Why does 'Date()' return a string?

Question

While making something, I accidentally wrote

const today = Date()

Instead of

const today = new Date()

And was surprised to find that this is valid syntax, and today's type is a string. Moreover, Date() === new Date().toString() returns true.

I could not find anything in the MDN docs about this, why does this happens?

Already answered https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9584719/date-vs-new-date-in-javascript — Sergey Lukashev, Sep 10 '20 at 07:33
when you call `Date()` internally `(new Date()).toString()` is invoked. try running `(new Date()).toString() === Date()` — Kharel, Sep 10 '20 at 07:38

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 10 '20 at 07:31

MDN describes this behavior right below the top "Syntax" section:

Note: The only correct way to instantiate a new Date object is by using the new operator. If you simply call the Date object directly, such as now = Date(), the returned value is a string rather than a Date object.

It's described in the specification here:

If NewTarget is undefined, then

a. Let now be the Number that is the time value (UTC) identifying the current time.

b. Return ToDateString(now).

Why does 'Date()' return a string?

1 Answers1