Parse

Chronos.parse reads a string into the Temporal type you name, by a Day.js-style format:

Chronos.parse("06.10.2026", Temporal.PlainDate, "DD.MM.YYYY"); // 2026-10-06

Chronos.parse(input: string, type: typeof Temporal.PlainDate, format?: string): Temporal.PlainDate
Chronos.parse(input: string, type: typeof Temporal.PlainDateTime, format?: string): Temporal.PlainDateTime
Chronos.parse(input: string, type: typeof Temporal.ZonedDateTime, options: ZonedParseOptions): Temporal.ZonedDateTime
Chronos.parse(input: string, type: typeof Temporal.Instant, options: ZonedParseOptions): Temporal.Instant

Default format

Without a format, input is ISO 8601: YYYY-MM-DD for a date, YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm with a time. That is stricter than the type's own from, which also takes seconds, offsets and annotations, and drops a time it has no field for.

Chronos.parse("2026-10-06", Temporal.PlainDate); // 2026-10-06
Chronos.parse("2026-10-06T10:00", Temporal.PlainDate); // throws RangeError

Zoned types

A ZonedDateTime or Instant needs a time zone to read the wall-clock time in. Pass options instead of a format:

Option	Type	Meaning
timeZone	string	Required. The IANA zone, such as Europe/Vienna
format	string	The format input follows. Defaults to YYYY-MM-DDTHH:mm

Chronos.parse("06.10.2026 14:30", Temporal.ZonedDateTime, {
  format: "DD.MM.YYYY HH:mm",
  timeZone: "Europe/Vienna",
}); // 2026-10-06T14:30:00+02:00[Europe/Vienna]

Chronos.parse("2026-10-06T14:30", Temporal.Instant, { timeZone: "Europe/Vienna" });
// 2026-10-06T12:30:00Z

Tokens

Tokens follow Day.js customParseFormat. format uses the same tokens, so text formatted by a pattern parses back by the same pattern.

Token	Matches	Example
YYYY	Four-digit year	2026
YY	Two-digit year: 69–99 are the 1900s, 00–68 the 2000s	26
MM	Month, two digits	01–12
M	Month, one or two digits	1–12
DD	Day, two digits	01–31
D	Day, one or two digits	1–31
HH	Hour, 24-hour clock, two digits	00–23
H	Hour, 24-hour clock, one or two digits	0–23
hh	Hour, 12-hour clock, two digits	01–12
h	Hour, 12-hour clock, one or two digits	1–12
A	Upper-case meridiem	AM, PM
a	Lower-case meridiem	am, pm
mm	Minute, two digits	00–59
m	Minute, one or two digits	0–59
ss	Second, two digits	00–59
s	Second, one or two digits	0–59
SSS	Milliseconds	000–999
SS	Hundredths of a second	00–99
S	Tenths of a second	0–9

Literal text goes in [brackets]. Every other character matches itself.

Chronos.parse("Am 06.10.2026", Temporal.PlainDate, "[Am] DD.MM.YYYY"); // 2026-10-06
Chronos.parse("06.10.2026 2:30 PM", Temporal.PlainDateTime, "DD.MM.YYYY h:mm A");
// 2026-10-06T14:30:00

A format needs a year, month and day. Time fields it leaves out are 0, and h without A or a is before noon, as in Day.js.

Strict matching

Input that does not fit the format throws, and so does a date or time that does not exist, such as 31.02. or 02:30 on the night the clocks go forward. A time that exists twice, when they go back, is the earlier one.

Chronos.parse("31.02.2026", Temporal.PlainDate, "DD.MM.YYYY"); // throws RangeError
Chronos.parse("2026-03-29T02:30", Temporal.ZonedDateTime, { timeZone: "Europe/Vienna" });
// throws RangeError: 2026-03-29T02:30:00 does not exist in Europe/Vienna

Errors

Error	When
RangeError	input does not fit the format, or names a date or time that does not exist, or a PlainDate format has a time
TypeError	type is not a supported Temporal type, a zoned type has no timeZone, or the format lacks a year, month or day