Parse Datetime string in local date format in javascript (preferably using luxon)

Question

Suppose I have a datetime string 10/09/2019 10:03:00.000 AM.

Now, if I am in USA, I'll read it as 9th October 2019 and if I am in India, I'll read it as 10th September 2019.

So, my question is how do I parse this string as a Date object in such a way that it is parsed based on the local timezone.

I am using luxon, but, pure javascript solution will also work.

What you're describing isn't really related to timezones; it's date format preference based on culture, day/month/year vs month/day/year. If you want that handled properly, you'll likely have to allow your users to set their date format preference, but hopefully for display only. Most systems expect dates/timestamps to be handled in year-month-day hour:minute:second, with or without timezone (+/- offset) included. — Tim Lewis
– Tim Lewis, Commented Jul 2, 2019 at 14:33
Did you read the luxon documentation? moment.github.io/luxon/docs/manual/parsing.html#fromformat — user47589
– user47589, Commented Jul 2, 2019 at 14:33
fromFormat expects a format to be provided. I want automatic parsing based on culture. I guess as Tim suggested, I need to switch to year-month-day hour:minute:second — Ankit Kante
– Ankit Kante, Commented Jul 2, 2019 at 14:55
So your real question is "how do I tell what format the user expects". You can't, so present timestamps in an unambiguous format, and tell the user the format you expect when requesting input. — RobG
– RobG, Commented Jul 2, 2019 at 20:18

snickersnack · Accepted Answer · 2019-09-30 04:01:35Z

14

Using a recent version of Luxon that supports the use of "macro" tokens in the parser:

> DateTime.fromFormat("10/09/2019 10:03:00.000 AM", "D hh:mm:ss.SSS a").toISO()
'2019-10-09T10:03:00.000-04:00'
> DateTime.fromFormat("10/09/2019 10:03:00.000 AM", "D hh:mm:ss.SSS a", { locale: "en-IN" }).toISO()
'2019-09-10T10:03:00.000-04:00'

IMO, this solution is brittle, in the sense that Luxon's parser here very strict, essentially requiring that the date part match exactly DateTime.toFormat in that locale, so differences in 0-padding, slashes vs hyphens, etc.

answered Sep 30, 2019 at 4:01

snickersnack

2,54115 silver badges18 bronze badges

Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

2 Comments

Mrmld Sky Over a year ago

I upvoted it, because I found the format of the second argument here

charlieb Over a year ago

Also note: The 'F' token is great for this format: DateTime.fromFormat("10/09/2019 10:03:00.000 AM", "F").

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

Parse Datetime string in local date format in javascript (preferably using luxon)

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Hot Network Questions

Collectives™ on Stack Overflow

1 Answer 1

2 Comments

Your Answer

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest

Related