function max_date(all_dates) { var max_dt = all_dates[0], max_dtObj = new Date(all_dates[0]); all_dates.forEach(function(dt, index) { if ( new Date( dt ) > max_dtObj) { max_dt = dt; max_dtObj = new Date(dt); } }); return max_dt; } console.log(max_date(['2015/02/01', '2015/02/02', '2015/01/03']));