How to get the timezone offset from a string in Javascript

Question

I receive a date in a string format with an offset, but javascript is converting it to local device time

var d = new Date("2012-11-13T11:34:58-05:00");
debug.log(d);

returns Tue Nov 13 2012 17:34:58 GMT+0100 (CET)

var offset = d.getTimezoneOffset();
debug.log(offset);

returns -60 (my device is utc +1h)

I just want to have the time with the offset, or having the timezone offset mentioned in the string (-5h in the example)

With that, what if I also want to get the timezone abbreviation (IST, EST) after extracting the offset. Any library for this? — Dhiraj Gandhi
– Dhiraj Gandhi, Commented Jan 4, 2019 at 10:09

Omaty · Accepted Answer · 2013-03-19 17:03:47Z

Well the only solution I've found is to create my custom time object by parsing the string

//ex: 2012-11-13T10:56:58-05:00
function CustomDate(timeString){

    var completeDate = timeString.split("T")[0];
    var timeAndOffset = timeString.split("T")[1];
    //date
    this.year = completeDate.split("-")[0];
    this.month = completeDate.split("-")[1];
    this.day = completeDate.split("-")[2];

    this.date = this.year + "/" + this.month + "/"+this.day;

    //negative time offset
    if (timeAndOffset.search("-") != -1){
        var completeOffset = timeAndOffset.split("-")[1];
        this.offset = parseInt(completeOffset.split(":")[0]) * -1;

        var originalTime = timeAndOffset.split("-")[0];
        this.hours = parseInt(originalTime.split(":")[0]);
        this.minutes = parseInt(originalTime.split(":")[1]);
        this.seconds = parseInt(originalTime.split(":")[2]);

        this.time = this.hours + ":" + this.minutes + ":"+this.seconds;

    }
    ///positive time offset
    else if (timeAndOffset.search(/\+/) != -1){

        var completeOffset = timeAndOffset.split("+")[1];
        this.offset = parseInt(completeOffset.split(":")[0]);

        var originalTime = timeAndOffset.split("+")[0];
        this.hours = parseInt( originalTime.split(":")[0]);
        this.minutes = parseInt(originalTime.split(":")[1]);
        this.seconds = parseInt(originalTime.split(":")[2]);

        this.time = this.hours + ":" + this.minutes + ":"+this.seconds;
    }
    //no time offset declared
    else{
        this.hours = parseInt(timeAndOffset.split(":")[0]);
        this.minutes = parseInt(timeAndOffset.split(":")[1]);
        this.seconds = parseInt(timeAndOffset.split(":")[2]);
        this.offset = 0;

        this.time = this.hours + ":" + this.minutes + ":"+this.seconds;
    }
}

For example if I want to display what is the received time 2012-11-13T11:34:58-05:00 in the specified timezone offset :

var aDate = new CustomDate("2012-11-13T11:34:58-05:00");
alert("date: " + aDate.date +" time: "+aDate.time+" offset: "+aDate.offset);

and I get

date: 2012/11/13 time: 11:34:58 offset: -5

The problem with this solution is that the date and time conventions are defined manually in the code, so they won't be automatically adapted to the user's language.

Dale K · Accepted Answer · 2024-07-03 23:45:26Z

0

I don't think that JavaScript can provide an offset other then the local one as it doesn't know where the time you gave it came from..

So you've given it 2012-11-13T11:34:58-05:00 but no information about where this time originate, it could be the time in anywhere in the world, so it defaults to whatever your local timezone if for the offset.

edited Jul 3, 2024 at 23:45

Dale K

28.1k15 gold badges59 silver badges85 bronze badges

answered Nov 13, 2012 at 17:41

Aaron Cole

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3 Comments

Omaty Over a year ago

I think it's the minus 5 at the end of the time (-05:00) that indicates the timezone offset In the example i'm saying it is 11:34am in NY time.

Aaron Cole Over a year ago

Ok well you might be right, Im not sure. Well you know that -60 is -60 minutes right? So I guess you could convert it back into hours -60/1 = -1 and then add it to the string.

Omaty Over a year ago

Yes I know that -60 is -60 minutes but that is too late, this indicate the device time offset and not the offset of the string. The problem is that I receive the string from a server with an offset that can be different from a string to another, I just want to read the time in the indicated timezone in the string.

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