So, you are probably here because you are struggling to fetch hours and minutes from a date in JavaScript. There are built-in methods by which you can get hours and minutes from a date in JavaScript, and all those methods are discussed in this post. Let’s have a look.
Get Hours and Minutes From Date in JavaScript
You can use getHours() and getMinutes() methods to get the hours and minutes from a date in Javascript. We simply call two functions, getHours and getMinutes, on a date instance.
The getHours() method returns the hour for the specified date(according to local time.).
The getMinutes() method returns the minutes for the specified date(according to local time.).
Syntax
getHours() ;
getMinutes();
Return value
A string representing the time.
Example
const now = new Date();
const current = now.getHours() + ':' + now.getMinutes();
console.log(current);
Output
11:10
Explanation
- First, create a variable named now you can create a variable with any name but here I’ am, using now because we are talking about the current time. Then we assign a new instance of date to it. Our variable now has the date in it.
- Then we are creating another variable and, in that variable, we are refreshing hours and minutes from our upper variable using the getHours and getMinutes methods.
- At last, when we print our variable to the console, it comes up with the hours and minutes.
How to display hours and minutes in 12 Hours Format(AM/PM Format)
If you want your time to be displayed in a 12-hours format(am/pm format), then we have a solution for you. Check out the syntax, explanation, and output of the below code.
Syntax
<time>.toLocalTimeString(<language-region>,formats);
Return Value
A string with a language-sensitive representation of the time portion of the date
Example
const now = new Date();
const ampm = now.toLocaleTimeString('default', {
hour: '2-digit',
minute: '2-digit'
});
console.log(ampm);
Output
11:16 AM
Explanation
- First of all, create a variable and store a new instance of the date in it.
- Then on that variable, I am calling toLocaleTimeString() method to get a locale-specific representation of the hours and minutes and pass 2 arguments to it.
- The first argument is the default for the locale and got the hours and minutes formatted as HH:MM AM/PM. You can also pass ‘en-US’ for the same. The second argument is an options object where we can set both properties to ‘2 digit’.
- Then finally, we store it in a variable and print it to the console.
Conclusion
In this article, we have learned how to get hours and minutes from a date in JavaScript. These concepts are usually used when you are working with pre-planned events, delayed events, or scheduled events. I hope that this post was helpful for you and that you found this content informative.

Rushabh Rupani is a Software Engineer with over eight years of experience. He has developed a strong foundation in computer science principles and a passion for problem-solving. Rushabh has experience with various programming languages and technologies, including PHP, Python, and expert in JavaScript. He is comfortable working in front-end and back-end development.