Convert String to DateTime
1. User CultureInfo class to parse the DateTime string
CultureInfo cultEnUs = new CultureInfo("en-US");
DateTime myDate = Convert.ToDateTime("03/22/2010", cultEnUs.DateTimeFormat);
2. User the DateTimeFormatInfo class to parse the DateTime string
string strDate = "21-07-2006";
DateTimeFormatInfo dtfi = new DateTimeFormatInfo();
dtfi.ShortDatePattern = "dd-MM-yyyy";
dtfi.DateSeparator = "-";
DateTime objDate = Convert.ToDateTime(strDate, dtfi);
Convert DateTime to String
1. Use the DateTime.ToString Method.
This is the easiest way to convert DateTime to a string.
Example:
DateTime.Now.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd");
2. User the String.Format Method.
There are following custom format specifies y (year), M (month), d (day), h (hour 12), H (hour 24), m (minute), s (second), f (second fraction), F (second fraction, trailing zeroes are trimmed), t (P.M or A.M) and z (time zone).
Following examples demonstrate how are the format specifies rewritten to the output.
// create date time 2008-03-09 16:05:07.123
DateTime dt = new DateTime(2008, 3, 9, 16, 5, 7, 123);
| String.Format("{0:y yy yyy yyyy}", dt); |
// "8 08 008 2008" |
year |
| String.Format("{0:M MM MMM MMMM}", dt); |
// "3 03 Mar March" |
month |
| String.Format("{0:d dd ddd dddd}", dt); |
// "9 09 Sun Sunday" |
day |
| String.Format("{0:h hh H HH}", dt); |
// "4 04 16 16" |
hour 12/24 |
| String.Format("{0:m mm}", dt); |
// "5 05" |
minute |
| String.Format("{0:s ss}", dt); |
// "7 07" |
second |
| String.Format("{0:f ff fff ffff}", dt); |
// "1 12 123 1230" |
sec.fraction |
| String.Format("{0:F FF FFF FFFF}", dt); |
// "1 12 123 123" |
sec.fraction without zeroes |
| String.Format("{0:t tt}", dt); |
// "P PM" |
A.M. or P.M. |
| String.Format("{0:z zz zzz}", dt); |
// "-6 -06 -06:00" |
time zone |
You can use also date separator / (slash) and time Separator : (colon). These characters will be rewritten to characters defined in the current DateTimeFormatInfo.DateSeparator and DateTimeFormatInfo.TimeSeparator.
// date separator in german culture is "." (so "/" changes to ".")
String.Format("{0:d/M/yyyy HH:mm:ss}", dt); // "9/3/2008 16:05:07" - English (en-US)
String.Format("{0:d/M/yyyy HH:mm:ss}", dt); // "9.3.2008 16:05:07" - German (de-DE)
Here are some examples of custom date and time formatting:
// month/day numbers without/with leading zeroes
String.Format("{0:M/d/yyyy}", dt); // "3/9/2008"
String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yyyy}", dt); // "03/09/2008"
// day/month names
String.Format("{0:ddd, MMM d, yyyy}", dt); // "Sun, Mar 9, 2008"
String.Format("{0:dddd, MMMM d, yyyy}", dt); // "Sunday, March 9, 2008"
// two/four digit year
String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yy}", dt); // "03/09/08"
String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yyyy}", dt); // "03/09/2008"
Standard DateTime Formatting
In DateTimeFormatInfo there are defined standard patterns for the current culture. For example property ShortTimePattern is string that contains value h:mm tt for en-US culture and value HH:mm for de-DE culture.
Here are patterns defined in DateTimeFormatInfo and their values for en-US culture. First column contains format specifies for the String.Format method. (*) = culture independent
| Specifier |
DateTimeFormatInfo property |
Pattern value (for en-US culture) |
| t |
ShortTimePattern |
h:mm tt |
| d |
ShortDatePattern |
M/d/yyyy |
| T |
LongTimePattern |
h:mm:ss tt |
| D |
LongDatePattern |
dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy |
| f |
(combination of D and t) |
dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy h:mm tt |
| F |
FullDateTimePattern |
dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy h:mm:ss tt |
| g |
(combination of d and t) |
M/d/yyyy h:mm tt |
| G |
(combination of d and T) |
M/d/yyyy h:mm:ss tt |
| m, M |
MonthDayPattern |
MMMM dd |
| y, Y |
YearMonthPattern |
MMMM, yyyy |
| r, R |
RFC1123Pattern |
ddd, dd MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss 'GMT' (*) |
| s |
SortableDateTi mePattern |
yyyy'-'MM'-'dd'T'HH':'mm':'ss (*) |
| u |
UniversalSorta bleDateTimePat tern |
yyyy'-'MM'-'dd HH':'mm':'ss'Z' (*) |
Following examples show usage of standard format specifiers in String.Format method and the resulting output.
| String.Format("{0:t}", dt); |
//"4:05 PM" |
ShortTime |
| String.Format("{0:d}", dt); |
//"3/9/2008" |
ShortDate |
| String.Format("{0:T}", dt); |
//"4:05:07 PM" |
LongTime |
| String.Format("{0:D}", dt); |
//"Sunday, March 09, 2008" |
LongDate |
| String.Format("{0:f}", dt); |
//"Sunday, March 09, 2008 4:05 PM" |
LongDate+ShortTime |
| String.Format("{0:F}", dt); |
//"Sunday, March 09, 2008 4:05:07 PM" |
FullDateTime |
| String.Format("{0:g}", dt); |
//"3/9/2008 4:05 PM" |
ShortDate+ShortTime |
| String.Format("{0:G}", dt); |
//"3/9/2008 4:05:07 PM" |
ShortDate+LongTime |
| String.Format("{0:m}", dt); |
//"March 09" |
MonthDay |
| String.Format("{0:y}", dt); |
//"March, 2008" |
YearMonth |
| String.Format("{0:r}", dt); |
//"Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:05:07 GMT" |
RFC1123 |
| String.Format("{0:s}", dt); |
//"2008-03-09T16:05:07" |
SortableDateTime |
| String.Format("{0:u}", dt); |
//"2008-03-09 16:05:07Z" |
UniversalSortableDateTime |
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