Display

The receiver as text: by a token pattern, by Intl options, or relative to another moment. Text is in de-AT unless you name a locale.

format

format takes either a token pattern or Intl.DateTimeFormat options.

By pattern

format(pattern: string): string

The receiver by a Day.js-style pattern. The tokens are those of Chronos.parse, so text formatted by a pattern parses back by the same pattern. Literal text goes in [brackets].

const now = Temporal.PlainDateTime.from("2026-10-06T14:35:12");

Chronos(now).format("DD.MM.YYYY HH:mm"); // "06.10.2026 14:35"
Chronos(now).format("[Am] D.M.YY [um] h:mm a"); // "Am 6.10.26 um 2:35 pm"

A PlainDate has no time, so a pattern with time tokens throws a RangeError. An Instant has no wall clock and takes no pattern; convert it with toZonedDateTimeISO first.

By Intl options

format(options?: Intl.DateTimeFormatOptions, locale?: Intl.LocalesArgument): string

The receiver by Intl.DateTimeFormat options, in locale, de-AT by default.

const today = Temporal.PlainDate.from("2026-10-06");

Chronos(today).format(); // "6.10.2026"
Chronos(today).format({ dateStyle: "full" }); // "Dienstag, 6. Oktober 2026"
Chronos(today).format({ dateStyle: "long" }, "en-GB"); // "6 October 2026"

An Instant is shown in UTC unless options.timeZone says otherwise, so the output does not depend on the machine's zone:

const instant = Temporal.Instant.from("2026-10-06T07:00Z");

Chronos(instant).format({ timeStyle: "short" }); // "07:00"
Chronos(instant).format({ timeStyle: "short", timeZone: "Europe/Vienna" }); // "09:00"

from

from(other: T, locale?: Intl.LocalesArgument): string

How far the receiver lies from other, in locale, de-AT by default.

const today = Temporal.PlainDate.from("2026-10-06");

Chronos(today).from(Temporal.PlainDate.from("2026-10-09")); // "vor 3 Tagen"
Chronos(Temporal.PlainDate.from("2026-10-20")).from(today); // "in 14 Tagen"
Chronos(today).from(today); // "heute"
Chronos(today).from(today, "en"); // "today"

The unit and rounding follow Day.js's relativeTime. The difference is rounded in each unit in turn, and the first row it fits decides:

Difference	Says
0 to 44 seconds	"jetzt"; "heute" on a PlainDate
45 to 89 seconds	1 minute
2 to 44 minutes	minutes
45 to 89 minutes	1 hour
2 to 21 hours	hours
22 to 35 hours	1 day
2 to 25 days	days
26 to 45 days	1 month
2 to 10 months	months
11 to 17 months	1 year
more	years

On a ZonedDateTime, the receiver's zone decides where days, months and years start. A PlainDateTime or Instant counts them in UTC.

fromNow

fromNow(locale?: Intl.LocalesArgument): string

How far the receiver lies from now, as from. Now is read in the receiver's zone on a ZonedDateTime, otherwise in UTC.

Chronos(today).fromNow(); // "vor 3 Tagen"

Errors

format throws a RangeError if a PlainDate pattern has a time. from throws a TypeError if other is not of the receiver's type.