Parsing non standard date strings in C# - c#

How would you handle the following string value that needs to be converted to a DateTime object?
"2015/01/22 12:08:51 (GMT+09:00)"
Would like to include this as a recognized DateTime pattern. As I encounter other formats, I would like to just implement a new pattern.

Here a piece of code that will successfully parse the given string (notice DateTimeOffset rather than DateTime):
var str = "2015/01/22 12:08:51 (GMT+09:00)";
var dt = DateTimeOffset.ParseExact
(str,
"yyyy/MM/dd HH:mm:ss (\\G\\M\\TK)",
System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture
);
//dt now has +9:00 offset - that's correct only if GMT is provided as UTC.
More info at The Difference Between GMT and UTC

This code takes a string and converts it into a DateTime object
DateTime myDate = DateTime.Parse("2017-08-28 14:20:52,001", "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss,fff", System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
All you need to do is create a format that matches your input. This link helps:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/base-types/custom-date-and-time-format-strings
For more details read this: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/programming-guide/strings/how-to-convert-a-string-to-a-datetime

Here there is the official documentation of DateTime.Parse with some examples. It covers also the case of other formats
https://msdn.microsoft.com/it-it/library/system.datetime.parse(v=vs.110).aspx

Using DateTime.ParseExact is probably your best bet. It takes in an input string and an expected format string that the input should match. It will return true if the conversion was successful, and the out parameter will be the result of the conversion (result in the example below).
I was unable to get it to work without forcibly removing the "GMT" portion, but if that's acceptable to you, the code below should work.
This example takes the original input and converts it to UTC time (i.e. it adjusts the time based on your GMT value, which is to subtract 9 hours in your example):
var input = "2015/01/22 12:08:51 (GMT-08:00)";
var format = "yyyy/MM/dd H:mm:ss (zzz)";
DateTime result;
// Remove the "GMT" portion of the input
input = input.Replace("GMT", "");
if (DateTime.TryParseExact(input, format, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
DateTimeStyles.AdjustToUniversal, out result))
{
Console.WriteLine($"'{input}' converts to {result} UTC time.");
}
else
{
Console.WriteLine($"'{input}' is not in the correct format.");
}
This example is modified from the ones on the DateTime.TryParseExact documentation.

Related

How to convert this UTC datetime string to DateTime object c#

I have been trying to convert this string to a DateTime object in C#
2019-09-23T08:34:00UTC+1
I've tried using DateTime.Parse but it is throwing an exception for
"String was not recognized as a valid DateTime."
I'm sorry but you seem like a victim of garbage in, garbage out.
That's an unusual format, that's why before I suggest a solution for you, first thing I want to say is "Fix your input first if you can".
Let's say you can't fix your input, then you need to consider a few things;
First of all, if your string has some parts like UTC and/or GMT, there is no custom date and time format specifier to parse them. That's why you need to escape them as a string literal. See this question for more details.
Second, your +1 part looks like a UTC Offset value. The "z" custom format specifier is what you need for parse it but be careful, this format specifier is not recommended for use with DateTime values since it doesn't reflect the value of an instance's Kind property.
As a solution for DateTime, you can parse it like I would suggest;
var s = "2019-09-23T08:34:00UTC+1";
DateTime dt;
if(DateTime.TryParseExact(s, "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'UTC'z", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
DateTimeStyles.AdjustToUniversal, out dt))
{
Console.WriteLine(dt);
}
which gives you 2019-09-23 07:34:00 as a DateTime and which has Utc as a Kind property.
As a solution for DateTimeOffset - since your string has a UTC Offset value you should consider to parse with this rather than Datetime
-, as Matt commented, you can use it's .DateTime property to get it's data like;
var s = "2019-09-23T08:34:00UTC+1";
DateTimeOffset dto;
if(DateTimeOffset.TryParseExact(s, "yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'UTC'z", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
DateTimeStyles.None, out dto))
{
Console.WriteLine(dto.DateTime);
}
which gives you the same result DateTime but Unspecified as a .Kind property.
But, again, I strongly suggest you to fix your input first.
Use TryParseExact to convert the string to datetime. Here is the sample code to covert the given format(s) to datetime
private static DateTime ParseDate(string providedDate) {
DateTime validDate;
string[] formats = {
"yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss"
};
var dateFormatIsValid = DateTime.TryParseExact(
providedDate, formats, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.None, out validDate);
return dateFormatIsValid ? validDate: DateTime.MinValue;
}
Then, use this function to convert the string. I am replacing UTC+1 to empty string
static void Main(string[] args) {
string strdatetime = "2019-09-23T08:34:00UTC+1";
DateTime dateTime = ParseDate(strdatetime.Replace("UTC+1", ""));
Console.WriteLine(dateTime);
}

DateTime.TryParseExact only working in "One Way"

Scope:
I have been trying to develop a super-tolerant DateTime.Parse routine, so I decided to give most "widely-used" formats a try to better understand the format masks.
Problem:
I have defined a specific format (String) which I use as myDate.ToString(format), and it works wonders. The problem is, If I get this same String (result of the .ToString(format) operation), and feed it back to DateTime.TryParseExact (...) it fails.
Code / Test:
System.Globalization.CultureInfo provider = System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture;
// Defining Format and Testing it via "DateTime.ToString(format)"
string format = "MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss tt";
string dtNow = DateTime.Now.ToString (format);
Console.WriteLine (dtNow);
// Trying to Parse DateTime on the same Format defined Above
DateTime time;
if (DateTime.TryParseExact (dtNow, format, provider, System.Globalization.DateTimeStyles.None, out time))
{
// If TryParseExact Worked
Console.WriteLine ("Result: " + time.ToString ());
}
else
{
// If TryParseExact Failed
Console.WriteLine ("Failed to Parse Date");
}
Output is : "Failed to Parse Date".
Question:
Why can I use the format string to format a certain date as text, but I can't use the same format to feed the string back to a date object ?
EDIT:
I have added part of my method to this example, and I would like to know why the "ParseDate" method fails to return a proper date, given that the "String" is in the right format.
Since you use DateTime.ToString() method without any IFormatProvider, this method will use your CurrentCulture settings.
That's why your
string dtNow = DateTime.Now.ToString (format);
line might generate a different string representation than MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss tt format.
Three things can cause this issue;
Your CurrentCulture has a different DateSeparator than /
Your CurrentCulture has a different TimeSeparator than :
Your CurrentCulture has a different or empty string as a AMDesignator and/or PMDesignator
Since you try to parse your string with provider (which is InvariantCulture) on your DateTime.TryParseExact method, generate your string based on that provider as well.
string dtNow = DateTime.Now.ToString(format, provider);
You told your CurrentCulture is pt-BR and this culture has empty string "" as a AMDesignator and PMDesignator. That's why your dtNow string will not have any AM or PM designator on it's representation part.
Here a demonstration.

Convert string into mm/dd/yyyy format

I have following strings in different formats:
16/05/2014
21-Jun-2014
2014-05-16
16-05-2014
5/19/2014
14 May 2014
I need to convert all the above strings into mm/dd/yyyy format in c#.
I have tried used DateTime.ParseExact as DateTime dt = DateTime.ParseExact("16-05-2014", "mm/dd/yyyy hh:mm:ss tt", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) in C# but i am getting the exception as "String was not recognized as a valid DateTime".
I have also tried to use to Convert.ToDateTime() but it is also not working.
Is there any method or function that we can write/available in C# that would convert the above string formats into a single date format i.e into "mm/dd/yyyy" format ??
Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
It fails on the very first term of your format string, which is telling the function to treat the "16" as minutes and to look for hours, minutes, and seconds that don't exist in the input.
You have several different date formats, and so need the ParseExact() overload that accepts several different format strings:
string[] formats= {"dd/MM/yyyy", "dd-MMM-yyyy", "yyyy-MM-dd",
"dd-MM-yyyy", "M/d/yyyy", "dd MMM yyyy"};
string converted = DateTime.ParseExact("16-05-2014", formats, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.None).ToString("MM/dd/yyyy");
Also remember that lower case "m"s are for minutes. If you want months, you need an upper case "M". Full documentation on format strings is here:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8kb3ddd4.aspx
Finally, I suspect you are getting ahead of yourself on formatting the output as a string. Keep these values as DateTime objects for as long as possible, and only format to a string at the last possible moment before showing them to the user. If you really do want a string, at least stick with the ISO 8601 standard format.
Your main problem is that your format string is wrong. A small m is for minute, a big M is for month.
Try to pass all your formats in an array. For example like this
DateTime.ParseExact("16-05-2014",
new[] {"dd/MM/yyyy", "dd-MMM-yyyy", "yyyy-MM-dd",
"dd-MM-yyyy", "M/d/yyyy", "dd MMM yyyy"},
CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.None);
With this you can parse all your formats at once.
For more information about the format settings, see the official docs.
Few things:
Your input date 16/05/2014 doesn't match your format Month/Day/Year - how can there be a 16th month?
Secondly, you're using mm which represents Minutes, not Months. You should use MM.
Finally, your sample string 16-05-2014 doesn't match the format provided, you've used hyphens - instead of forward slashes /
Supply a collection of different formats matching your input:
string[] formats = new [] { "MM/dd/yyyy", "dd-MMM-yyyy",
"yyyy-MM-dd", "dd-MM-yyyy", "dd MMM yyyy" };
DateTime dt = DateTime.ParseExact("05-16-2014", formats, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.None);
You might find the following method useful to accept whatever date format you want and convert it to DateTime:
public DateTime? DTNullable(string DateTimestring, string CurrDateTimeFormat)
{
if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(DateTimestring)) return null;
else
{
DateTime datetimeNotNull;
DateTime.TryParseExact(DateTimestring, CurrDateTimeFormat, null, System.Globalization.DateTimeStyles.None, out datetimeNotNull);
return datetimeNotNull;
}
}
Pass in your desired string to be converted to DateTime along with it's current date time format and this would return you a nullable DateTime. If you're certain that whatever string you're passing in won't be null then you can remove that bit. The reason for it being there is that you can't convert a null to DateTime. In my case I couldn't be certain if it would be or not so I needed the ability to capture nulls as well.
You can use it like this:
DateTime? MyDateTime = DTNullable(MyStartDate, "dd/MM/yyyy");
If you wanted you could alter the method to accept an array of strings and simply iterate through each and return them all in a list if they were of the same format.
As others have pointed out, months are MM not mm (minutes).
On a DateTime object you can call .ToString("MM/dd/yyyy"). Given the strings you have, you can first create new DateTime objects for each string and then call .ToString("MM/dd/yyyy"). For example:
var dateAsMmDdYyyy = DateTime.Now.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy");

String to Date parsing

I am getting a string and i want to parse that string as date and want to store it in DataTable.
string can be in formats
1- "2014/23/10"
2- "2014-23-10"
{
string st="2014/23/10";
string st="2014-23-10";
}
And attach time with it.
Any idea to make it possible ?
DateTime.ParseExact or DateTime.TryParseExact are appropriate here - both will accept multiple format strings, which is what you need in this case. Make sure you specify the invariant culture so that no culture-specific settings (such as the default calendar) affect the result:
string[] formats = { "yyyy-MM-dd", "yyyy/MM/dd" };
DateTime date;
if (DateTime.TryParseExact(input, formats,
CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
DateTimeStyles.None, out date))
{
// Add date to the DataTable
}
else
{
// Handle parse failure. If this really shouldn't happen,
// use DateTime.ParseExact instead
}
If the input is from a user (and is therefore "expected" to be potentially broken, without that indicating an error anywhere in the the system), you should use TryParseExact. If a failure to parse indicates a significant problem which should simply abort the current operation, use ParseExact instead (it throws an exception on failure).
Since both are not standart date and time format, you can use DateTime.ParseExact method like;
string st = "2014/23/10";
string st1 = "2014-23-10";
var date = DateTime.ParseExact(st,
"yyyy/dd/MM", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
var date1 = DateTime.ParseExact(st1,
"yyyy-dd-MM", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Output will be;
10/23/2014 12:00:00 AM
10/23/2014 12:00:00 AM
Here a demonstration.
Of course these outputs depends your current culture thread.
If you want to format your DateTime's as a string representation, you can use DateTime.ToString(string) overload which accepts as a string format.
Since you have more than one format, you can use DateTime.TryParseExact(String, String[], IFormatProvider, DateTimeStyles, DateTime) overload which is takes your formats as a string array.
var formats = new []{"yyyy-MM-dd", "yyyy/MM/dd"};
DateTime dt;
if(DateTime.TryParseExact(st, formats, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.None, out dt))
{
//
}
else
{
//
}
Convert to a DateTime with DateTime.TryParseExact(); or even DateTime.Parse if you need to be flexible. Then you can format it back out however you like!
See: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms131044(v=vs.110).aspx
Try
DateTime.Parse(st, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.AdjustToUniversal);
Set DateTimeStyles based on your requirement.
Try this:
DateTime.Parse(st);
If It the above line not works for you, then add cultrureInfo below:
DateTime.ParseExact(st,"yyyy/dd/MM", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

DateTime.Parse - changes format

I'll try to illustrate an example:
var dateNow = DateTime.Now.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss");
produces: 10/01/2014 21:50:34
var dateNowParse = DateTime.Parse(DateTime.Now.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss"));
produces: 10/01/2014 9:50:34 PM
QUESTION:
How to parse the date, and keep formatting like: dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss, with an 24 hour format, without any PM
Thank you!
Update 1
Sorry maybe my question wasn't so clear, i'll try to explain the real situation below.
Please do not focus on real meaning of DateTime.Now, suppose we have a string variable in the format of 10/01/2014 21:50:34, and then I try to parse it, and store the result in another variable. What I am willing to achieve is to keep the result in a DateTime variable which has the exact formatting 10/01/2014 21:50:34.
Now here is a snippet:
var stringDate = "10/01/2014 22:50:30";
DateTime parsedDate = DateTime.Parse(stringDate, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
//parsedDate result is: 10/01/2014 10:50:30 PM
What is frustrating me is:
In the stringDate the 22:50 hour says that the string is formatted to the 24 hour clock. (the 12 clock format uses hours counter up to 12)
If I used 22:50, Isn't logically that the output should'nt use any AM PM and 12 hour format?
How to parse the date, and keep formatting
You need to keep the format alongside the DateTime if you want to. A DateTime does not have any concept of being in a particular format. The value of the DateTime returned by Parse isn't "10/01/2014 9:50:34 PM" - it's that particular date and time, but not a string representation.
You could have a type which maintains the two together - or if you always want to format in the same way, just specify that format explicitly when you format, without keeping it as data with the DateTime value.
Personally I would try to stick to DateTime.ParseExact where feasible, as I find it easier to predict what it will do - but it does depend on your input. If it's input with a particular format that you're expecting, ParseExact really is the way forward, potentially with the invariant culture to avoid any cultural differences.
I would store the date now as a date
DateTime dateNow = DateTime.Now;
then when you need to display it with that formatting
String strNow = dateNow.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss");
If you have a date coming in with a format say in a String variable strNow and want to put it in the DateTime I would make sure to catch format exceptions
DateTime dateNow;
try {
dateNow = DateTime.ParseExact(strNow, "dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
}
catch (FormatException) {
//Log something or set a default date.
}
DateTime.ParseExact(DateTime, Format, DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantInfo, DateTimeStyles.AllowLeadingWhite | DateTimeStyles.AllowTrailingWhite);
for example:
DateTime.ParseExact(strNow, "dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss", DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantInfo, DateTimeStyles.AllowLeadingWhite | DateTimeStyles.AllowTrailingWhite);

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