JavaScript Date Get Methods

Date objects provide getter methods to retrieve different parts of a date. You can get the year, month, day, hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds, and day of the week.

These methods come in local time and UTC variants.

getFullYear() – Get the Year

The getFullYear() method returns the four-digit year of a date object.

Example:

const d = new Date("2025-10-08T18:30:00");
console.log(d.getFullYear());
// 2025

getMonth() – Get the Month

getMonth() returns the month of the date, but months are 0-indexed, meaning January = 0 and December = 11.

Example:

const d = new Date("2025-10-08");
console.log(d.getMonth());
// 9 → October (0 = January)

getDate() – Get the Day of the Month

getDate() returns the day of the month (1–31).

const d = new Date("2025-10-08");
console.log(d.getDate());
// 8

getDay() – Get the Day of the Week

getDay() returns the day of the week as a number (0–6).

Example:

const d = new Date("2025-10-08");
console.log(d.getDay());
// 3 → Wednesday (0 = Sunday)

getHours() – Get Hours

getHours() returns the hour of the day (0–23) in local time.

Example:

const d = new Date("2025-10-08T18:30:00");
console.log(d.getHours());
// 18

getMinutes() – Get Minutes

getMinutes() returns minutes (0–59).

Example:

const d = new Date("2025-10-08T18:30:45");
console.log(d.getMinutes());
// 30

getSeconds() – Get Seconds

getSeconds() returns the seconds (0–59) of a date object.

Example:

const d = new Date("2025-10-08T18:30:45");
console.log(d.getSeconds());
// 45

getMilliseconds() – Get Milliseconds

getMilliseconds() returns milliseconds (0–999).

Example:

const d = new Date("2025-10-08T18:30:45.123");
console.log(d.getMilliseconds());
// 123

getTime() – Get Timestamp

getTime() returns the number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC (Unix Epoch).

Example:

const d = new Date("2025-10-08T18:30:00");
console.log(d.getTime());
// 1759917000000

getTimezoneOffset() – Get Time Zone Difference

getTimezoneOffset() returns the difference in minutes between local time and UTC.

Example:

const d = new Date("2025-10-08T18:30:00");
console.log(d.getTimezoneOffset());
// -330 → IST is UTC+5:30

Summary Table – JavaScript Date Get Methods

Method	Returns	UTC Variant	Use Case / Notes
getFullYear()	4-digit year	getUTCFullYear()	Display year, calculate age
getMonth()	Month (0–11)	getUTCMonth()	Month-based calculations, formatted display
getDate()	Day of month (1–31)	getUTCDate()	User-friendly dates, due dates
getDay()	Day of week (0–6)	getUTCDay()	Weekly schedules, calendar apps
getHours()	Hours (0–23)	getUTCHours()	Event scheduling, reminders
getMinutes()	Minutes (0–59)	getUTCMinutes()	Time formatting (HH:MM)
getSeconds()	Seconds (0–59)	getUTCSeconds()	Timers, animations
getMilliseconds()	Milliseconds (0–999)	getUTCMilliseconds()	High-precision timing
getTime()	Milliseconds since Epoch	N/A	Timestamp comparisons, calculations
getTimezoneOffset()	Minutes offset from UTC	N/A	Time zone conversions