Temporal.PlainTime.compare()

Limited availability

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

See full compatibility

The Temporal.PlainTime.compare() static method returns a number (-1, 0, or 1) indicating whether the first time comes before, is the same as, or comes after the second time. It is equivalent to comparing the hour, minute, second, millisecond, microsecond, and nanosecond fields one by one.

Syntax

Temporal.PlainTime.compare(time1, time2)

Parameters

time1: A string, an object, or a Temporal.PlainTime instance representing the first time to compare. It is converted to a Temporal.PlainTime object using the same algorithm as Temporal.PlainTime.from().
time2: The second time to compare, converted to a Temporal.PlainTime object using the same algorithm as time1.

Return value

Returns -1 if time1 comes before time2, 0 if they are the same, and 1 if time1 comes after time2.

Examples

Using Temporal.PlainTime.compare()

const time1 = Temporal.PlainTime.from("12:34:56");
const time2 = Temporal.PlainTime.from("12:34:57");
console.log(Temporal.PlainTime.compare(time1, time2)); // -1

const time3 = Temporal.PlainTime.from("11:34:56");
console.log(Temporal.PlainTime.compare(time1, time3)); // 1

Sorting an array of times

The purpose of this compare() function is to act as a comparator to be passed to Array.prototype.sort() and related functions.

const times = ["12:34:56", "11:34:56", "12:34:57"];

times.sort(Temporal.PlainTime.compare);
console.log(times);
// [ "11:34:56", "12:34:56", "12:34:57" ]

Specifications

Specification
Temporal # sec-temporal.plaintime.compare

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
`compare`	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

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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.

Temporal.PlainTime.compare()

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