Parsing Date Strings

Parsing Dates

Date parsing behavior varies by browser for non-ISO strings. Always use ISO 8601 format or parse manually for reliability.

Example

// Reliable: ISO 8601
new Date("2024-06-15");            // OK (UTC midnight)
new Date("2024-06-15T10:30:00Z"); // OK (explicit UTC)

// Unreliable across browsers — avoid
new Date("June 15, 2024");
new Date("15/06/2024");

// Safe manual parsing
function parseDate(str) {
  const [y, m, d] = str.split("-").map(Number);
  return new Date(Date.UTC(y, m - 1, d));
}

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Pro Tip

Only parse ISO 8601 strings with new Date() — all other formats have inconsistent browser behavior.

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