[Chapter 21] Reference: Date.UTC()
Author: David Flanagan
Date: Fri Aug 29 11:14:49 1997

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| Chapter 21 JavaScript Reference |

# Date.UTC() Function

## Name

Date.UTC() Function---convert a date specification to milliseconds

## Availability

Navigator 2.0, Internet Explorer 3.0

## Synopsis

    Date.UTC(year, month, day [, hours [, minutes [, seconds]]]);

### Arguments

`year`

  The year minus 1900. For example, specify 96 for the year 1996.

`month`

  The month, specified as an integer from 0 (January) to 11 (December)

`day`

  The day of the month, specified as an integer from 1 to 31. Note that this argument uses 1 as its lowest value, while other arguments use 0 as their lowest value.

`hours`

  The hour, specified as an integer from 0 (midnight) to 23 (11 p.m.). This argument may be omitted if `minutes` and `seconds` are also omitted.

`minutes`

  The minutes in the hour, specified as an integer from 0 to 59. This argument may be omitted if `seconds` is also omitted.

`seconds`

  The seconds in the minute, specified as an integer from 0 to 59. This argument may be omitted.

### Returns

The number of milliseconds between midnight on January 1st, 1970, UTC and the time specified (also in UTC) by the arguments.

## Description

`Date.UTC()` is a function with a name that begins with "Date". It is related to the Date object, but it is not a method of the Date object, and is not invoked on a Date object. It is always invoked as `Date.UTC()`, not as `date``.UTC()` on some Date object `date`.

The arguments to `Date.UTC()` specify a date and time, and are understood to be in UTC (Universal Coordinated Time)--i.e., they are in the GMT time zone. The specified UTC time is converted to the millisecond format, which can be used by the `Date()` constructor method, and by the `Date.setTime()` method.

## Usage

The `Date()` constructor method can accept date and time arguments identical to those that `Date.UTC()` accepts. The difference is that the `Date()` constructor assumes local time, while `Date.UTC()` assumes UTC. To create a Date object using a UTC time specification, you can use code like this:

    d = new Date(Date.UTC(96, 4, 8, 16, 30));

## Bugs

In Navigator 2.0, `Date.UTC()` does not compute the correct number of milliseconds.

## See Also

"Date", "Date.parse()", "Date.setTime()"

Date.toLocaleString() |  | defaultStatus