Temporal Now

The Temporal.Now Object

The Temporal.Now object provides 5 methods to get the system's date and time.

One method for each date object:

• Temporal.Now.instant()
• Temporal.Now.plainDateISO()
• Temporal.Now.plainTimeISO()
• Temporal.Now.plainDateTimeISO()
• Temporal.Now.zonedDateTimeISO()

And one method to get system's time zone:

• Temporal.Now.timeZoneId()

What is Temporal.Now?

Temporal.now is a Namespace object. Like the Math object, it is a container for methods.

These methods provide the current time in various formats (Instant, ZonedDateTime, PlainDateTime, etc) in nanoseconds precision .

Temporal.Now is static. It cannot be instantiated. You cannot use the new keyword to create a Temporal-Now. new Temporal.Now() will throw an error.

Instead, you call the methods directly on the namespace, such as Temporal.Now.instant().

Note: Temporal.Now is serving as a replacement for the older Date.now() method.

Create a Temporal.Instant Object

The Temporal.Now.instant() method returns a Temporal.Instant object representing the current date and time.

An Instant represents an exact moment in time (UTC). It is similar to a timestamp.

Example

let now = Temporal.Now.instant();

Create a Temporal.PlainDate Object

The Temporal.Now.plainDateISO() method is used to get the current date.

It returns a PlainDate object with the (year, month, day) in the ISO 8601 calendar, ignoring time zones and times.

A PlainDate object is ideal for calendar-based applications like birthdays, anniversaries, and scheduling, where the time of day does not matter.

Example

let today = Temporal.Now.plainDateISO();

Create a Temporal.PlainTime Object

Use the plainTimeISO() method for time only.

It returns a PlainTime object with the current time in the ISO calendar.

Example

let today = Temporal.Now.plainTimeISO();

Create a Temporal.PlainDateTime Object

Use the plainDateTimeISO() for date and time only.

It returns a PlainDateTime object in the ISO 8601 calendar, specifically ignoring time zones.

A PlainDateTime object is useful when the date and time for local scheduling, calendar elements, and date-time arithmetic where a time zone is not required.

Example

let dateTime = Temporal.Now.plainDateTimeISO();

Note: The JavaScript Date object has 1 method for getting the current time. Temporal.Now has 5 methods for 5 different date objects.

Create a Temporal.ZonedDateTime Object

Use the zonedDateTimeISO() method when you need both date and time zone information.

It returns a Temporal.ZonedDateTime object that includes your system's time zone.

Example

let zoned = Temporal.Now.zonedDateTimeISO();

Get the Current Time Zone

The timeZoneId() method returns a time zone identifier representing the system's current time zone.

Example

let text = Temporal.Now.timeZoneId();

Temporal.Now Methods

Revised March 2026