Getting the current time is a basic function of many applications that are built today. Whether you are developing a website or an app, time is a vital aspect that needs to be incorporated to make your application robust and dynamic.
With the availability of JavaScript, retrieving the current time with just a few lines of code is now possible, and this article will explain how.
Methods to Get Time in JavaScript
Before we dive into getting the current time with JavaScript, we need to understand the different methods available in JavaScript to retrieve time. There are primarily three methods to retrieve time in JavaScript- getHours(), getMinutes(), and getSeconds().
These three methods are used to retrieve the current hour, minutes, and seconds of the day. Developers can use these methods to incorporate time-related applications effectively.
Displaying Current Time on Webpage with JavaScript
Once you have grasped the concept behind retrieving time with Javascript, the next step is to display the current time on a webpage. To do this, we make use of the ‘Date object’ in JavaScript.
The Date object returns the current date and time when called. To illustrate this, let’s create a simple webpage that displays the current time.
First, we will create a basic HTML file with a div tag. We will then use the date object to grab the current time and display it inside our div tag.
We need to do the following to display the current time on a webpage:
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In the above code snippet, the JavaScript code creates a new instance of the date object and assigns it to a variable called ‘today.’ The JavaScript then makes use of the getHours(), getMinutes() and getSeconds() methods to retrieve the current hour, minute, and second. The results are then concatenated into one string, which is then assigned to the div tag’s innerHTML.
Getting Current Time in the UTC Format
The above code snippet displays local time, which is based on the user’s computer’s time settings. However, it is sometimes necessary to display the time in UTC format to enable applications that span across different time zones.
In JavaScript, we have different methods available to retrieve UTC time. To find out the current UTC time, we can use the following:
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In the code snippet above, the ‘toUTCString()’ method is used to retrieve UTC time.
The resulting string is then assigned to the div tag’s innerHTML attribute, which will display the current UTC time.
Displaying Entire Current Time in Local Format
As mentioned earlier, there are several ways to retrieve time in JavaScript, but if you want to display the current time in a local format, we use the ‘toLocaleTimeString()’ method. The ‘toLocaleTimeString()’ method retrieves the current time in a specified format.
Let us illustrate this with a simple example:
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In the code snippet above, the ‘toLocaleTimeString()’ method is used to retrieve the current time in a specified format based on the user’s local time settings. The resulting string is assigned to the div tag’s innerHTML attribute, which will display the current time in a local format.
Conclusion
In this article, we have covered how to retrieve the current time in JavaScript. We have looked at the methods that are available to retrieve time and how to display the current time on a webpage using the “Date” object.
We also saw how to get the current time in the UTC format and how to display the entire current time in a local format. With these techniques highlighted above, developers can accurately retrieve time and create applications that incorporate time-related functionality.
Now you are on your way to implementing real-time applications that involve time with JavaScript!
In summary, JavaScript provides several ways to retrieve and display current time on a webpage. With the ‘Date’ object and various methods like ‘getHours()’, ‘getMinutes()’, ‘getSeconds()’, ‘toLocaleTimeString()’, and ‘toUTCString()’, developers can easily retrieve and format time.
Displaying current time in a local or UTC format helps create robust applications that cater to different global time zones. The ability to utilize JavaScript to retrieve time enables developers to create richer user experiences and more responsive applications.