How to get current date in jQuery?

The Basics: JavaScript and Dates

JavaScript's innate Date object is your biggest ally for anything date and time related. Whenever you need the current date and time, initiate it with new Date().

💡Remember that getMonth() returns a zero-based value, with January as 0 and December as 11, that's why we add 1 to get the actual month.

Formatting Dates the JavaScript Way

In need of a custom date format? No problem! Craft a utility using JavaScript's getFullYear(), getMonth(), and getDate() methods:

function formatDate(date) {
  let d = new Date(date),
      month = '' + (d.getMonth() + 1),
      day = '' + d.getDate(),
      year = d.getFullYear();

  // These guys make sure no single-digit value feels left out by giving them a leading 0 😎
  if (month.length < 2) month = '0' + month;
  if (day.length < 2) day = '0' + day;
  
  return [year, month, day].join('-'); // Returns a cool "YYYY-MM-DD"
}

console.log(formatDate(new Date())); // Example output: "2023-04-05"
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Padding for Consistency

Noticed the string padding for single-digit months and days? That's because, for consistency, we always want two digits for months and days when formatting dates.

jQuery UI: Your Formatting Buddy

Already using jQuery UI? Harness its datepicker for a quick date formatting:

let formattedDate = $.datepicker.formatDate('yy/mm/dd', new Date());
console.log(formattedDate); //Outputs: "2023/04/05"
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This method offers a shortcut for those with jQuery UI at their disposal.

Customize Date Formats

While toLocaleDateString() goes by the local formatting of the user's browser by default, it can be customized:

$("#date").text(now.toLocaleDateString("en-US")); // Now we're talking in the US date language
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Leveraging jQuery UI DatePicker

With jQuery UI's DatePicker, you can bind a nice-looking calendar to your input fields:

$( "#datefield" ).datepicker({ dateFormat: 'yy-mm-dd' }).val(); // Ta-da! We just turned a text field into a nifty datepicker
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Problem-solving and troubleshooting

When it comes to working with dates and times, watch out for the following common traps:

• Different browser time zones can affect date values. Think about using consistent UTC methods like getUTCDate.
• Don't forget the leading zeros when comparing date strings. Computers don't think like humans!
• Be mindful of library dependencies. There's no need to import a heavy library for simple tasks that inborn JavaScript can handle.

Suggestions and alternatives

If you're dealing with more complex tasks, consider giving modern libraries like date-fns a go—they come with short, potent functions that can save your day.

Quick Tips

• Before gorging on a bunch of codes, have a gander at the accepted answer; it could be your quick path to efficiency.
• The universe of coding spans across multiple browsers—always run a compatibility check.
• To master all things date, reference documentation should be your bedtime story.