date-fns/format always takes local timezone

Question

From below code:

 const dateString = '1994-09-15T12:00:00-03:00'; const parsedDate = parseISO(dateString) const dateFormat = 'MM-dd-yyyy HH:mm:ss xxx' console.log(format(parsedDate, dateFormat, { }))

I expect: 09-15-1994 20:30:00 -03:00 But i get 09-15-1994 20:30:00 +05:30 as my local timezone is +05:30

What am i missing here?

Answer 1

The parseDate() creates a date based on GMT, eg is adjusted by 3h based on your input '1994-09-15T12:00:00-03:00' .

The format() function with xxx formats local time without the Z , such as -08:00 , +05:30 , +00:00 . If you want to format with GMT string, specify OOOO , which will give you something like GMT-08:00 , GMT+05:30 , or GMT+00:00 , which again has the offset adjusted based on your browser's time zone.

See Time-Zones docs below if you want to format to a time zone other than your browser's one, such as GMT-03:00.

Docs:

• ISO 8601: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601
• parseDate() : https://date-fns.org/v2.29.2/docs/parseISO
• format() : https://date-fns.org/v2.29.2/docs/format
• Time-Zones: https://date-fns.org/v2.29.2/docs/Time-Zones