svelte-time

Note: [email protected] only supports Svelte 5 in Runes mode.

Use [email protected] for Svelte 3, 4, and 5 (non-Runes mode).

---

svelte-time is a Svelte component and action to make a timestamp human-readable while encoding the machine-parseable value in the semantic time element.

Under the hood, it uses day.js, a lightweight date-time library.

<!-- Input -->
<Time relative />

<!-- Output rendered in the DOM -->
<time title="May 15, 2022" datetime="2022-05-15T18:03:57.430Z">
  a few seconds ago
</time>

Try it in the Svelte REPL.

---

Installation

# npm
npm i svelte-time

# pnpm
pnpm i svelte-time

# Bun
bun i svelte-time

# Yarn
yarn add svelte-time

Usage

Time component

The displayed time defaults to new Date().toISOString() and is formatted as "MMM DD, YYYY".

<script>
  import Time from "svelte-time";
</script>

<Time />

The timestamp prop can be any of the following dayjs values: string | number | Date | Dayjs.

<Time timestamp="2020-02-01" />

<Time timestamp={new Date()} />

<Time timestamp={1e10} />

Use the format prop to format the timestamp. Refer to the dayjs format documentation for acceptable formats.

<Time timestamp="2020-02-01" format="dddd @ h:mm A · MMMM D, YYYY" />

<Time timestamp={new Date()} format="YYYY/MM/DD" />

<Time timestamp={1e10} format="ddd" />

Relative time

Set the relative prop value to true for the relative time displayed in a human-readable format.

<Time relative />

<Time relative timestamp="2021-02-02" />

<Time relative timestamp={1e10} />

When using relative time, the title attribute will display a formatted timestamp.

Use the format prop to customize the format.

<Time relative format="dddd @ h:mm A · MMMM D, YYYY" />

When using relative, the time element will set the formatted timestamp as the title attribute. Specify a custom title to override this.

<Time relative title="Custom title" />

Set the value to undefined to omit the title altogether.

<Time relative title={undefined} />

Live updates

Set live to true for a live updating relative timestamp. The default refresh interval is 60 seconds.

<Time live relative />

To customize the interval, pass a value to live in milliseconds (ms).

<!-- Update every 30 seconds -->
<Time live={30 * 1_000} relative />

<!-- Update every 10 minutes -->
<Time live={10 * 60 * 1_000} relative />

svelteTime action

An alternative to the Time component is to use the svelteTime action to format a timestamp in a raw HTML element.

The API is the same as the Time component.

<script>
  import { svelteTime } from "svelte-time";
</script>

<time use:svelteTime></time>

<time
  use:svelteTime={{
    timestamp: "2021-02-02",
    format: "dddd @ h:mm A · MMMM D, YYYY",
  }}
></time>

Relative time

Set relative to true to use relative time.

<time
  use:svelteTime={{
    relative: true,
    timestamp: "2021-02-02",
  }}
></time>

<time
  use:svelteTime={{
    relative: true,
    timestamp: "2021-02-02",
    format: "dddd @ h:mm A · MMMM D, YYYY",
  }}
></time>

Locale

Use the locale prop to format timestamps in different languages. Make sure to import the locale from dayjs first.

<script>
  import "dayjs/locale/de"; // German locale
  import "dayjs/locale/es"; // Spanish locale
  import { svelteTime } from "svelte-time";
</script>

<time
  use:svelteTime={{
    timestamp: "2024-01-01",
    format: "dddd, MMMM D, YYYY",
    locale: "de",
  }}
></time>

<time
  use:svelteTime={{
    relative: true,
    timestamp: "2024-01-01",
    locale: "es",
  }}
></time>

To customize or omit the title attribute, use the title prop.

<time
  use:svelteTime={{
    relative: true,
    title: "Custom title",
    timestamp: "2021-02-02",
  }}
></time>

<time
  use:svelteTime={{
    relative: true,
    title: undefined,
    timestamp: "2021-02-02",
  }}
></time>

Similar to the Time component, the live prop only works with relative time.

<time
  use:svelteTime={{
    relative: true,
    live: true,
  }}
></time>

Specify a custom update interval using the live prop.

<time
  use:svelteTime={{
    relative: true,
    live: 30 * 1_000, // Update every 30 seconds
  }}
></time>

Remove "ago" suffix

Set withoutSuffix to true to remove the "ago" suffix from relative time.

<script>
  import Time, { dayjs } from "svelte-time";

  const pastDate = dayjs().subtract(2, "days").toISOString();
  const futureDate = dayjs().add(2, "days").toISOString();
</script>

<!-- Past date -->
<Time relative timestamp={pastDate} />
<!-- Output: "2 days ago" -->

<Time relative timestamp={pastDate} withoutSuffix />
<!-- Output: "2 days" -->

<!-- Future date -->
<Time relative timestamp={futureDate} />
<!-- Output: "in 2 days" -->

<Time relative timestamp={futureDate} withoutSuffix />
<!-- Output: "2 days" -->

This also works with the svelteTime action:

<time
  use:svelteTime={{
    relative: true,
    timestamp: "2021-02-02",
    withoutSuffix: true,
  }}
></time>

dayjs export

The dayjs library is exported from this package for your convenience.

Note: the exported dayjs function already extends the relativeTime plugin.

<script>
  import { dayjs } from "svelte-time";

  let timestamp = $state("");
</script>

<button onclick={() => (timestamp = dayjs().format("HH:mm:ss.SSSSSS"))}>
  Update {timestamp}
</button>

Custom locale

The default dayjs locale is English. No other locale is loaded by default for performance reasons.

To use a custom locale, import the relevant language from dayjs and use the locale prop. See a list of supported locales.

<script>
  import "dayjs/locale/de"; // German
  import "dayjs/locale/es"; // Spanish
  import "dayjs/locale/fr"; // French
  import "dayjs/locale/ja"; // Japanese
  import Time from "svelte-time";
</script>

<Time timestamp="2024-01-01" format="dddd, MMMM D, YYYY" locale="de" />
<Time timestamp="2024-01-01" format="dddd, D [de] MMMM [de] YYYY" locale="es" />
<Time timestamp="2024-01-01" format="dddd D MMMM YYYY" locale="fr" />
<Time timestamp="2024-01-01" format="YYYY年M月D日(dddd)" locale="ja" />

The Locales type is exported for TypeScript usage.

import type { Locales } from "svelte-time";

const locale: Locales = "de";
const localeStore = writable<Locales>("en");

The locale prop also works with relative time.

<script>
  import "dayjs/locale/de"; // German
  import "dayjs/locale/es"; // Spanish
  import "dayjs/locale/fr"; // French
  import "dayjs/locale/ja"; // Japanese
  import Time from "svelte-time";
</script>

<Time relative timestamp="2024-01-01" locale="de" />
<Time relative timestamp="2024-01-01" locale="es" />
<Time relative timestamp="2024-01-01" locale="fr" />
<Time relative timestamp="2024-01-01" locale="ja" />

The withoutSuffix prop also works with locales:

<script>
  import "dayjs/locale/de"; // German
  import "dayjs/locale/es"; // Spanish
  import "dayjs/locale/fr"; // French
  import Time from "svelte-time";
</script>

<Time relative timestamp="2024-01-01" locale="de" withoutSuffix />
<!-- Output: "2 Jahre" (German, without "vor") -->

<Time relative timestamp="2024-01-01" locale="es" withoutSuffix />
<!-- Output: "2 años" (Spanish, without "hace") -->

<Time relative timestamp="2024-01-01" locale="fr" withoutSuffix />
<!-- Output: "2 ans" (French, without "il y a") -->

Reactive locale

The locale prop is reactive, so you can bind it to a Svelte store to update all <Time> instances when the locale changes.

<script lang="ts">
  import "dayjs/locale/de"; // German
  import "dayjs/locale/es"; // Spanish
  import "dayjs/locale/fr"; // French
  import { writable } from "svelte/store";
  import Time from "svelte-time";
  import type { Locales } from "svelte-time";

  const locale = writable<Locales>("en");

  function setLocale(loc: Locales) {
    locale.set(loc);
  }
</script>

<button onclick={() => setLocale("en")}>English</button>
<button onclick={() => setLocale("de")}>Deutsch</button>
<button onclick={() => setLocale("es")}>Español</button>
<button onclick={() => setLocale("fr")}>Français</button>

<Time timestamp="2024-01-01" format="dddd, MMMM D, YYYY" locale={$locale} />
<Time relative timestamp="2024-01-01" locale={$locale} />

Custom locale (legacy)

You can also use the dayjs.locale method to set a custom locale as the default, or pass a dayjs instance with locale already applied.

<script>
  import "dayjs/locale/de"; // German
  import Time, { dayjs } from "svelte-time";
</script>

<Time timestamp={dayjs().locale("de")} format="dddd, MMMM D, YYYY" />

To set a global default locale:

<script>
  import "dayjs/locale/de"; // German locale
  import { dayjs } from "svelte-time";

  // Set the default locale to German.
  dayjs.locale("de");
</script>

Custom timezone

To use a custom timezone, import the utc and timezone plugins from dayjs.

<script>
  import utc from "dayjs/plugin/utc";
  import timezone from "dayjs/plugin/timezone";

  import Time, { dayjs } from "svelte-time";

  dayjs.extend(utc);
  dayjs.extend(timezone);
</script>

<Time
  timestamp={dayjs("2013-11-18 11:55:20").tz("America/Toronto")}
  format="YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm:ss"
/>

Custom timezone (global)

Use the dayjs.tz.setDefault method to set a custom timezone as the default.

<script>
  import utc from "dayjs/plugin/utc";
  import timezone from "dayjs/plugin/timezone";

  import Time, { dayjs } from "svelte-time";

  dayjs.extend(utc);
  dayjs.extend(timezone);
  dayjs.tz.setDefault("America/New_York");
</script>

User timezone

Use the dayjs.ts.guess method to guess the user's timezone.

import utc from "dayjs/plugin/utc";
import timezone from "dayjs/plugin/timezone";

dayjs.extend(utc);
dayjs.extend(timezone);

dayjs.tz.guess(); // America/New_York

To retrieve the abbreviated time zone, extend the advancedFormat plugin.

  import utc from "dayjs/plugin/utc";
  import timezone from "dayjs/plugin/timezone";
+ import advancedFormat from "dayjs/plugin/advancedFormat";

  import { dayjs } from "svelte-time";

  dayjs.extend(utc);
  dayjs.extend(timezone);
+ dayjs.extend(advancedFormat);

Then, use the dayjs().local method to get the user's local time zone and format it using the "z" advanced option.

dayjs().local().format("z"); // EST
dayjs().local().format("zzz"); // Eastern Standard Time

API

Props

Name	Type	Default value
timestamp	string | number | Date | Dayjs	new Date().toISOString()
format	string	"MMM DD, YYYY" (See dayjs display format)
relative	boolean	false
withoutSuffix	boolean	false (only applies when relative is true)
live	boolean | number	false
locale	Locales (TypeScript) | string	"en" (See supported locales)
formatted	string	""

Examples

• examples/sveltekit
• examples/vite
• examples/rollup
• examples/webpack

Changelog

CHANGELOG.md

License

MIT