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JavaScript parse() Method

Date Object Reference JavaScript Date Object

Definition and Usage

The parse() method takes a date string and returns the number of milliseconds since midnight of January 1, 1970.

Syntax

Date.parse(datestring)

Parameter Description
datestring Required. A string representing a date

Examples

Example 1

Get how many milliseconds there are from 1970/01/01 to 2005/07/08:

<script type="text/javascript">

var d=Date.parse("Jul 8, 2005");
document.write(d);

</script>

The output of the code above will be:

1120773600000

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Example 2

Convert the output from the example above into years:

<script type="text/javascript">

var minutes=1000*60;
var hours=minutes*60;
var days=hours*24;
var years=days*365;
var t=Date.parse("Jul 8, 2005");
var y=t/years;
document.write("It's been: " + y + " years from 1970/01/01");
document.write(" to 2005/07/08!");

</script>

The output of the code above will be:

It's been: 35.53949771689498 years from 1970/01/01 to 2005/07/08!

Try it yourself »

Date Object Reference JavaScript Date Object

From http://www.w3schools.com (Copyright Refsnes Data)