JavaScript Date valueOf() Method

The JavaScript Date.valueOf() method returns a numeric value represents the number of milliseconds between the date object and Epoch. If the provided Date object is invalid, this method returns Not a Number (NaN) as result.

The Epoch is the starting point for measuring time in seconds and is defined as January 1, 1970, 00:00:00 UTC.

Syntax

Following is the syntax of JavaScript Date valueOf() Method −

valueOf();

This method does not accept any parameters.

Return Value

This method returns the number of milliseconds between the date object and midnight January 1, 1970 UTC.

Example 1

In the below example, we are demonstrating the basic usage of JavaScript Date valueOf() method −

<html>
<body>
<script>
   const currentDate = new Date();
   const numericValue = currentDate.valueOf();

   document.write(numericValue);
</script>
</body>
</html>

Output

The program returns an integer that specifies the number of of milliseconds between the date object and epoch.

Example 2

Here, we are returning the number of milliseconds for a specific date (December 26, 2023 12:30:00) since the epoch −

<html>
<body>
<script>
   const currentDate = new Date('December 26, 2023 12:30:00');
   const specificDate = currentDate.valueOf();

   document.write(specificDate);
</script>
</body>
</html>

Output

It returns "1703574000000" milliseconds as output.

Example 3

In the example below, the date object is created with an invalid date i.e. the date and time values that are outside the valid range.

<html>
<body>
<script>
   const currentDate = new Date('December 45, 2023 21:78:001');
   const specificDate = currentDate.valueOf();

   document.write(specificDate);
</script>
</body>
</html>

Output

The program returns "invalid date" as a result.

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