@messageformat/date-skeleton

What is @messageformat/date-skeleton?

@messageformat/date-skeleton is an npm package that provides utilities for formatting dates using skeletons, which are patterns that describe the desired components and their order in a date format. This package is useful for internationalization (i18n) and localization (l10n) of date formats.

What are @messageformat/date-skeleton's main functionalities?

Basic Date Formatting

This feature allows you to format a date using a skeleton pattern. In this example, the skeleton 'yMMMd' formats the date to 'Oct 1, 2023'.

const { DateSkeleton } = require('@messageformat/date-skeleton');
const date = new Date('2023-10-01T12:00:00Z');
const skeleton = new DateSkeleton('yMMMd');
console.log(skeleton.format(date)); // Output: Oct 1, 2023

Custom Time Formatting

This feature allows you to format the time part of a date using a skeleton pattern. In this example, the skeleton 'Hm' formats the time to '12:00'.

const { DateSkeleton } = require('@messageformat/date-skeleton');
const date = new Date('2023-10-01T12:00:00Z');
const skeleton = new DateSkeleton('Hm');
console.log(skeleton.format(date)); // Output: 12:00

Localized Date Formatting

This feature allows you to format a date using a skeleton pattern with localization. In this example, the skeleton 'yMMMd' with the locale set to 'fr' (French) formats the date to '1 oct. 2023'.

const { DateSkeleton } = require('@messageformat/date-skeleton');
const date = new Date('2023-10-01T12:00:00Z');
const skeleton = new DateSkeleton('yMMMd', { locale: 'fr' });
console.log(skeleton.format(date)); // Output: 1 oct. 2023

Other packages similar to @messageformat/date-skeleton

date-fns

date-fns is a modern JavaScript date utility library that provides comprehensive, yet simple, functions for working with dates. It offers a wide range of date manipulation and formatting functions, and it is known for its modularity and performance. Compared to @messageformat/date-skeleton, date-fns provides more general-purpose date utilities but may require more configuration for internationalization.

moment

Moment.js is a widely-used JavaScript library for parsing, validating, manipulating, and formatting dates. It provides extensive support for internationalization and localization. While Moment.js is more feature-rich and easier to use for complex date manipulations, it is also larger in size compared to @messageformat/date-skeleton, which is more focused on skeleton-based date formatting.

luxon

Luxon is a modern JavaScript library for working with dates and times, built by one of the Moment.js developers. It offers a more modern API and better support for internationalization and localization. Luxon is a good alternative to @messageformat/date-skeleton for developers looking for a more comprehensive date-time library with built-in i18n support.

README

@messageformat/date-skeleton

Tools for working with ICU DateFormat skeletons.

import {
  DateFormatError,
  DateToken, // TS only
  getDateFormatter,
  getDateFormatterSource,
  parseDateTokens
} from '@messageformat/date-skeleton';

The package is released as an ES module only. If using from a CommonJS context, you may need to import() it, or use a module loader like esm.

Uses Intl.DateTimeFormat internally. Position-dependent ICU DateFormat patterns are not supported, as they cannot be represented with Intl.DateTimeFormat options.

Classes

Class	Description
DateFormatError	Parent class for errors.

Functions

Function	Description
getDateFormatter(locales, tokens, onError)	Returns a date formatter function for the given locales and date skeleton
getDateFormatterSource(locales, tokens, onError)	Returns a string of JavaScript source that evaluates to a date formatter function with the same (date: Date | number) => string signature as the function returned by getDateFormatter().
parseDateTokens(src)	Parse an ICU DateFormat skeleton string into a DateToken array.

Type Aliases

Type Alias	Description
DateToken	An object representation of a parsed date skeleton token

Messageformat is an OpenJS Foundation project, and we follow its Code of Conduct.