Date.now() (in node.js) is targeting the universal time in ubuntu

Question

I'm using ubuntu for serving my website and I've used Date.now() a couple of times to get the current date. I live in Beirut (which is around 12:40 PM right now) and Date.now() is logging minus 2 hours (10:40 PM).
I changed the localtime of ubuntu by doing this command:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata

It's printing this:

Local time is now:      Tue Feb 27 12:40:59 EET 2018.
Universal Time is now:  Tue Feb 27 10:40:59 UTC 2018.

But it still doesn't work.
Basically, I want Date.now() to target the local time instead of universal one...

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8207655/how-to-get-time-of-specific-timezone-using-javascript — Naramsim, Feb 27 '18 at 10:50
@Naramsim I need the result in milliseconds because I'm converting it and changing this means changing a lot of code. — Cedric Hadjian, Feb 27 '18 at 11:02

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 27 '18 at 11:20

0

Date.now() returns the milliseconds elapsed since the UNIX epoch, and has no concept of timezone whatsoever.

answered Feb 27 '18 at 11:20

Jiby Jose

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Okay but why is it returning current time minus 2 hours? It is following the universal timezone and not the local one. – Cedric Hadjian Feb 27 '18 at 11:24
@CedricHadjian because UNIX epoch is 00:00:00 (Thursday, 1 January 1970) UTC, it is not 00:00:00 local time. Timestamp is always respective of UNIX epoch which is 00:00:00 UTC – Jiby Jose Feb 27 '18 at 11:26
Okay I think I can work around it by adding 7200000 ms (2 hours) to Date.now(). – Cedric Hadjian Feb 27 '18 at 11:33
@CedricHadjian Yes, if thats your use case, which i am not fully aware of – Jiby Jose Feb 27 '18 at 11:35

Date.now() (in node.js) is targeting the universal time in ubuntu

1 Answers1