I'm simply trying to print a DateTime in its UTC equivalent time format. What am I doing wrong?
var utcEpoch = DateTime.Parse("1970-01-01", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.AssumeUniversal); //This specifies the time I provided is in UTC
Console.WriteLine(utcEpoch.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss zzz")); //This properly shows my UTC offset of -6, so it's not wrong
Console.WriteLine(utcEpoch.ToString("u")); //This just flat out seems wrong because it doesn't specify a timezone or offset in its output
> 1969-12-31 18:00:00 -06:00
> 1969-12-31 18:00:00Z
I expected to see 1970-01-01 00:00:00Z for the last one.
From The Universal Sortable ("u") Format Specifier :
Although the result string should express a time as Coordinated
Universal Time (UTC), no conversion of the original DateTime value is
performed during the formatting operation. Therefore, you must convert
a DateTime value to UTC by calling the DateTime.ToUniversalTime method
before formatting it. In contrast, DateTimeOffset values perform this
conversion automatically; there is no need to call the
DateTimeOffset.ToUniversalTime method before the formatting operation.
Your utcEpoch.Kind is not UTC, it is Local. DateTime's are triciker than you might think. You are expecting that it will return UTC as Kind property but it is not. It returns Local.
This situation has been discussed on Phil Haack blog post as well and Matt Johnson has a quite nice comment about this;
AssumeLocal and AssumeUniversal are both related to how the input
string is interpreted. By themselves, neither will change the output
kind.
The default output kind is Local. To get it to be Utc, you can use the
AdjustToUniversal style.
The DateTimeStyles enum is flags-based, so you can combine these in
some ways that make sense. To achieve what you originally set out to
do (parse the input as UTC and output it as UTC), then you would use:
DateTime utcDate = DateTime.Parse("10/01/2006 19:30", culture, DateTimeStyles.AssumeUniversal | DateTimeStyles.AdjustToUniversal);
As others pointed pointed out, a separate call to ToUniversalTime()
would also work, but this is technically more correct.
You can see it on referance source as well;
case 'u': // Universal time in sortable format.
if (offset != NullOffset)
{
// Convert to UTC invariants mean this will be in range
dateTime = dateTime - offset;
}
else if (dateTime.Kind == DateTimeKind.Local)
{
InvalidFormatForLocal(format, dateTime);
}
I think you are missunderstanding what the API is doing.
First thing to note is that both DateTimeStyles.AssumeUniversal and DateTimeStyles.AssumeLocalwill still return a DateTime where Kind = Local
> DateTime.Parse("1970-01-01 00:00:00", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.AssumeUniversal).Kind
=> Local
> DateTime.Parse("1970-01-01 00:00:00", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.AssumeLocal).Kind
=> Local
So no matter what we will get a local date. That means that the API most likely is there to make it possible to get a local time from a UTC date. Let's try if that's correct.
I'm in Sweden so we are UTC + 1 during standard time. So if I use DateTimeStyles.AssumeUniversal and put in todays date I should get a local date being 01:00 today.
Running this in C# Interactive:
> DateTime.Parse("2018-03-03", .CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, .DateTimeStyles.AssumeUniversal)
=> [2018-03-03 01:00:00]
Meaning C# assumed that the string I inputed was in UTC and I wanted it in local so it "fixed" it for me.
Doing the same with AssumeLocal.
DateTime.Parse("2018-03-03", .CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, .DateTimeStyles.AssumeLocal)
=> [2018-03-03 00:00:00]
As expected we now treated the input as a local string and got the same value.
To get the date as UTC you can specify the kind
DateTime.SpecifyKind(DateTime.Parse("2018-03-03", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture), DateTimeKind.Utc).ToString("o")
=> "2018-03-03T00:00:00.0000000Z"
Related
When writing DateTime values to a text file, I have to make sure the used timezone is always UTC +01:00. The format is then yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:sszzz, with the zzz part always equaling +01:00. This means that, in case the DateTime value is not in UTC +01:00, a conversion needs to happen before writing the output.
What would be the best way to go about this?
From the documentation:
With DateTime values, the "zzz" custom format specifier represents the signed offset of the local operating system's time zone from UTC, measured in hours and minutes. It does not reflect the value of an instance's System.DateTime.Kind property. For this reason, the "zzz" format specifier is not recommended for use with DateTime values.
Instead, either use DateTimeOffset values (in which "zzz" does what you think it should), or if you continue to use DateTime values then use the "K" specifier.
For example, on my computer (which is in the US Pacific time zone):
DateTime.UtcNow.ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:sszzz") // "2017-06-21T14:57:17-07:00"
DateTime.UtcNow.ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ssK") // "2017-06-21T14:57:17Z"
DateTimeOffset.UtcNow.ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:sszzz") // "2017-06-21T14:57:17+00:00"
On line 1, even though the time is the UTC time, the offset is incorrectly showing local time.
On line 2, the K specifier picks up on the UTC kind and properly gives a Z in the result.
On line 3, the zero offset is properly conveyed by the zzz specifier.
Related: https://stackoverflow.com/a/31223893/634824
Using:
DateTime.UtcNow.ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:sszzz")
Will result in an error.
Please try this instead:
DateTime.**Now**.ToString("yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:sszzz")
I have a datetime in database which I read using SqlDataReader and then cast it to (DateTime). After the cast its Kind property is DateTimeKind.Unspecified.
Then I have another string which I read from some other source. Its format is like this 2016-01-20T22:20:29.055Z. I do DateTime.Parse("2016-01-20T22:20:29.055Z") and its Kind property is DateTimeKind.Local.
How do I properly parse the both date times for comparison? Do I need to use DateTimeOffsets? How should I parse them?
Thanks
Because SQLReader cannot reasonably infer a DateTimeKind, it leaves it as unspecified. You'll want to use DateTime.SpecifyKind to change the DateTimeKind on your output from the SQLReader to the appropriate value. This works ok if you are only dealing with UTC and one consistent local time zone; otherwise, you really should be using DateTimeOffset in both your code and the SQL Database.
The string "2016-01-20T22:20:29.055Z" is ISO 8601 compliant and is a UTC date; however, DateTime.Parse with only 1 argument can end up performing a conversion to local time. Per the documentation:
Generally, the Parse method returns a DateTime object whose Kind
property is DateTimeKind.Unspecified. However, the Parse method may
also perform time zone conversion and set the value of the Kind
property differently, depending on the values of the s and styles
parameters:
If s contains time zone information, the date and time is converted
to the time in the local time zone and the Kind is DateTimeKind.Local.
If s contains time zone information, and styles includes the
AdjustToUniversalflag, the date and time is converted to Coordinated
Universal Time (UTC) and the Kind is DateTimeKind.Utc.
If s contains the Z or GMT time zone designator, and styles includes
the RoundtripKind flag, the date and time are interpreted as UTC and
the Kind is DateTimeKind.Utc.
Also see UTC gotchas in .NET and SQL Server in Derek Fowler's blog for additional coverage on the topic.
In your second example, 2016-01-20T22:20:29.055Z has timezone information provided with it; the 'Z' at the end indicates that the timestamp is intended for Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). However, DateTime.Parse() will default its conversion using DateTimeKind.Local unless a specific timezone is specified. You can use DateTime.ParseExact to be more specific.
As to why the datetime values in your database are coming out as Unspecified, that's likely because they contain no timezone indication at all. Check to see if your database values specify timezone information, either by using 'Z' at the end or specifying an exact timezone, such as 2016-01-20T22:20:29.055-07:00 (UTC-7).
You can use something like this:
string format = "ddd dd MMM h:mm tt yyyy";
DateTime dateTime = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, format,
CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
In format variable, you can put the format you want, and pass it to ParseExact function.
Hope it helps.
You are missing the datetime context (offset) in your database. You should persist it either in a datetimeoffset column or in a datetime column but persisting utc datetimes.
And always better compare two utc datetimes.
I coded a quick C# console app that I pasted in below. This converts a UTC date and time to a string (format similar to the ISO 8601 format described in another post with some extra digits of precision), writes it to a file, reads it from the file (as a string) and then converts it back to a UTC date and time.
It then compares the two UTC Date Time objects, which are both of UTC kind, and they match.
class Program
{
// "2016-01-20T22:20:29.055Z" is ISO 8601 compliant and is a UTC date
const string dtf = "yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss.fffffffZ";
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string file = #"c:\temp\file.txt";
DateTime dt = DateTime.UtcNow;
using (var sw = new System.IO.StreamWriter(file))
{
sw.WriteLine(dt.ToString(dtf, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture));
}
DateTime dtin;
using (var sr = new System.IO.StreamReader(file))
{
dtin = DateTime.ParseExact(sr.ReadLine(), dtf, System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
}
Console.WriteLine(dt.ToString(dtf) + "\r\n" + dtin.ToString(dtf) + "\r\nEquality:" + (dt == dtin));
Console.ReadLine();
}
}
Simple question, I have this string:
string dateString = "7/12/2014 4:42:00 PM";
This is a date string and it's in the UTC timezone.
I need to convert it to a date, so I'm doing the following:
DateTimeOffset dateOffset;
DateTimeOffset.TryParse(dateString, out dateOffset);
DateTime date = dateOffset.UtcDateTime;
The problem:
When I'm parsing the string to date, the code is considering that the dateString is in the Local Timezone of the PC (+3 GMT), and not in the UTC timezone.
So I am getting the following the dateOffset = {7/12/2014 4:42:00 PM +03:00} and thus date = {7/12/2014 1:42:00 PM}
how can I tell him that the date string provided is in the UTC format and not in the local timezone format?
Thanks
how can I tell him that the date string provided is in the UTC format and not in the local timezone format?
Specify a DateTimeStyles value of AssumeUniversal in the call. That tells the parsing code what to do. For example:
// null here means the thread's current culture - adjust it accordingly.
if (DateTimeOffset.TryParse(dateString, null, DateTimeStyles.AssumeUniversal,
out dateOffset))
{
// Valid
}
You should always use the result of TryParse to tell whether or not it's successfully parsed.
If you know the format and the specific culture, I'd personally use DateTimeOffset.TryParseExact. (Well, to be honest I'd use my Noda Time project to start with, but that's a different matter.)
There is another overload of DateTimeOffset.TryParse
DateTimeOffset.TryParse Method (String, IFormatProvider, DateTimeStyles, DateTimeOffset)
which allows you specify DateTimeStyles. One of the DateTimeStyles is AssumeUniversal, which is what you're looking for:
If no time zone is specified in the parsed string, the string is
assumed to denote a UTC. This value cannot be used with AssumeLocal or
RoundtripKind.
Don't know how .Net API provides, but I guess you could probably use ISO8601 format to indicate a UTC timezone before parsing, i.e, first translate 7/12/2014 4:42:00 PM into something 2014-07-02T16:42:00Z, then use try parse using DateTimeOffset
I had a string in config file, defining date time with time zone.
I am not able to get this value, while reading values from config file.
In config file:
Setting name="abcdefgh" value="2012-08-10T22:00:00-08:00"
In C#, I am reading this as follows:
DateTime StartDate;
StartDate = DateTime.ParseExact(RoleEnvironment.GetConfigurationSettingValue("abcdefgh"), "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss", null);
Configuration.Instance.abcdefgh= StartDate;
In start date, i am getting 11 Aug, 2012 11:30:00, with no time zone.
I want to read it as it is. also tell, if my format of writing datetime in config file is correct
MSDN link to DateTimeOffset.
Use DateTimeOffset whenever you are referring to an exact point in
time. For example, use it to calculate "now", transaction times, file
change times, logging event times, etc. If the time zone is not
known, use it with UTC. These uses are much more common than the
scenarios where DateTime is preferred, so this should be considered
the default.
var date = DateTimeOffset.Parse("2012-08-10T22:00:00-08:00");
date.Offset // -08:00:00, offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
date.DateTime // 10/08/2012 22:00:00,
DateTime doesn't keep information about timezone. To parse the string and keep information about timezone - you should use DateTimeOffset structure.
Use the DateTimeOffset structure (and DateTimeOffset.ParseExact) if you want to store timezone information.
Your ParseExact format also doesn't quite match the setting value: it should have a zz at the end for the timezone information. You can also use DateTimeOffset.Parse since your setting string is in a standard format.
It's a standard format, so the ParseExact isn't needed, try:
StartDate = DateTime.Parse(RoleEnvironment.GetConfigurationSettingValue("abcdefgh"));
I substituted the hard-coded value you provided and got the correct result for my timezone (GMT-4) as
8/11/2012 2:00 AM
Note: as others mentioned, the timezone is not retained, so you will get the correct localized time corresponding to whatever timezone information was in the string, but you won't be able to find out what timezone that was. The DateTime.Kind property will reflect that it's a local time.
I am trying to convert a string of this format:
MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm
The input is from a US database, so, i.e.:
09/20/2010 14:30
I know that my string is always US time but when I display it, I need to translate that into the local time, so that string should be turned into:
09/20/2010 19:30 (for UK for instance)
I tried a few things but nothing seems to give me the correct solution when I run on a US machine vs a UK or Ge machine
I tried:
CompletedDttm = DateTime.ParseExact(value, "MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm", CultureInfo.CurrentCulture);
CompletedDttm = DateTime.ParseExact(value, "MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm", new CultureInfo("en-US"));
They all work locally (US machine) but they don't convert the time to local time on a European machine.
Thanks
Tony
Try this - it converts local time (input in US format) to GMT and then prints in GB/DE format.
var zones = TimeZoneInfo.GetSystemTimeZones(); // retrieve timezone info
string value = "09/20/2010 14:30";
DateTime CompletedDttm = DateTime.ParseExact(value, "MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm",
new CultureInfo("en-US"));
DateTime FinalDttm = TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTime(CompletedDttm,
TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById("Eastern Standard Time"),
TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById("GMT Standard Time"));
string output = FinalDttm.ToString(new CultureInfo("en-GB"));
FinalDttm = TimeZoneInfo.ConvertTime(CompletedDttm, TimeZoneInfo.Local,
TimeZoneInfo.FindSystemTimeZoneById("W. Europe Standard Time"));
output = FinalDttm.ToString(new CultureInfo("de-DE"));
Output is, in turn:
20/09/2010 19:30:00
20.09.2010 20:30:00
UPDATE: You have to know the timezone of the data (not just that it is "US") as well as the interpreting machine if you want to reliably convert it to anything else. You're not only looking at hours offset, but DST also which varies by location (not all locales abide by it). Eastern is either -4 or -5 depending on the time of year. And if the date is old enough you run into the issue that "summer" dates were changed recently.
Your best course is to ALWAYS store timestamps in UTC. Aside from that, you can just make guesses about the offset.
You should be working with UTC times (the new, slightly different, version of GMT) if you want to be converting to other time zones.
DateTime dt = new DateTime(DateTime.Parse('2010-10-06 19:40').Ticks, DateTimeKind.Local);
dt.AddHours(5);
dt.ToLocalTime();
You could also make use of TimeZoneInfo which will have DST information also.
Unless you specify otherwise, the parse will assume you mean to parse the string into your current timezone. US culture just means the expected format of the string, and has nothing to do with the timezone (for example, in the US it could be EST or it could be PST).
Your string contains no timezone information, so naturally you're going to get your value in whatever the local timezone is. You can either:
Add the timezone info
Change the timezone afterwards
I think it's a display problem, but need more info to be sure. Try displaying the dates in yyyy-MM-dd format in both cases to check if the problem is on parse or display. You can create a custom format info object if you know exactly what you want to accept or display:
public static DateTimeFormatInfo GetISOFormatInfo()
{
DateTimeFormatInfo dtFormat = new DateTimeFormatInfo();
dtFormat.DateSeparator = "-";
dtFormat.TimeSeparator = ":";
dtFormat.ShortDatePattern = "yyyy-MM-dd";
dtFormat.ShortTimePattern = "HH:mm:ss";
return dtFormat;
}
Using a Date without TimeZone information, you will not be able to know the UK time / Canada time etc... since you do not know who (which part of the world) instered that time. Since you specifically said that the time is US time, you can add the time difference for the different parts of the world to display the local time.
You could use string.Split. first with the '/' separator on the whole string. You will get "09" "20" and "2010 14:30" then apply the split 2 more times with ' ' and ':'