How do I set a mock date in Jest?

MockDate can be used in jest tests to change what new Date() returns:

var MockDate = require('mockdate');
// I use a timestamp to make sure the date stays fixed to the ms
MockDate.set(1434319925275);
// test code here
// reset to native Date()
MockDate.reset();

For quick and dirty solution use jest.spyOn for locking time:

let dateNowSpy;

beforeAll(() => {
    // Lock Time
    dateNowSpy = jest.spyOn(Date, 'now').mockImplementation(() => 1487076708000);
});

afterAll(() => {
    // Unlock Time
    dateNowSpy.mockRestore();
});

UPDATE:

For a more robust solution look at timekeeper:

import timekeeper from 'timekeeper';

beforeAll(() => {
    // Lock Time
    timekeeper.freeze(new Date('2014-01-01'));
});

afterAll(() => {
    // Unlock Time
    timekeeper.reset();
});

Since momentjs uses Date internally, you can just overwrite the Date.now function to always return the same moment.

Date.now = jest.fn(() => 1487076708000) //14.02.2017

or

Date.now = jest.fn(() => new Date(Date.UTC(2017, 1, 14)).valueOf())

As of Jest 26 this can be achieved using "modern" fake timers without needing to install any 3rd party modules: https://jestjs.io/blog/2020/05/05/jest-26#new-fake-timers

jest
  .useFakeTimers()
  .setSystemTime(new Date('2020-01-01'));

If you want the fake timers to be active for all tests, you can set timers: 'modern' in your configuration: https://jestjs.io/docs/configuration#timers-string

EDIT: As of Jest 27 modern fake timers is the default, so you can drop the argument to useFakeTimers.

Tags:

Momentjs

Jestjs

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