Search code examples
datetimedatemongodb

Best way to store date/time in mongodb

I've seen using strings, integer timestamps and mongo datetime objects.

Solution

  • The best way is to store native JavaScript Date objects, which map onto BSON native Date objects.

    > db.test.insert({date: ISODate()})
> db.test.insert({date: new Date()})
> db.test.find()
{ "_id" : ObjectId("..."), "date" : ISODate("2014-02-10T10:50:42.389Z") }
{ "_id" : ObjectId("..."), "date" : ISODate("2014-02-10T10:50:57.240Z") }

    The native type supports a whole range of useful methods out of the box, which you can use in your map-reduce jobs, for example.

    If you need to, you can easily convert Date objects to and from Unix timestamps1), using the getTime() method and Date(milliseconds) constructor, respectively.

    1) Strictly speaking, the Unix timestamp is measured in seconds. The JavaScript Date object measures in milliseconds since the Unix epoch.