I'm using Javascript's Date object to parse a string into a milliseconds timestamp. I'm using Date.parse(), and the strings I'm parsing are of the following format: "2012-07-06 12:59:36-0600"

Date.parse performs nicely in Chrome, parsing into the correct timestamp I'd anticipate. However, every other browser returns "NaN" when I run the string through Date.parse().

I know that the Date object implementation is browser-specific, but I'd like to find a javascript solution that's capable of parsing strings of this type for any browser. Any suggestions on what else I could use in Javascript to achieve this?

I'm using Javascript's Date object to parse a string into a milliseconds timestamp. I'm using Date.parse(), and the strings I'm parsing are of the following format: "2012-07-06 12:59:36-0600"

Date.parse performs nicely in Chrome, parsing into the correct timestamp I'd anticipate. However, every other browser returns "NaN" when I run the string through Date.parse().

I know that the Date object implementation is browser-specific, but I'd like to find a javascript solution that's capable of parsing strings of this type for any browser. Any suggestions on what else I could use in Javascript to achieve this?

• javascript
• cross-browser

• Split the string in parts, and use the corresponding Date.prototype.set* method or the Date constructor to get a Date instance. Here's a regex to get started: /(\d{4})-(\d{2})-(\d{2})\s(\d{2}):(\d{2}):(\d{2})([-+]\d{4})/. – Rob W Commented Jul 6, 2012 at 19:16

3 Answers 3

Convert the input to valid ISO 8601:

Date.parse("2012-07-06 12:59:36-0600".replace(' ', 'T'));

This was tested (and works) in Firefox.

Note:

Note that while time zone specifiers are used during date string parsing to properly interpret the argument, they do not affect the value returned, which is always the number of milliseconds between January 1, 1970 00:00:00 UTC and the point in time represented by the argument.

• https://developer.mozilla/en/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/Date/parse

Have you tried DateJS? Maybe you don't want to add another library, but it will solve your crossbrowser problem.

If the format is consistent, you can parse it yourself:

var date = "2012-07-06 12:59:36-0600";
function parseDatetime(input) {
    var match = input.match(/(\d{4})-(\d{2})-(\d{2}) (\d{2}):(\d{2}):(\d{2})([-+]\d{4})/);
    match.shift(); // discard the "full match" index
    match[2]--;
    match[4] += parseInt(match[6],10);
    return new Date(match[0],match[1],match[2],match[3],match[4],match[5]);
}