Get month name from Date

Question

How can I generate the name of the month (e.g: Oct/October) from this date object in JavaScript?

var objDate = new Date("10/11/2009");

Answer 1

It is now possible to do this with the ECMAScript Internationalization API:

const date = new Date(2009, 10, 10);  // 2009-11-10
const month = date.toLocaleString('en-us', { month: 'long' });
console.log(month);

long uses the full name of the month, short for the short name, and narrow for a more minimal version, such as the first letter in alphabetical languages.

You can change the locale from en-us to any that you please, and it will use the right name for that language/country.

With toLocaleString you have to pass in the locale and options each time. If you are going do use the same locale info and formatting options on multiple different dates, you can use Intl.DateTimeFormat instead:

if (typeof Intl == 'object' && typeof Intl.DateTimeFormat == 'function') {
  var formatter = new Intl.DateTimeFormat("fr", {
      month: "short"
    }),
    month1 = formatter.format(new Date()),
    month2 = formatter.format(new Date(2003, 5, 12));

  // current month in French and "juin".
  console.log(month1 + " and " + month2);
  
} else {
  console.log('Intl.DateTimeFormat not supported');
}

The main issue with this API is it is new. It is only available in Blink browsers (Chrome and Opera), IE11, Microsoft Edge, Firefox 29+, and Safari 10+

For more information see my blog post on the Internationalization API.

Answer 2

Here's another one, with support for localization :)

Date.prototype.getMonthName = function(lang) {
    lang = lang && (lang in Date.locale) ? lang : 'en';
    return Date.locale[lang].month_names[this.getMonth()];
};

Date.prototype.getMonthNameShort = function(lang) {
    lang = lang && (lang in Date.locale) ? lang : 'en';
    return Date.locale[lang].month_names_short[this.getMonth()];
};

Date.locale = {
    en: {
       month_names: ['January', 'February', 'March', 'April', 'May', 'June', 'July', 'August', 'September', 'October', 'November', 'December'],
       month_names_short: ['Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun', 'Jul', 'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec']
    }
};

you can then easily add support for other languages:

Date.locale.fr = {month_names: [...]};

Answer 3

Some common easy process from date object can be done by this.

var monthNames = ["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June",
  "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"
];
var monthShortNames = ["Jan", "Feb", "Mar", "Apr", "May", "Jun",
  "Jul", "Aug", "Sep", "Oct", "Nov", "Dec"
];

function dateFormat1(d) {
  var t = new Date(d);
  return t.getDate() + ' ' + monthNames[t.getMonth()] + ', ' + t.getFullYear();
}

function dateFormat2(d) {
  var t = new Date(d);
  return t.getDate() + ' ' + monthShortNames[t.getMonth()] + ', ' + t.getFullYear();
}

console.log(dateFormat1(new Date()))
console.log(dateFormat2(new Date()))

Or you can make date prototype like

Date.prototype.getMonthName = function() {
  var monthNames = ["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June",
    "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"
  ];
  return monthNames[this.getMonth()];
}


Date.prototype.getFormatDate = function() {
  var monthNames = ["January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June",
    "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December"
  ];
  return this.getDate() + ' ' + monthNames[this.getMonth()] + ', ' + this.getFullYear();
}


console.log(new Date().getMonthName())
console.log(new Date().getFormatDate())

Ex:

var dateFormat3 = new Date().getMonthName(); # March

var dateFormat4 = new Date().getFormatDate(); # 16 March, 2017

Answer 4

To get a array of month name :

Date.monthNames = function( ) {
var arrMonth = [],
    dateRef = new Date(),
    year = dateRef.getFullYear();

dateRef.setMonth(0);
while (year == dateRef.getFullYear()) {
    /* push le mois en lettre et passe au mois suivant */
    arrMonth.push( (dateRef.toLocaleString().split(' '))[2] );
    dateRef.setMonth( dateRef.getMonth() + 1);
}

return arrMonth;
}

alert(Date.monthNames().toString());

// -> janvier,février,mars,avril,mai,juin,juillet,août,septembre,octobre,novembre,décembre

http://jsfiddle.net/polinux/qb346/

Answer 5

Just write a simple wrapper around toLocaleString :

function LocalDate(locale) {
  this.locale = locale;
}

LocalDate.prototype.getMonthName = function(date) {
  return date.toLocaleString(this.locale,{month:"long"});
};

var objDate = new Date("10/11/2009");

var localDate = new LocalDate("en");
console.log(localDate.getMonthName(objDate));

localDate.locale = "ru";
console.log(localDate.getMonthName(objDate));

localDate.locale = "zh";
console.log(localDate.getMonthName(objDate));

Answer 6

Date.prototype.getMonthName = function() {
    var monthNames = [ "January", "February", "March", "April", "May", "June", 
                       "July", "August", "September", "October", "November", "December" ];
    return monthNames[this.getMonth()];
}

It can be used as

var month_Name = new Date().getMonthName();