This question already has answers here:
Converting a String to DateTime
(17 answers)
Closed 9 years ago.
I am new to DotNet and C#. I want to convert a string in mm/dd/yyyy format to DateTime object. I tried the parse function like below but it is throwing a runtime error.
DateTime dt=DateTime.Parse("24/01/2013");
Any ideas on how may I convert it to datetime?
You need to use DateTime.ParseExact with format "dd/MM/yyyy"
DateTime dt=DateTime.ParseExact("24/01/2013", "dd/MM/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Its safer if you use d/M/yyyy for the format, since that will handle both single digit and double digits day/month. But that really depends if you are expecting single/double digit values.
Your date format day/Month/Year might be an acceptable date format for some cultures. For example for Canadian Culture en-CA DateTime.Parse would work like:
DateTime dt = DateTime.Parse("24/01/2013", new CultureInfo("en-CA"));
Or
System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture = new CultureInfo("en-CA");
DateTime dt = DateTime.Parse("24/01/2013"); //uses the current Thread's culture
Both the above lines would work because the the string's format is acceptable for en-CA culture. Since you are not supplying any culture to your DateTime.Parse call, your current culture is used for parsing which doesn't support the date format. Read more about it at DateTime.Parse.
Another method for parsing is using DateTime.TryParseExact
DateTime dt;
if (DateTime.TryParseExact("24/01/2013",
"d/M/yyyy",
CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
DateTimeStyles.None,
out dt))
{
//valid date
}
else
{
//invalid date
}
The TryParse group of methods in .Net framework doesn't throw exception on invalid values, instead they return a bool value indicating success or failure in parsing.
Notice that I have used single d and M for day and month respectively. Single d and M works for both single/double digits day and month. So for the format d/M/yyyy valid values could be:
"24/01/2013"
"24/1/2013"
"4/12/2013" //4 December 2013
"04/12/2013"
For further reading you should see: Custom Date and Time Format Strings
use DateTime.ParseExact
string strDate = "24/01/2013";
DateTime date = DateTime.ParseExact(strDate, "dd/MM/yyyy", null)
DateTime.ParseExact
null will use the current culture, which is somewhat dangerous. Try to supply a specific culture
DateTime date = DateTime.ParseExact(strDate, "dd/MM/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)
You can use "dd/MM/yyyy" format for using it in DateTime.ParseExact.
Converts the specified string representation of a date and time to its
DateTime equivalent using the specified format and culture-specific
format information. The format of the string representation must match
the specified format exactly.
DateTime date = DateTime.ParseExact("24/01/2013", "dd/MM/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Here is a DEMO.
For more informations, check out Custom Date and Time Format Strings
Related
This question already has answers here:
Converting a String to DateTime
(17 answers)
Closed 3 years ago.
I want to convert string datetime to Datetime using C#. I am going to store datetime in sql database
The string in your example has an offset component so you can use DateTimeOffset:
var dateTimeOffset = DateTimeOffset.Parse("2012-08-16T19:20:30.456+08:00", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
From the linked docs:
The DateTimeOffset structure includes a DateTime value, together with
an Offset property that defines the difference between the current
DateTimeOffset instance's date and time and Coordinated Universal Time
(UTC).
just
DateTime date= DateTime.Parse(dateString);
Use DateTime.Parse("2012-08-16T19:20:30.456+08:00")
Use can use C# Interactive Windows to test it.
//string value of date
var iDate = "2012-08-16T19:20:30.456+08:00";
//Convert.ToDateTime(String)
//This method will converts the specified string representation of a date and time to an equivalent date and time value
var dateConversion1 = Convert.ToDateTime(iDate);
//DateTime.Parse()
//DateTime.Parse method supports many formats. It is very forgiving in terms of syntax and will parse dates in many different formats. That means, this method can parse only strings consisting exactly of a date/time presentation, it cannot look for date/time among text.
var dateConversion2 = DateTime.Parse(iDate);
//DateTime.ParseExact()
//ParseExact method will allow you to specify the exact format of your date string to use for parsing. It is good to use this if your string is always in the same format. The format of the string representation must match the specified format exactly.
var dateConversion3 = DateTime.ParseExact(iDate, "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm tt", null);
//CultureInfo
//The CultureInfo.InvariantCulture property is neither a neutral nor a specific culture. It is a third type of culture that is culture-insensitive. It is associated with the English language but not with a country or region.
var dateConversion4 = DateTime.ParseExact(iDate, "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm tt", System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
//DateTime.TryParse method
//DateTime.TryParse converts the specified string representation of a date and time to its DateTime equivalent using the specified culture - specific format information and formatting style, and returns a value that indicates whether the conversion succeeded.
DateTime dateConversion5;
DateTime.TryParse(iDate, out dateConversion5);
These are few C# methods which can be used as a conversion string to DATETIME, make sure string is a valid string so that it allows you to convert.
I am trying to convert the string to DateTime. But I can not convert.
DateTime dt = DateTime.Parse("16/11/2014", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Console.WriteLine("Date==> " + dt);
The error is FormatException.
My input time format is "dd/MM/yyyy".
Please let me any idea to resolve my problem.
Given that you know your input format, you should specify it with `ParseExact:
DateTime dt = DateTime.ParseExact(text, "dd/MM/yyyy",
CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
I would always recommend being as explicit as you can be about date/time formats. It makes your intention very clear, and avoids the possibility of getting months and days the wrong way round.
As Soner has stated, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture uses MM/dd/yyyy as its short date pattern, as you can validate with:
Console.WriteLine(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture.DateTimeFormat.ShortDatePattern)
As a mild plug, you might want to consider using my Noda Time project for your date/time handling - aside from anything else, that allows you to treat a date as a date, rather than as a date and time...
Because InvariantCulture doesn't have dd/MM/yyyy as a standard date and time format, but it has MM/dd/yyyy as a standard date and time format.
That's why it thinks your string is MM/dd/yyyy format, but since there is no 16 as a month in Gregorian calender, you get FormatException.
Instead of that, you can use DateTime.TryParseExact method to specify exact format like;
string s = "16/11/2014";
DateTime dt;
if(DateTime.TryParseExact(s, "dd/MM/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
DateTimeStyles.None, out dt))
{
}
the string is 20131024174621 which is year =2013, month=10, date=24, hours=17, minutes=46, seconds=21
What I am trying to do is to convert and format it into 2013-10-24 17:46:21.
I have tried my luck as the code below however it return such error :
String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.
String timestamp = "20131024174621";
String converted = DateTime.Parse(timestamp).ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
What should be the way of doing it right?
You have to use ParseExact.
void Main()
{
String timestamp = "20131024174621";
var date = DateTime.ParseExact(timestamp, "yyyyMMddHHmmss", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Console.WriteLine (date.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"));
}
Output:
2013-10-24 17:46:21
DateTime.ParseExact( timestamp, "yyyyMMddHHmmss", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture ).ToString( "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss" );
Since other two answer is correct, I want to point the root of your problem.
DateTime.Parse method uses Standard Date and Time Format Strings. From How Standard Format Strings Work
In a formatting operation, a standard format string is simply an alias
for a custom format string. The advantage of using an alias to refer
to a custom format string is that, although the alias remains
invariant, the custom format string itself can vary. This is important
because the string representations of date and time values typically
vary by culture. For example, the "d" standard format string indicates
that a date and time value is to be displayed using a short date
pattern. For the invariant culture, this pattern is "MM/dd/yyyy". For
the fr-FR culture, it is "dd/MM/yyyy". For the ja-JP culture, it is
"yyyy/MM/dd"
In 20131024174621 string, you need yyyyMMddHHmmss format for your current culture. Looks like your culture doesn't have this format and that's why you get this error.
For this kind of non-standart format string, you can use custom date format.
Any string that is not a standard date and time format string is
interpreted as a custom date and time format string.
As I wrote in third paragraph, this kind of date formats is based on culture. When you have this kind of custom date strings, in most case using DateTime.ParseExact Method (String, String, IFormatProvider) with specific culture is the best choice.
I tried converting 9/29/2013 2:44:28 PM (mm/dd/yyyy) to dd/mm/yyyy format.
I got a strange Date after Converting.
I tried
dateTimeVar.ToString("dd/mm/yyyy");
29/44/2013
The Date was a type of DateTime itself.
Lowercase mm means minutes, try this instead:
dateTimeVar.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy");
However, if this works depends on your local culture. If your current culture's date separator is different, / will be replaced with that. So if you want to enforce it use CultureInfo.InvariantCulture:
dateTimeVar.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
MM is for months, mm is for minutes. That's why it gets your minutes (which is 44) instead of your month value.
Use it like;
dateTimeVar.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy");
Check out;
The "MM" Custom Format Specifier
The "mm" Custom Format Specifier
And remember, / has special meaning when you use it as a date separator. It replace itself with your current culture date separator. Forcing to use with InvariantCulture would be better.
dateTimeVar.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Take a look at;
The "/" Custom Format Specifier
What if I want to convert a string in dd/MM/yyyy to DateTime?
Then you can use DateTime.ParseExact method.
Converts the specified string representation of a date and time to its
DateTime equivalent using the specified format and culture-specific
format information. The format of the string representation must match
the specified format exactly.
As an example;
string s = "01/01/2013";
DateTime dt = DateTime.ParseExact(s, "dd/MM/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Console.WriteLine(dt);
Output will be;
1/1/2013 12:00:00 AM
Here a DEMO.
dateTimeVar.ToString("dd/mm/yyyy"); // Change to dd/MM/yyyy
The problem is mm stands for minute and you need MM which would be months
Tim's answer is correct, but to remove the format string altogether you can use. 'ToShortDateString'
DateTime date = DateTime.Today;
var stringDate = date.ToShortDateString();
var stringDate2 = date.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy");
I have a text string that needs to become a DateTime object:
Feb 10, 2012 at 16:33.29
This text does not change, but the software will run on many different devices with different DateTime formats.
How can I set a custom DateTime parser so that regardless of culture I will get a fully populated DateTimeobject?
parse with CultureInfo.InvariantCulture?
Use ParseExact with a custom format string and the invariant culture:
DateTime date = DateTime.ParseExact(theString, "MMM d', 'yyyy' at 'HH':'mm'.'ss", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Here’s a custom format to match your example:
var dt = DateTime.ParseExact(
"Feb 10, 2012 at 16:33.29",
"MMM d, yyyy 'at' HH:mm.ss",
CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
One thing has got nothing to do with the other.
DateTime.Parse(value, formatstr) returns a DateTime.
The DateTime does not have a format, unless you want to talk about how it's represented in memory. When you convert it to a string, you generally do it with an implicit or explicit format, once you have it is no longer a datetime...