Date.prototype.toDateString()

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since ⁨July 2015⁩.

The toDateString() method of Date instances returns a string representing the date portion of this date interpreted in the local timezone.

Try it

const event = new Date(1993, 6, 28, 14, 39, 7);

console.log(event.toString());
// Expected output: "Wed Jul 28 1993 14:39:07 GMT+0200 (CEST)"
// Note: your timezone may vary

console.log(event.toDateString());
// Expected output: "Wed Jul 28 1993"

Syntax

js
toDateString()

Parameters

None.

Return value

A string representing the date portion of the given date (see description for the format). Returns "Invalid Date" if the date is invalid.

Description

Date instances refer to a specific point in time. toDateString() interprets the date in the local timezone and formats the date part in English. It always uses the following format, separated by spaces:

  1. First three letters of the week day name
  2. First three letters of the month name
  3. Two-digit day of the month, padded on the left a zero if necessary
  4. Four-digit year (at least), padded on the left with zeros if necessary. May have a negative sign

For example: "Thu Jan 01 1970".

  • If you only want to get the time part, use toTimeString().
  • If you want to get both the date and time, use toString().
  • If you want to make the date interpreted as UTC instead of local timezone, use toUTCString().
  • If you want to format the date in a more user-friendly format (e.g., localization), use toLocaleDateString().

Examples

Using toDateString()

js
const d = new Date(0);

console.log(d.toString()); // "Thu Jan 01 1970 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)"
console.log(d.toDateString()); // "Thu Jan 01 1970"

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript® 2026 Language Specification
# sec-date.prototype.todatestring

Browser compatibility

See also