Intl.DateTimeFormat.prototype.format()

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since September 2017.

The format() method of Intl.DateTimeFormat instances formats a date according to the locale and formatting options of this Intl.DateTimeFormat object.

Try it

Syntax

js
format(date)

Parameters

date

The date to format.

Return value

A string representing the given date formatted according to the locale and formatting options of this Intl.DateTimeFormat object.

Note: Most of the time, the formatting returned by format() is consistent. However, the output may vary between implementations, even within the same locale — output variations are by design and allowed by the specification. It may also not be what you expect. For example, the string may use non-breaking spaces or be surrounded by bidirectional control characters. You should not compare the results of format() to hardcoded constants.

Examples

Using format

Use the format getter function for formatting a single date, here for Serbia:

js
const options = {
  weekday: "long",
  year: "numeric",
  month: "long",
  day: "numeric",
};
const dateTimeFormat = new Intl.DateTimeFormat("sr-RS", options);
console.log(dateTimeFormat.format(new Date()));
// "недеља, 7. април 2013."

Using format with map

Use the format getter function for formatting all dates in an array. Note that the function is bound to the Intl.DateTimeFormat from which it was obtained, so it can be passed directly to Array.prototype.map().

js
const a = [new Date(2012, 8), new Date(2012, 11), new Date(2012, 3)];
const options = { year: "numeric", month: "long" };
const dateTimeFormat = new Intl.DateTimeFormat("pt-BR", options);
const formatted = a.map(dateTimeFormat.format);
console.log(formatted.join("; "));
// "setembro de 2012; dezembro de 2012; abril de 2012"

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript Internationalization API Specification
# sec-intl.datetimeformat.prototype.format

Browser compatibility

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See also