change time string of HH:mm am/pm to 24 hour time

Question

I get a variable string like so:

8:45 am

And want, if it is pm, to convert it to 24 hour time. So that I can then drop the am/pm and use it with something else.

I can drop the am/pm quite easily like this:

function replaceEnds(string) {
        string = string.replace("am", "");
        string = string.replace("pm", "");
        return string;
    }

But of course if I do that, I don't know if the string is am or pm, so I don't know to add 12 hours on to the string to make it 24 hour.

Anyone know how I could resolve this? I absolutely cannot change the input that I get of the variable, it'll always be the hour (in 12 hour time), minutes, and am or pm.

Answer 1

Using moment.js:

moment(string, 'h:mm a').format('H:mm');

If you want to do it manually, this would be my solution:

function to24Hour(str) {
    var tokens = /([10]?\d):([0-5]\d) ([ap]m)/i.exec(str);
    if (tokens == null) { return null; }
    if (tokens[3].toLowerCase() === 'pm' && tokens[1] !== '12') {
        tokens[1] = '' + (12 + (+tokens[1]));
    } else if (tokens[3].toLowerCase() === 'am' && tokens[1] === '12') {
        tokens[1] = '00';
    }
    return tokens[1] + ':' + tokens[2];
}

The manual solution is harder to understand, is less flexible, is missing some error checking and needs unit tests. In general, you should usually prefer a well-tested popular library's solution, rather than your own (if a well-tested library is available).

Answer 2

Without using any additional JavaScript libraries:

/**
 * @var amPmString - Time component (e.g. "8:45 PM")
 * @returns - 24 hour time string
 */
function getTwentyFourHourTime(amPmString) { 
    var d = new Date("1/1/2013 " + amPmString); 
    return d.getHours() + ':' + d.getMinutes(); 
}

So for example:

getTwentyFourHourTime("8:45 PM"); // "20:45"
getTwentyFourHourTime("8:45 AM"); // "8:45"

Answer 3

In case you're looking for a solution that converts ANY FORMAT to 24 hours HH:MM correctly.

function get24hTime(str){
    str = String(str).toLowerCase().replace(/\s/g, '');
    var has_am = str.indexOf('am') >= 0;
    var has_pm = str.indexOf('pm') >= 0;
    // first strip off the am/pm, leave it either hour or hour:minute
    str = str.replace('am', '').replace('pm', '');
    // if hour, convert to hour:00
    if (str.indexOf(':') < 0) str = str + ':00';
    // now it's hour:minute
    // we add am/pm back if striped out before 
    if (has_am) str += ' am';
    if (has_pm) str += ' pm';
    // now its either hour:minute, or hour:minute am/pm
    // put it in a date object, it will convert to 24 hours format for us 
    var d = new Date("1/1/2011 " + str);
    // make hours and minutes double digits
    var doubleDigits = function(n){
        return (parseInt(n) < 10) ? "0" + n : String(n);
    };
    return doubleDigits(d.getHours()) + ':' + doubleDigits(d.getMinutes());
}

console.log(get24hTime('6')); // 06:00
console.log(get24hTime('6am')); // 06:00
console.log(get24hTime('6pm')); // 18:00
console.log(get24hTime('6:11pm')); // 18:11
console.log(get24hTime('6:11')); // 06:11
console.log(get24hTime('18')); // 18:00
console.log(get24hTime('18:11')); // 18:11

Answer 4

I've use something similar to this

//time is an array of [hh] & [mm am/pm] (you can get this by time = time.split(":");
function MilitaryTime(time){
if(time[1].indexOf("AM")!=-1){
//its in the morning, so leave as is
  return time;
}else if(time[0]!="12"){
//If it is beyond 12 o clock in the after noon, add twelve for military time.
  time[0]=String(parseInt(time[0])+12);
  return time;
}
else{
return time;
}
}

Once you get your time returned, you can alter the text in any way you want.