# NOW

**The function NOW returns a DateTime corresponding with the date and moment the function was called.**

This function requires no input. It returns a [DateTime](../../variable-data-types/the-datetime-variable-data-type) indicating the date and time at the moment the function was called. By default, the DateTime will be in the UTC timezone, though NOW also accepts an optional input [String](../../variable-data-types/the-text-variable-data-type) specifying the timezone of the output; if this is provided, NOW will return the DateTime in the specified timezone.

#### Declaration

```javascript
NOW(time_zone) -> current_datetime
```

&#x20;

#### Parameters

**time\_zone** (optional, type: _string,_ default: UTC) A string representation of the timezone.

[TZ Database Names](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones) are the timezone representations NOW is able to parse.

#### Return Values

**current\_datetime** (type: _Date_) The present date and time.

#### Examples

Due to the very nature of the NOW function, it will return different output depending on when it is called. For the sake of demonstration, **imagine all of the following examples were executed at 10:30 PM (or 22:30 in military time) UTC on April 20, 2021.**

The following example returns the date in UTC. Note that no input is given to the NOW function; UTC is the default timezone:&#x20;

```javascript
NOW() -> {  
  date: {  
    day: 20,  
    month: 4,  
    year: 2021  
  },  
  time: {  
    hour: 22,  
    minute: 30,  
    second: 0,  
    millisecond: 0  
  },  
  timeZone: "UTC"  
}
```

The Antarctica/Syowa timezone is three hours ahead of UTC. At 10:30 PM UTC, it is already early morning in the Antarctica/Syowa timezone. The following example requests the date and time in the Antarctica/Syowa timezone. Note that it outputs a DateTime a day ahead of the previous example, even though, according to our hypothetical, both functions were called at the exact same time:

```javascript
NOW("Antarctica/Syowa") -> {  
  date: {  
    day: 21,  
    month: 4,  
    year: 2021  
  },  
  time: {  
    hour: 1,  
    minute: 30,  
    second: 0,  
    millisecond: 0  
  },  
  timeZone: "Antarctica/Syowa"  
}
```
