How to check if a Date is before or after another Date

This blog post explains three methods for checking if a date is before or after another date in JavaScript.

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When working with dates in web development, checking whether one date is before or after another date is a common task. This is particularly important when creating event calendars, scheduling appointments or booking services. In JavaScript, comparing dates to determine order can be done in various ways. In this blog post, we will dive into the details of each method to help you determine which approach best suits your needs.

Comparison Operators

One way of checking if a date is before or after another date in JavaScript is to use the comparison operators. These operators include < (less than), > (greater than), <= (less than or equal to), and >= (greater than or equal to).

For example, to check if date1 is before date2, you can use the < operator as shown below:

let date1 = new Date('2022-01-01');
let date2 = new Date('2022-01-10');
if (date1 < date2) {
   console.log('date1 is before date2');
} else {
   console.log('date1 is after date2');
}

In this case, the output will be ‘date1 is before date2’, as January 1st, 2022 comes before January 10th, 2022.

Using getTime() Method