JavaScript: friendly timezone abbreviations in the client ("EDT", "CST", "GMT", etc.)

tzAbbr.js

/*
Given a date, tzAbbr returns a short, friendly name for the
user's time zone on that date, or an empty string if their
client's Intl support is missing or incomplete.

For example, a user in New York might see:

    tzAbbr(new Date()) // => "EST"

Time zones are locale-dependent. Users traveling outside of
their locale will see a GMT offset since they may not be
familiar with local time zone abbreviations.

For example, an American in Australia might see:

    tzAbbr(new Date()) // => "GMT+10"
*/

const formatter = typeof Intl !== 'undefined'
  && Intl?.DateTimeFormat('default', {
    timeZoneName: 'short'
  });

const tzAbbr = date =>
  formatter?.formatToParts?.(date)
    .find(part => part.type === 'timeZoneName')
    ?.value || '';

export default tzAbbr;

Thanks for the nudge – I'd forgotten all about this gist! The RegEx approach was the best I could come up with 9 years ago, but it doesn't work as well with newer browsers.

We now have the Intl library, which provides a more robust solution. I've updated the gist, but recommend folks read up on Intl.DateTimeFormat itself.