Date.now()

The Date.now() static method returns the number of milliseconds elapsed since the epoch, which is defined as the midnight at the beginning of January 1, 1970, UTC.

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Syntax

Date.now()

Return value

A number representing the number of milliseconds elapsed since the epoch, which is defined as the midnight at the beginning of January 1, 1970, UTC.

Examples

Reduced time precision

To offer protection against timing attacks and fingerprinting, the precision of Date.now() might get rounded depending on browser settings. In Firefox, the privacy.reduceTimerPrecision preference is enabled by default and defaults to 20µs in Firefox 59; in 60 it will be 2ms.

// reduced time precision (2ms) in Firefox 60
Date.now();
// 1519211809934
// 1519211810362
// 1519211811670
// …

// reduced time precision with `privacy.resistFingerprinting` enabled
Date.now();
// 1519129853500
// 1519129858900
// 1519129864400
// …

In Firefox, you can also enable privacy.resistFingerprinting, the precision will be 100ms or the value of privacy.resistFingerprinting.reduceTimerPrecision.microseconds, whichever is larger.

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript Language Specification
# sec-date.now

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also