Getting the current timestamp in JavaScript

In this tutorial, we are going to learn about different ways to get the current (UNIX or UTC) timestamp in JavaScript.

The Unix timestamp (also known as Epoch time, POSIX time), it is the number of seconds elapsed since January 1970 00:00:00 UTC.

Using Date.now() method

We can get the current timestamp in JavaScript by using the Date.now() method.

The Date.now() method returns the timestamp in milliseconds elapsed since January 1970 00:00:00 UTC.

Example:

const timestamp = Date.now();

console.log(timestamp); // 1595377677652

Using Date constructor

There are two different ways to get the timestamp using new Date() constructor.

1. Adding the unary operator + to new Date() constructor

const timestamp = + new Date();

console.log(timestamp); // 1595377905235

2. Calling the getTime() method on new Date() constructor.

const timestamp = new Date().getTime();

console.log(timestamp); // 1595377905235

In JavaScript, the timestamp represents in milliseconds.

If you want to get the timestamp in seconds, you need to convert it like this.

const timestamp = Math.floor(Date.now() / 1000);

console.log(timestamp); // 1595378439