Compare two dates with JavaScript
Compare two dates with JavaScript
Question
Can someone suggest a way to compare the values of two dates greater than, less than, and not in the past using JavaScript? The values will be coming from text boxes.
Accepted Answer
The Date object will do what you want - construct one for each date, then compare them using the >
, <
, <=
or >=
.
The ==
, !=
, ===
, and !==
operators require you to use date.getTime()
as in
var d1 = new Date();
var d2 = new Date(d1);
var same = d1.getTime() === d2.getTime();
var notSame = d1.getTime() !== d2.getTime();
to be clear just checking for equality directly with the date objects won't work
var d1 = new Date();
var d2 = new Date(d1);
console.log(d1 == d2); // prints false (wrong!)
console.log(d1 === d2); // prints false (wrong!)
console.log(d1 != d2); // prints true (wrong!)
console.log(d1 !== d2); // prints true (wrong!)
console.log(d1.getTime() === d2.getTime()); // prints true (correct)
I suggest you use drop-downs or some similar constrained form of date entry rather than text boxes, though, lest you find yourself in input validation hell.
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The easiest way to compare dates in javascript is to first convert it to a Date object and then compare these date-objects.
Below you find an object with three functions:
dates.compare(a,b)
Returns a number:
- -1 if a < b
- 0 if a = b
- 1 if a > b
- NaN if a or b is an illegal date
dates.inRange (d,start,end)
Returns a boolean or NaN:
- true if d is between the start and end (inclusive)
- false if d is before start or after end.
- NaN if one or more of the dates are illegal.
dates.convert
Used by the other functions to convert their input to a date object. The input can be
- a date-object : The input is returned as is.
- an array: Interpreted as [year,month,day]. NOTE month is 0-11.
- a number : Interpreted as number of milliseconds since 1 Jan 1970 (a timestamp)
- a string : Several different formats is supported, like "YYYY/MM/DD", "MM/DD/YYYY", "Jan 31 2009" etc.
- an object: Interpreted as an object with year, month and date attributes. NOTE month is 0-11.
.
// Source: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/497790
var dates = {
convert:function(d) {
// Converts the date in d to a date-object. The input can be:
// a date object: returned without modification
// an array : Interpreted as [year,month,day]. NOTE: month is 0-11.
// a number : Interpreted as number of milliseconds
// since 1 Jan 1970 (a timestamp)
// a string : Any format supported by the javascript engine, like
// "YYYY/MM/DD", "MM/DD/YYYY", "Jan 31 2009" etc.
// an object : Interpreted as an object with year, month and date
// attributes. **NOTE** month is 0-11.
return (
d.constructor === Date ? d :
d.constructor === Array ? new Date(d[0],d[1],d[2]) :
d.constructor === Number ? new Date(d) :
d.constructor === String ? new Date(d) :
typeof d === "object" ? new Date(d.year,d.month,d.date) :
NaN
);
},
compare:function(a,b) {
// Compare two dates (could be of any type supported by the convert
// function above) and returns:
// -1 : if a < b
// 0 : if a = b
// 1 : if a > b
// NaN : if a or b is an illegal date
// NOTE: The code inside isFinite does an assignment (=).
return (
isFinite(a=this.convert(a).valueOf()) &&
isFinite(b=this.convert(b).valueOf()) ?
(a>b)-(a<b) :
NaN
);
},
inRange:function(d,start,end) {
// Checks if date in d is between dates in start and end.
// Returns a boolean or NaN:
// true : if d is between start and end (inclusive)
// false : if d is before start or after end
// NaN : if one or more of the dates is illegal.
// NOTE: The code inside isFinite does an assignment (=).
return (
isFinite(d=this.convert(d).valueOf()) &&
isFinite(start=this.convert(start).valueOf()) &&
isFinite(end=this.convert(end).valueOf()) ?
start <= d && d <= end :
NaN
);
}
}
Compare <
and >
just as usual, but anything involving =
should use a +
prefix. Like so:
var x = new Date('2013-05-23');
var y = new Date('2013-05-23');
// less than, greater than is fine:
x < y; => false
x > y; => false
x === y; => false, oops!
// anything involving '=' should use the '+' prefix
// it will then compare the dates' millisecond values
+x <= +y; => true
+x >= +y; => true
+x === +y; => true
The relational operators <
<=
>
>=
can be used to compare JavaScript dates:
var d1 = new Date(2013, 0, 1);
var d2 = new Date(2013, 0, 2);
d1 < d2; // true
d1 <= d2; // true
d1 > d2; // false
d1 >= d2; // false
However, the equality operators ==
!=
===
!==
cannot be used to compare (the value of) dates because:
- Two distinct objects are never equal for either strict or abstract comparisons.
- An expression comparing Objects is only true if the operands reference the same Object.
You can compare the value of dates for equality using any of these methods:
var d1 = new Date(2013, 0, 1);
var d2 = new Date(2013, 0, 1);
/*
* note: d1 == d2 returns false as described above
*/
d1.getTime() == d2.getTime(); // true
d1.valueOf() == d2.valueOf(); // true
Number(d1) == Number(d2); // true
+d1 == +d2; // true
Both Date.getTime()
and Date.valueOf()
return the number of milliseconds since January 1, 1970, 00:00 UTC. Both Number
function and unary +
operator call the valueOf()
methods behind the scenes.
By far the easiest method is to subtract one date from the other and compare the result.
var oDateOne = new Date();
var oDateTwo = new Date();
alert(oDateOne - oDateTwo === 0);
alert(oDateOne - oDateTwo < 0);
alert(oDateOne - oDateTwo > 0);
Comparing dates in JavaScript is quite easy... JavaScript has built-in comparison system for dates which makes it so easy to do the comparison...
Just follow these steps for comparing 2 dates value, for example you have 2 inputs which each has a Date value in String
and you to compare them...
1. you have 2 string values you get from an input and you'd like to compare them, they are as below:
var date1 = '01/12/2018';
var date2 = '12/12/2018';
2. They need to be Date Object
to be compared as date values, so simply convert them to date, using new Date()
, I just re-assign them for simplicity of explanation, but you can do it anyway you like:
date1 = new Date(date1);
date2 = new Date(date2);
3. Now simply compare them, using the >
<
>=
<=
date1 > date2; //false
date1 < date2; //true
date1 >= date2; //false
date1 <= date2; //true