Date.prototype.setTime()

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

The setTime() method of Date instances changes the timestamp for this date, which is the number of milliseconds since the epoch, defined as the midnight at the beginning of January 1, 1970, UTC.

Try it

const launchDate = new Date("July 1, 1999, 12:00:00");
const futureDate = new Date();
futureDate.setTime(launchDate.getTime());

console.log(futureDate);
// Expected output: "Thu Jul 01 1999 12:00:00 GMT+0200 (CEST)"

const fiveMinutesInMs = 5 * 60 * 1000;
futureDate.setTime(futureDate.getTime() + fiveMinutesInMs);

console.log(futureDate);
// Expected output: "Thu Jul 01 1999 12:05:00 GMT+0200 (CEST)"
// Note: your timezone may vary

Syntax

setTime(timeValue)

Parameters

timeValue

An integer representing the new timestamp — the number of milliseconds since the midnight at the beginning of January 1, 1970, UTC.

Return value

Changes the Date object in place, and returns its new timestamp. If timeValue is NaN (or other values that get coerced to NaN, such as undefined), the date is set to Invalid Date and NaN is returned.

Examples

Using setTime()

js
const theBigDay = new Date("1999-07-01");
const sameAsBigDay = new Date();
sameAsBigDay.setTime(theBigDay.getTime());

Specifications

Specification

ECMAScript® 2027 Language Specification
# sec-date.prototype.settime

Browser compatibility

Enable JavaScript to view this browser compatibility table.

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This page was last modified on Jul 10, 2025 by MDN contributors.

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Standard built-in objects
Date
Constructor
1. Date()
Static methods
Instance methods
Inheritance
Object/Function
Static methods
Static properties
Instance methods
Instance properties
1. __proto__
2. constructor