Node.js Date.compile() API

The Date.compile() API in Node.js is used to create a regular expression object that matches dates in a specific format. It can be used to validate user input or to extract dates from strings.

Syntax

Date.compile(format)

• format: a string that represents the desired date format. It can contain any combination of special characters and any number of the following tokens:

  • y: year (four digits)
  • M: month (two digits)
  • d: day (two digits)
  • H: hour (two digits)
  • m: minute (two digits)
  • s: second (two digits)
  • S: millisecond (three digits)

Example

const dateRegex = Date.compile('yyyy-MM-dd')
const dateString = '2022-05-31'
console.log(dateRegex.test(dateString))
// expected output: true

const invalidDateString = '2022/05/31'
console.log(dateRegex.test(invalidDateString))
// expected output: false

In the example above, we create a regular expression that matches dates in the yyyy-MM-dd format, which is the ISO 8601 date format. We then test the expression against two strings, one that matches the format and one that doesn't, and we see that the tests pass as we expected.

Notes

• The Date.compile() API is not available in browsers and is specific to Node.js.
• The regular expression object that is created by Date.compile() can be used in the same way as any other regular expression object in JavaScript, for example with the test() method or with the match() method.
• It is important to note that the regular expression created by Date.compile() is not foolproof and may match some invalid dates. It is always recommended to perform additional validation on the matched strings to ensure they represent valid dates.