Discovering the oldest date in an array with JavaScript

Is there a way to identify the earliest date, also known as the minimum date, within an array using JavaScript?

For instance:

["10-Jan-2013", "12-Dec-2013", "1-Sep-2013", "15-Sep-2013"]

The desired output would be:

["10-Jan-2013", "1-Sep-2013", "15-Sep-2013", "12-Dec-2013"]

Any suggestions on how this can be achieved?

Answer №1

To improve the sorting of dates, you can use an anonymous function with the sort() method:

var dates = ['10-Jan-2013','12-Dec-2013','1-Sep-2013','15-Sep-2013'],
    orderedDates = dates.sort(function(a,b){
        return Date.parse(a) > Date.parse(b);
    });

console.log(orderedDates); // ["10-Jan-2013", "1-Sep-2013", "15-Sep-2013", "12-Dec-2013"]

var dates = ['10-Jan-2013', '12-Dec-2013', '1-Sep-2013', '15-Sep-2013'],
  orderedDates = dates.sort(function(a, b) {
    return Date.parse(a) > Date.parse(b);
  });

console.log(orderedDates);

Check out the JS Fiddle demo here.

Take note of using an array like

['10-Jan-2013','12-Dec-2013','1-Sep-2013','15-Sep-2013']
containing quoted date strings.

The code above will provide an array of dates in ascending order; for just the earliest date, access orderedDates[0].

A modified approach to display only the earliest date – as per the original request – is shown below:

var dates = ['10-Jan-2013', '12-Dec-2013', '1-Sep-2013', '15-Sep-2013'],
    earliest = dates.reduce(function (pre, cur) {
        return Date.parse(pre) > Date.parse(cur) ? cur : pre;
    });

console.log(earliest); // 10-Jan-2013

var dates = ['10-Jan-2013', '12-Dec-2013', '1-Sep-2013', '15-Sep-2013'],
  earliest = dates.reduce(function(pre, cur) {
    return Date.parse(pre) > Date.parse(cur) ? cur : pre;
  });

console.log(earliest);

Here's another JS Fiddle demo for reference.

For more information, check out these resources:

Answer №2

Even though this question has been around for a while, it still holds valuable information that could be beneficial to you. The main purpose of this code snippet is to identify the oldest date in an array.

const result = Math.min(...list.map((stringDate) => Date.parse(stringDate).getTime()))

The output will be a number, so if you wish to utilize it as a date, make sure to convert it using the following:

new Date(result)

Answer №3

If you're still reading, try replacing '>' with '-'

var colors = ['red','blue','green','yellow'],
    sortedColors = colors.sort(function(x,y){
        return x.localeCompare(y);
    });

console.log(sortedColors);

Answer №4

Suppose you are working with a collection of Date instances.

function findEarliestDate(dates){
    if(dates.length === 0) return null;
    let earliestDate = dates[0];
    for(let i = 1; i < dates.length ; i++){
        let currentDate = dates[i];
        if(currentDate < earliestDate){
            earliestDate = currentDate;
        }
    }
    return earliestDate;
}

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