explaingit

hjdivad/moment

Analysis updated 2026-08-07 · repo last pushed 2013-10-25

JavaScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5DormantSetup · easy

TLDR

A JavaScript library that makes working with dates and times easy, letting you parse, format, and manipulate dates without wrestling with clunky built-in date objects.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Parse date strings
      Format dates for display
      Add or subtract time
      Compare two dates
    Key features
      Multi-language support
      Durations handling
      UTC mode
      Time zone display
    Tech stack
      JavaScript
      Lightweight library
    Use cases
      Calendar apps
      Booking systems
      Analytics dashboards
      Deadline trackers
    Audience
      Web developers
      Founders prototyping

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Build a calendar app that displays dates in a readable format.

USE CASE 2

Create a booking system that calculates available time slots.

USE CASE 3

Format timestamps on an analytics dashboard for different time zones.

USE CASE 4

Add date math to a deadline tracker to show days remaining.

What is it built with?

JavaScript

How does it compare?

hjdivad/moment00kaku/gallery-slider-block0verflowme/weirdhta
LanguageJavaScriptJavaScriptJavaScript
Last pushed2013-10-252021-05-192022-06-16
MaintenanceDormantDormantDormant
Setup difficultyeasyeasymoderate
Complexity2/52/52/5
Audiencedevelopergeneraldeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Install via npm or include via a script tag, then require or import it in your JavaScript project.

In plain English

Moment.js helps JavaScript developers work with dates and times without losing their minds. JavaScript's built-in date handling is notoriously clunky and error-prone, so this library wraps it in a cleaner, friendlier interface. Instead of wrestling with raw date objects, you can parse a date string, add a week, format it for display, or compare two dates using straightforward commands. At a high level, it takes the messy work of interpreting, calculating, and displaying dates off your hands. You can feed it a date in almost any format, ask it to figure out what that string means, and then manipulate that date with simple operations. Want to know what day it is 90 days from now? Or need to display a timestamp as "October 5, 2023" instead of a raw string? The library handles the formatting, the math, and the edge cases that make date logic painful. The tool also supports multiple languages, so your dates can display correctly whether your users are in Paris or Tokyo. It includes features for working with durations (like "2 hours and 30 minutes"), checking if a date is valid, and comparing dates to see which comes first. The changelog shows steady evolution over time, with the team consistently adding useful capabilities like UTC mode, better week support, and stricter parsing. This library is aimed at web developers building anything that touches dates and times. If you are building a calendar app, a booking system, an analytics dashboard, or anything that needs to sort events, schedule reminders, or display timestamps to users in different time zones, this is the kind of tool that saves hours of frustration. A project manager building a deadline tracker or a founder prototyping a scheduling feature would benefit from having their team use it to avoid the classic pitfalls of date math. The project is built as a lightweight addition to JavaScript, meaning it does not drag in a huge amount of extra code. It was originally called underscore.date before being renamed, and it has been refined over many versions to be faster and more reliable.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I have a date string '2023-10-05' and I need to add 90 days to it, then display the result as 'MMMM D, YYYY' using Moment.js. Write the code for that.
Prompt 2
Using Moment.js, write a function that takes two date strings and returns which date comes first. Also check if each date is valid before comparing.
Prompt 3
I need to display a duration of '2 hours and 30 minutes' in a human-readable format using Moment.js durations. Show me how to create and format that.
Prompt 4
Using Moment.js, take the current timestamp and format it for a user in Tokyo. Show me how to set the locale to Japanese and display the formatted date.

Frequently asked questions

What is moment?

A JavaScript library that makes working with dates and times easy, letting you parse, format, and manipulate dates without wrestling with clunky built-in date objects.

What language is moment written in?

Mainly JavaScript. The stack also includes JavaScript.

Is moment actively maintained?

Dormant — no commits in 2+ years (last push 2013-10-25).

How hard is moment to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is moment for?

Mainly developer.

Open on GitHub → Explain another repo

This repo across BitVibe Labs

Verify against the repo before relying on details.