How to write a countdown timer in JavaScript?

I have two demos, one with jQuery and one without. Neither use date functions and are about as simple as it gets.

function startTimer(duration, display) {
    var timer = duration, minutes, seconds;
    setInterval(function () {
        minutes = parseInt(timer / 60, 10);
        seconds = parseInt(timer % 60, 10);

        minutes = minutes < 10 ? "0" + minutes : minutes;
        seconds = seconds < 10 ? "0" + seconds : seconds;

        display.textContent = minutes + ":" + seconds;

        if (--timer < 0) {
            timer = duration;
        }
    }, 1000);
}

window.onload = function () {
    var fiveMinutes = 60 * 5,
        display = document.querySelector('#time');
    startTimer(fiveMinutes, display);
};

<body>
    <div>Registration closes in <span id="time">05:00</span> minutes!</div>
</body>

Expand snippet

Demo with jQuery

function startTimer(duration, display) {
    var timer = duration, minutes, seconds;
    setInterval(function () {
        minutes = parseInt(timer / 60, 10);
        seconds = parseInt(timer % 60, 10);

        minutes = minutes < 10 ? "0" + minutes : minutes;
        seconds = seconds < 10 ? "0" + seconds : seconds;

        display.text(minutes + ":" + seconds);

        if (--timer < 0) {
            timer = duration;
        }
    }, 1000);
}

jQuery(function ($) {
    var fiveMinutes = 60 * 5,
        display = $('#time');
    startTimer(fiveMinutes, display);
});

However if you want a more accurate timer that is only slightly more complicated:

function startTimer(duration, display) {
    var start = Date.now(),
        diff,
        minutes,
        seconds;
    function timer() {
        // get the number of seconds that have elapsed since 
        // startTimer() was called
        diff = duration - (((Date.now() - start) / 1000) | 0);

        // does the same job as parseInt truncates the float
        minutes = (diff / 60) | 0;
        seconds = (diff % 60) | 0;

        minutes = minutes < 10 ? "0" + minutes : minutes;
        seconds = seconds < 10 ? "0" + seconds : seconds;

        display.textContent = minutes + ":" + seconds; 

        if (diff <= 0) {
            // add one second so that the count down starts at the full duration
            // example 05:00 not 04:59
            start = Date.now() + 1000;
        }
    };
    // we don't want to wait a full second before the timer starts
    timer();
    setInterval(timer, 1000);
}

window.onload = function () {
    var fiveMinutes = 60 * 5,
        display = document.querySelector('#time');
    startTimer(fiveMinutes, display);
};

<body>
    <div>Registration closes in <span id="time"></span> minutes!</div>
</body>

Expand snippet

Now that we have made a few pretty simple timers we can start to think about re-usability and separating concerns. We can do this by asking “what should a count down timer do?”

Should a count down timer count down? Yes
Should a count down timer know how to display itself on the DOM? No
Should a count down timer know to restart itself when it reaches 0? No
Should a count down timer provide a way for a client to access how much time is left? Yes

So with these things in mind lets write a better (but still very simple) CountDownTimer

function CountDownTimer(duration, granularity) {
  this.duration = duration;
  this.granularity = granularity || 1000;
  this.tickFtns = [];
  this.running = false;
}

CountDownTimer.prototype.start = function() {
  if (this.running) {
    return;
  }
  this.running = true;
  var start = Date.now(),
      that = this,
      diff, obj;

  (function timer() {
    diff = that.duration - (((Date.now() - start) / 1000) | 0);

    if (diff > 0) {
      setTimeout(timer, that.granularity);
    } else {
      diff = 0;
      that.running = false;
    }

    obj = CountDownTimer.parse(diff);
    that.tickFtns.forEach(function(ftn) {
      ftn.call(this, obj.minutes, obj.seconds);
    }, that);
  }());
};

CountDownTimer.prototype.onTick = function(ftn) {
  if (typeof ftn === 'function') {
    this.tickFtns.push(ftn);
  }
  return this;
};

CountDownTimer.prototype.expired = function() {
  return !this.running;
};

CountDownTimer.parse = function(seconds) {
  return {
    'minutes': (seconds / 60) | 0,
    'seconds': (seconds % 60) | 0
  };
};

So why is this implementation better than the others? Here are some examples of what you can do with it. Note that all but the first example can’t be achieved by the startTimer functions.

An example that displays the time in XX:XX format and restarts after reaching 00:00

An example that displays the time in two different formats

An example that has two different timers and only one restarts

An example that starts the count down timer when a button is pressed

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