Date.prototype.setHours()

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 setHours() method of Date instances changes the hours, minutes, seconds, and/or milliseconds for this date according to local time.

Try it

const event = new Date("August 19, 1975 23:15:30");
event.setHours(20);

console.log(event);
// Expected output: "Tue Aug 19 1975 20:15:30 GMT+0200 (CEST)"
// Note: your timezone may vary

event.setHours(20, 21, 22);

console.log(event);
// Expected output: "Tue Aug 19 1975 20:21:22 GMT+0200 (CEST)"

Syntax

js
setHours(hoursValue)
setHours(hoursValue, minutesValue)
setHours(hoursValue, minutesValue, secondsValue)
setHours(hoursValue, minutesValue, secondsValue, msValue)

Parameters

hoursValue

An integer between 0 and 23 representing the hours.

minutesValue Optional

An integer between 0 and 59 representing the minutes.

secondsValue Optional

An integer between 0 and 59 representing the seconds. If you specify secondsValue, you must also specify minutesValue.

msValue Optional

An integer between 0 and 999 representing the milliseconds. If you specify msValue, you must also specify minutesValue and secondsValue.

Return value

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

Description

If you do not specify the minutesValue, secondsValue, and msValue parameters, the same values as what are returned by getMinutes(), getSeconds(), and getMilliseconds() are used.

If a parameter you specify is outside of the expected range, other parameters and the date information in the Date object are updated accordingly. For example, if you specify 100 for secondsValue, the minutes are incremented by 1 (minutesValue + 1), and 40 is used for seconds.

Because setHours() operates on the local time, crossing a Daylight Saving Time (DST) boundary may result in a different elapsed time than expected. For example, if setting the hours crosses a spring-forward transition (losing an hour), the difference in timestamps between the new and old date is one hour less than the nominal hour difference. Conversely, crossing a fall-back transition (gaining an hour) result in an extra hour. If you need to adjust the date by a fixed amount of time, consider using setUTCHours() or setTime().

If the new local time falls within an offset transition, the exact time is derived using the same behavior as Temporal's disambiguation: "compatible" option. That is, if the local time corresponds to two instants, the earlier one is chosen; if the local time does not exist (there is a gap), we go forward by the gap duration.

Examples

Using setHours()

js
const theBigDay = new Date();
theBigDay.setHours(7);

Specifications

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

Browser compatibility

desktop mobile server
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
Bun
Deno
Node.js
setHours
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 1 (Release date: 2008-12-11)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 1 (Release date: 2004-11-09)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 3 (Release date: 1997-12-01)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 1 (Release date: 2003-06-23)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 18 (Release date: 2012-06-27)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 4 (Release date: 2011-03-29)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 10.1 (Release date: 2010-11-09)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 1 (Release date: 2007-06-29)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 1 (Release date: 2013-04-27)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 4.4 (Release date: 2013-12-09)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 1 (Release date: 2007-06-29)
footnote Full support
Bun – Full support
Bun 1 (Release date: 2023-09-08)
footnote Full support
Deno – Full support
Deno 1 (Release date: 2020-05-13)
footnote Full support
Node.js – Full support
Node.js 0.10 (Release date: 2013-03-11)
footnote Full support

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support

See also