date. If you provide a String value, use [ISO 8601](https://www.iso.org/iso-8601-date-and-time-format.html) format to avoid parsing warnings.

The `formatString` parameter contains tokens to format a date and time. For example, `"YYYY-MM-DD"` formats `15th January, 2017` as `"2017-01-15"`. The default format string comes from the `$Locale` value provider.


This table shows the list of tokens supported in `formatString`.

|Description|Token|Output|
|-----------|-----|------|
|Day of month|d|1 … 31|
|Day of month|dd|01 … 31|
|Day of month. Deprecated. Use `dd`, which is identical.|DD|01 … 31|
|Day of week (number)|E|0 … 6|
|Day of week (short name)|EEE|Sun … Sat|
|Day of week (long name)|EEEE|Sunday … Saturday|
|Month|M|1 ... 12|
|Month|MM|01 … 12|
|Month (short name)|MMM|Jan … Dec|
|Month (full name)|MMMM|January … December|
|Year (two digits)|yy|17|
|Year (four digits)|yyyy|2017|
|Year. Deprecated. Use `yyyy`, which is identical.|y|2017|
|Year. Deprecated. Use `yyyy`, which is identical.|Y|2017|
|Year. Deprecated. Use `yy`, which is identical.|YY|17|
|Year. Deprecated. Use `yyyy`, which is identical.|YYYY|2017|
|Hour of day (1-12)|h|1 … 12|
|Hour of day (0-23)|H|0 … 23|
|Hour of day (00-23)|HH|00 … 23|
|Hour of day (1-24)|k|1 … 24|
|Hour of day (01-24)|kk|01 … 24|
|Minute|m|0 … 59|
|Minute|mm|00 … 59|
|Second|s|0 … 59|
|Second|ss|00 … 59|
|Fraction of second|SSS|000 … 999|
|AM or PM|a|AM or PM|
|AM or PM. Deprecated. Use `a`, which is identical.|A|AM or PM|
|Zone offset from UTC|Z|-12:00 … +14:00|
|Quarter of year|Q|1 … 4|
|Week of year|w|1 … 53|
|Week of year|ww|01 … 53|


There are similar methods that differ in their default output values.

-   `formatDateTime()`—The default formatString outputs datetime instead of date.
-   `formatDateTimeUTC()`—Formats a datetime in UTC standard time.
-   `formatDateUTC()`—Formats a date in UTC standard time.

For more information on all the methods in `AuraLocalizationService`, see [JavaScript API](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/aura-platform/ref-jsapi/ref-jsapi-intro.md).


This example converts a selected date on a date field using the given format, `yyyy-MM-dd`. The converted date is displayed below the date field.

```xml
<aura:component implements="flexipage:availableForRecordHome">
    <aura:attribute name="formatDate" type="String"/>
    <lightning:input
        type="date"
        value="{!v.formatDate}"
        onchange="{!c.convertDate}">
    </lightning:input>
    {!v.formatDate}
</aura:component>
```

```javascript
({
    convertDate: function (cmp, event) {
        var date = event.getParam("value");
        var formatted = $A.localizationService.formatDate(date, "yyyy-MM-dd");
        cmp.set("v.formatDate", formatted);
    },
})
```

**See Also**  


-   [Localization](https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/aura-platform/components/components-l10n.md)