JavaScript won't parse GMT Date/Time Format

Question

Hi,

I'm trying to get JavaScript to parse a date and time format for me, with the eventual aim of telling me the days passed since that date and the time right now (locally).

Unfortunately, the date format I have to work with (it's from a JSON response which I don't have control over) is returning it in 2008-10-01 06:21:43 type format.

var thedate = "2008-10-01 06:21:43";
var inmillisecs = new Date(thedate);

This just returns an error from JavaScript telling me the date is invalid.

How do I get around this issue?

Answer 1

The expected format is the American format: m/d/yyyy hh:mm:ss

var date1 = new Date("2008-10-01 06:21:43"); //fails
var date2 = new Date("10/1/2008 06:21:43"); //works correctly

Answer 2

The correct syntax should be:

    var thedate = "Oct 1, 2008 06:21:43";
    var inmillisecs = new Date(thedate);

You have to take some steps to transform the String you're receiving into the format I showed. Using the american format also works

   var thedate = "10/1/2008 06:21:42";
   var inmillisecs = new Date(thedate);

Answer 3

it must be a string that is recognizable by the parse() function.

http://www.devguru.com/technologies/javascript/10585.asp look at the dateString param

Answer 4

That's an ISO 9601 date -- they're a nice standard to work with. Try just munging it using regular expressions:

(\d{4})-(\d{2})-(\d{2})[ tT](.*)

to

\2/\3/\1 \4

Answer 5

This should do it

function dateFromUTC( dateAsString, ymdDelimiter )
{
  var pattern = new RegExp( "(\\d{4})" + ymdDelimiter + "(\\d{2})" + ymdDelimiter + "(\\d{2}) (\\d{2}):(\\d{2}):(\\d{2})" );
  var parts = dateAsString.match( pattern );

  return new Date( Date.UTC(
      parseInt( parts[1] )
    , parseInt( parts[2], 10 ) - 1
    , parseInt( parts[3], 10 )
    , parseInt( parts[4], 10 )
    , parseInt( parts[5], 10 )
    , parseInt( parts[6], 10 )
    , 0
  ));
}

alert( dateFromUTC( "2008-10-01 06:21:43", '-' ) );

Answer 6

There's this nice looking library called DateJS. I have no experience with it, but you might find it useful. I think you'd be particularly interested in parse() and/or parseExact().

I originally heard about it from this SO post.

Cheers.

EDIT: I just noticed your mention of time and I'm not sure DateJS handles times so I'm going to look into that real quick, or else you can just ignore this post :)