Temporal.Instant.prototype.toString()

Limited availability

This feature is not Baseline because it does not work in some of the most widely-used browsers.

The toString() method of Temporal.Instant instances returns a string representing this instant in the RFC 9557 format using the specified time zone.

Syntax

js
toString()
toString(options)

Parameters

options Optional

An object containing some or all of the following properties (in the order they are retrieved and validated):

fractionalSecondDigits Optional

Either an integer from 0 to 9, or the string "auto". The default is "auto". If "auto", then trailing zeros are removed from the fractional seconds. Otherwise, the fractional part of the second component contains this many digits, padded with zeros or rounded as necessary.

roundingMode Optional

A string specifying how to round off fractional second digits beyond fractionalSecondDigits. See Intl.NumberFormat(). Defaults to "trunc".

smallestUnit Optional

A string specifying the smallest unit to include in the output. Possible values are "minute", "second", "millisecond", "microsecond", and "nanosecond", or their plural forms, which (except "minute") are equivalent to fractionalSecondDigits values of 0, 3, 6, 9, respectively. If specified, then fractionalSecondDigits is ignored.

timeZone Optional

Either a string or a Temporal.ZonedDateTime instance representing the time zone to use. If a Temporal.ZonedDateTime instance, its time zone is used. If a string, it can be a named time zone identifier, an offset time zone identifier, or a date-time string containing a time zone identifier or an offset (see time zones and offsets for more information). Defaults to "UTC".

Return value

A string in the RFC 9557 format representing this instant using the specified time zone. No annotations, such as time zone names, are included.

Exceptions

RangeError

Thrown if any of the options is invalid.

Examples

Using toString()

js
const instant = Temporal.Instant.fromEpochMilliseconds(1627814412345);
console.log(instant.toString()); // '2021-08-01T10:40:12.345Z'

// Stringification implicitly calls toString()
console.log(`${instant}`); // '2021-08-01T10:40:12.345Z'

Using options

js
const instant = Temporal.Instant.fromEpochMilliseconds(1627814412345);
console.log(instant.toString({ fractionalSecondDigits: 1 })); // '2021-08-01T10:40:12.3Z'
console.log(instant.toString({ smallestUnit: "minute" })); // '2021-08-01T10:40Z'
console.log(instant.toString({ timeZone: "America/New_York" })); // '2021-08-01T06:40:12.345-04:00'

// The time zone name automatically resolves to the correct offset
// based on the instant; for example, America/New_York is UTC-4 in summer,
// but UTC-5 in winter.
const instant2 = Temporal.Instant.fromEpochMilliseconds(1577836800000);
console.log(instant2.toString({ timeZone: "UTC" })); // '2029-12-31T23:00:00Z'
console.log(instant2.toString({ timeZone: "America/New_York" })); // '2019-12-31T19:00:00-05:00'

Specifications

Specification
Temporal
# sec-temporal.instant.prototype.tostring

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
toString
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 144 (Release date: 2026-01-13)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 144 (Release date: 2026-01-21)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 139 (Release date: 2025-05-27)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 128 (Release date: 2026-02-26)
footnote Full support
Safari – Preview support
Safari TP
footnote
footnote See bug 223166
footnote Preview browser support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 144 (Release date: 2026-01-13)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 139 (Release date: 2025-05-27)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 95 (Release date: 2026-02-11)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – No support
Safari on iOS
footnote No support
Samsung Internet – No support
Samsung Internet
footnote No support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 144 (Release date: 2026-01-13)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – No support
WebView on iOS
footnote No support
Bun – No support
Bun
footnote No support
Deno – Full support
Deno 2.7 (Release date: 2026-02-25)
footnote Full support
Node.js – No support
Node.js
footnote No support

Legend

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

Full support
Full support
In development. Supported in a pre-release version.
In development. Supported in a pre-release version.
No support
No support
See implementation notes.

See also