How do I change the language of moment.js?

Question

I am trying to change the language of the date which is being set by moment.js. The default one is English, but I want to set the German language. These is what I tried:

var now = moment().format("LLL").lang("de");

It’s giving NaN.

var now = moment("de").format("LLL");

This isn’t even reacting.

var now = moment().format("LLL", "de");

No change: this is still producing a result in English.

How is this possible?

Answer 1

You need moment.lang (WARNING: lang() is deprecated since moment 2.8.0, use locale() instead):

moment.lang("de").format('LLL');

http://momentjs.com/docs/#/i18n/

---

As of v2.8.1, moment.locale('de') sets the localization, but does not return a moment. Some examples:

var march = moment('2017-03')
console.log(march.format('MMMM')) // 'March'

moment.locale('de') // returns the new locale, in this case 'de'
console.log(march.format('MMMM')) // 'March' still, since the instance was before the locale was set

var deMarch = moment('2017-03')
console.log(deMarch.format('MMMM')) // 'März'

// You can, however, change just the locale of a specific moment
march.locale('es')
console.log(march.format('MMMM')) // 'Marzo'

In summation, calling locale on the global moment sets the locale for all future moment instances, but does not return an instance of moment. Calling locale on an instance, sets it for that instance AND returns that instance.

Also, as Shiv said in the comments, make sure you use "moment-with-locales.min.js" and not "moment.min.js", otherwise it won't work.