Get the Current Timestamp in JavaScript

Timestamp in milliseconds

Use the static function Date.now() to get a timestamp in JavaScript:

// 👇 Current timestamp in milliseconds
function getCurrentTimestamp() {
  return Date.now();
}

The timestamp is milliseconds since January 1, 1970 in UTC. The Date.now() function in JS returns the timestamp of the current time.

Timestamp from a date string

If you already have a Date object, you can use the prototype methods getTime() or valueOf() to convert it to timestamp:

const exactDate = '09/19/2022 10:58:13';

// 👇 Get the timestamp when you already have the date object
const exactDateTimestamp = new Date(exactDate).getTime();

console.log(exactDateTimestamp); // 1663574293000

1. Create a new Date object from a date string by using the constructor.
2. Call the getTime() function on the Date object to get the timestamp in milliseconds.
3. Divide the result by 1000 and round it down to get a Unix timestamp.

The getTime() and valueOf() functions do the exact same thing and can be used interchangeably.

Unix timestamp

The Unix timestamp is in seconds rather than milliseconds. Simply divide the timestamp by 1000:

// 👇 To get UNIX timestamp, divide by 1000
function getCurrentUnixTimestamp() {
  return Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000);
}

const exactDate = '09/19/2022 10:58:13';

// 👇 Get the timestamp when you already have the date object
const exactDateTimestamp = new Date(exactDate).getTime();

console.log(exactDateTimestamp); // 1663574293

Conclusion

Javascript has native utils to get a timestamp in milliseconds. However, manipulating dates is notoriously complicated. If you need to do more complex date calculations I recommend using a purpose-built date manipulation library date-fns.

Incidentally, date-fns has functions to get the timestamps, both regular and Unix. In addition, it has functions to format and localize dates, and do date maths.

You can find the code examples in my GitHub repo.

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