Date.parse( dateString ) in ECMAScript 262

Attempt to parse the supplied string as a date, and return the number of milliseconds it represents.

Arguments

nametypedescription
dateString String The string to parse as a date;
Return Type
Number

Description

This method applies to the Date class, not a particular instance; appropriate usage is:

var numMilliseconds = Date.parse(...);

This method is used by the new Date() constructor when a single string value is passed as a parameter, so the following two methods of creating a date are equivalent:

var numMilliseconds = Date.parse("12/24/2003 3:15 pm");
var myDate1 = new Date(numMilliseconds);

var myDate2 = new Date("12/24/2003 3:15 pm");
var numMilliseconds = myDate2.valueOf();

As such, this method is solely useful when only the date value (as a number) is important instead of the full Date object it represents.