How to Parse String to Date with MomentJS?

Moment.js is the date library in JavaScript that provides parsing, validation, manipulation, and formatting of dates and times. It has several methods to parse strings into date objects, accommodating various formats and time zones.

Run the below command before running the code in your local system:

npm i moment

These are the following approaches we are going to discuss:

Using Default Parsing

In this approach, we are parsing a string to a date using Moment.js's default parsing. By passing the string '2024-07-26' directly to moment(), it interprets the string as a date and returns a Moment object. The format('YYYY-MM-DD') method is then used to display the date in the desired format.

Example: The below example performs Default Parsing to Parse string to date with moment.js.

// script.js
const moment = require('moment');
let date1 = moment('2024-07-26');
console.log(date1.format('YYYY-MM-DD')); 

Output:

2024-07-26

Using a Specific Format

In this approach, we are parsing a string to a date using a specific format with Moment.js. By specifying the format 'DD/MM/YYYY' when calling moment(), it correctly interprets the string '26/07/2024' according to that format. The format('DD/MM/YYYY') method is then used to display the date in the same format as the input.

Example: The below example performs Specific Format Parsing to Parse string to date with moment.js.

const moment = require('moment');
let date2 = moment('26/07/2024', 'DD/MM/YYYY');
console.log(date2.format('DD/MM/YYYY'));

Output:

26/07/2024

Using moment.utc() for UTC Parsing

In this approach, we are parsing a string to a date using moment.utc() to handle UTC parsing. By passing the string '2024-07-26T15:00:00Z' to moment.utc(), it interprets the date and time in UTC. The format('YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss') method is then used to display the date and time in the specified format.

Example: The below example uses moment.utc() for UTC Parsing.

const moment = require('moment');
let date3 = moment.utc('2024-07-26T15:00:00Z');
console.log(date3.format('YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm:ss'));

Output:

2024-07-26 15:00:00