Function to get yesterday's date in Javascript in format DD/MM/YYYY

Question

I've been looking for a while to get yesterday's date in format DD/MM/YYYY. Here's my current code:

var $today = new Date();
var $dd = $today.getDate();
var $mm = $today.getMonth()+1; //January is 0!

var $yyyy = $today.getFullYear();
if($dd<10){$dd='0'+dd} if($mm<10){$mm='0'+$mm} $today = $dd+'/'+$mm+'/'+$yyyy;

With this, I get today's date in format DD/MM/YYYY (thanks SO). But when I try this:

var $yesterday = $today.getDate()-1;

as recommended on this site somewhere else (lost the link), I get an error saying that getDate() was not found for this object.

I'm using my script with Sahi, but I don't think it's linked, as Sahi has no trouble with Javascript.

Thank you in advance.

Would this be better: http://jsfiddle.net/LZLgN/ ? Of course you'll have to fill necessary `0`s. — Passerby, May 22 '13 at 08:16
It's because your `$today` was finally assigned to a string (`"dd/mm/yyyy"`), and a string do not have method `getDate()`. — Passerby, May 22 '13 at 08:19
Just FYI, there's a great library to handle Date manipulation: [Moment.js](http://momentjs.com). — ldiqual, May 22 '13 at 17:47

Sam · Accepted Answer · 2018-12-17T20:33:48.383

63

The problem here seems to be that you're reassigning $today by assigning a string to it:

$today = $dd+'/'+$mm+'/'+$yyyy;

Strings don't have getDate.

Also, $today.getDate()-1 just gives you the day of the month minus one; it doesn't give you the full date of 'yesterday'. Try this:

$today = new Date();
$yesterday = new Date($today);
$yesterday.setDate($today.getDate() - 1); //setDate also supports negative values, which cause the month to rollover.

Then just apply the formatting code you wrote:

var $dd = $yesterday.getDate();
var $mm = $yesterday.getMonth()+1; //January is 0!

var $yyyy = $yesterday.getFullYear();
if($dd<10){$dd='0'+$dd} if($mm<10){$mm='0'+$mm} $yesterday = $dd+'/'+$mm+'/'+$yyyy;

Because of the last statement, $yesterday is now a String (not a Date) containing the formatted date.

edited Dec 17 '18 at 20:33

answered May 22 '13 at 08:20

Sam

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Thank you. Does this method work for every day of the year? – Joe May 22 '13 at 08:35
@user1881815, I'm pretty sure it will. I tested it for the first day of the year, the first day of a month, and the current date, and it worked in those cases. – Sam May 22 '13 at 08:38
You were right. Thanks a lot! – Joe May 22 '13 at 10:20

score 21 · Answer 2 · answered May 22 '13 at 08:19

21

Try this:

function getYesterdaysDate() {
    var date = new Date();
    date.setDate(date.getDate()-1);
    return date.getDate() + '/' + (date.getMonth()+1) + '/' + date.getFullYear();
}

answered May 22 '13 at 08:19

katranci

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Thanks, almost there, I just need the zeros to appear before the single numbers. :) – Joe May 22 '13 at 08:23
2

@user1881815: Try this date.getFullYear() + '/'+ (month < 10 ? '0' : '') + month + '/' + (day < 10 ? '0' : '') + day; – Psyche Genie Jul 01 '14 at 16:02
This won’t work at on 1st January. – Deepak Poojari May 31 '21 at 09:29

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered May 22 '13 at 08:20

3

You override $today in the if statement.

if($dd<10){$dd='0'+dd} if($mm<10){$mm='0'+$mm} $today = $dd+'/'+$mm+'/'+$yyyy;

It is then not a Date() object anymore - hence the error.

answered May 22 '13 at 08:20

madflow

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Function to get yesterday's date in Javascript in format DD/MM/YYYY

3 Answers3