I am trying to convert my dashed date 2013-12-11 to 2013/12/11 using the following function:

function convertDate(stringdate)
{
    // Internet Explorer does not like dashes in dates when converting, 
    // so lets use a regular expression to get the year, month, and day 
    var DateRegex = /([^-]*)-([^-]*)-([^-]*)/;
    var DateRegexResult = stringdate.match(DateRegex);
    var DateResult;
    var StringDateResult = "";

    // try creating a new date in a format that both Firefox and Internet Explorer understand
    try
    {
        DateResult = new Date(DateRegexResult[2]+"/"+DateRegexResult[3]+"/"+DateRegexResult[1]);
    } 
    // if there is an error, catch it and try to set the date result using a simple conversion
    catch(err) 
    { 
        DateResult = new Date(stringdate);
    }

    // format the date properly for viewing
    StringDateResult = (DateResult.getMonth()+1)+"/"+(DateResult.getDate()+1)+"/"+(DateResult.getFullYear());
    console.log(StringDateResult);

    return StringDateResult;
}

As a test I pass var myDate = '2013-12-11' in and log out before and after the function but the format remains the same? Can anyone suggest where I may be going wrong with this?

Here is a test jsFiddle: /

I am trying to convert my dashed date 2013-12-11 to 2013/12/11 using the following function:

function convertDate(stringdate)
{
    // Internet Explorer does not like dashes in dates when converting, 
    // so lets use a regular expression to get the year, month, and day 
    var DateRegex = /([^-]*)-([^-]*)-([^-]*)/;
    var DateRegexResult = stringdate.match(DateRegex);
    var DateResult;
    var StringDateResult = "";

    // try creating a new date in a format that both Firefox and Internet Explorer understand
    try
    {
        DateResult = new Date(DateRegexResult[2]+"/"+DateRegexResult[3]+"/"+DateRegexResult[1]);
    } 
    // if there is an error, catch it and try to set the date result using a simple conversion
    catch(err) 
    { 
        DateResult = new Date(stringdate);
    }

    // format the date properly for viewing
    StringDateResult = (DateResult.getMonth()+1)+"/"+(DateResult.getDate()+1)+"/"+(DateResult.getFullYear());
    console.log(StringDateResult);

    return StringDateResult;
}

As a test I pass var myDate = '2013-12-11' in and log out before and after the function but the format remains the same? Can anyone suggest where I may be going wrong with this?

Here is a test jsFiddle: http://jsfiddle/wbnzt/

• javascript

• instead of regexes why don't you use datestr.split("-").join("/") ? – Kemal Dağ Commented Jun 20, 2013 at 17:01
• Yes, what is the point of creating an intermediary Date object? – Dhaivat Pandya Commented Jun 20, 2013 at 17:02

4 Answers 4

Use String Replace to replace the dashes with slashes.

string.replace(/-/g,"/")

I'm not sure if I misunderstand the question; why not just this:

function convertDate(stringdate)
{
    stringdate = stringdate.replace(/-/g, "/");
    return stringdate;
}

Your function is working as expected convertDate(myDate) is returning the / value off the date.

Your problem seems to be your logging

var myDate = '2013-12-11';
console.log('Before', myDate); //2013-12-11

convertDate(myDate);
console.log('After', myDate); //2013-12-11 

Your function returns a value so convertDate(myDate) is just returning and doing nothing. And your console log for after is just returning the same date as before.

If you change your console log to

console.log('After', convertDate(myDate)); //2013-12-11 

You will get the expected result, or set myDate to the new value

  myDate = convertDate(myDate);
    console.log('After', myDate); //2013-12-11 

myDate.split("-").join("/")

Logic: Split it by dash. Join it by Slash.