I have a custom DateTime format string: "M/d/yyyy h:m:ss tt".
For example, with the date 'September 18th, 2012 # noon', I expect the output of this to be something like "9/18/2012 12:0:00 PM".
The time seems to be formatting properly, but the date portion is getting messed up. I am seeing the dates formatted as "MM-dd-yyyy" and I can't figure out why.
Here is some sample code to reproduce the problem:
var datetime = DateTime.Now;
Console.WriteLine("Date: " + datetime.ToString("MMMM d, yyyy")); // Date: October 11, 2012 --> correct
Console.WriteLine("Date: " + datetime.ToString("M/d/yyyy h:m:ss tt")); // Date: 10-11-2012 4:34:17 PM --> wrong
Here is the MSDN doc for custom DateTime format strings.
Any ideas on what am I doing wrong? How can I achieve my desired result?
Edit:
The thing that is incorrect in the last line of sample code is that there is hyphens instead of slashes and I don't know why.
Also, my computer's language is set to English (Canada). But neither my "short" nor "long" date format look like M-d-yyyy so I have no idea where that is coming from.
/ is the date separator, that is culture-dependant - in your current culture it is defined as -. If you want always a / use:
Console.WriteLine("Date: " + datetime.ToString("M\"/\"d\"/\"yyyy h:m:ss tt"));
or
Console.WriteLine("Date: " + datetime.ToString("M'/'d'/'yyyy h:m:ss tt"));
i.e. put the parts that you want to be output 'as is' inside quotes.
Try:
datetime.ToString("M/d/yyyy h:m:ss tt", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Your culture might be overriding your date separator.
This article explains how the current culture can change the output of DateTime.ToString(string). Read the section that contains this text:
This method uses formatting information derived from the current
culture
This article explains how to get/set the culture so that you can test this possibility.
This article explains how you can explicitly provide DateTime.ToString with a culture to use.
Try the adding the invariant culture, Using the InvariantCulture Property
Console.WriteLine("Date: " + datetime.ToString("M/d/yyyy h:m:ss tt", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture));
Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture;
var datetime = DateTime.Now;
Console.WriteLine("Date: " + datetime.ToString("MMMM d, yyyy"));
// Date: October 11, 2012 --> correct
Console.WriteLine("Date: " + datetime.ToString("M/d/yyyy h:m:ss tt"));
Related
I know there is a lot of asked question here about DateTime but I saw them all already and seems not to find the right solution for my case.
Here is my code:
return DateTime.ParseExact(partialDate + dtfi.DateSeparator + _baseDate.ToString(), "dd/MM/yyyy", new CultureInfo("en-us");
This is throwing me an Exception.
Here is the value of the variables:
string partialDate = "1/22";
string dtfi.DateSeparator = "/";
int _baseDate = 2004;
You should use format "m/dd/yyyy" because datestring becomes 1/22/2004
return DateTime.ParseExact(partialDate + dtfi.DateSeparator + _baseDate.ToString(), "m/dd/yyyy", new CultureInfo("en-us"));
Unfortunately, both answers are wrong.
So, we all agree your result string will be "1/22/2004". Before looking which formats exactly matches your characters, let's look at your string is a standard date and time format for en-US culture or not.
DateTime.Parse("1/22/2004",
CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US")) // 22 January 2004 00:00:00
BANG!
We have a DateTime perfectly. But what if our string wouldn't be a standard date and time format for en-US culture? Then we can specify our format with DateTime.TryParseExact method. Let's look at which formats we can use to parsing our string.
1 matches with "M" custom format specifier which is from 1 to 12 and single-digit month is formatted without a leading zero.
/ is a DateSeparator and we can use it the same in our format because en-US culture has / as a DateSeparator already. Remember, "/" custom format specifier has a special meaning of replace me with current culture or supplied culture date separator
22 matches with "dd" custom format string which is from 01 to 31 and single-digit days is formatted with a leading zero. Remember, you can also use d format specifier in such a case but using wider formats is recommended.
2004 matches with "yyyy" custom format specifier which represents the year with a four digits.
So, the right format will be M/dd/yyyy in result.
string s = "1/22/2004";
DateTime dt;
if(DateTime.TryParseExact(s, "M/dd/yyyy", CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-US"),
DateTimeStyles.None, out dt))
{
Console.WriteLine(dt); // 22 January 2004 00:00:00
}
You are referring to wrong format, so obviously it will throw exception. Below is what you are doing
string partialDate = "1/22";
string dtfi.DateSeparator = "/";
int _baseDate = 2004;
string ex = partialDate + dtfi.DateSeparator + _baseDate.ToString();
which gives you 1/22/2014 i.e., MM/dd/yyyy
and in code you are referring to
return DateTime.ParseExact(partialDate + dtfi.DateSeparator + _baseDate.ToString(), "dd/MM/yyyy", new CultureInfo("en-us");
Try using correct Format, to get the right result.
I want to convert the date time to "MM/dd/yyyy" and when i am converting to this format the date is getting like "xx-xx-xxxx". I have written code like
var format = "MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm";
DateTime dt = DateTime.Now;
var dateString = dt.toString(format); // the value i am getting is 05-28-2014 12:47 but i require the 'dateString' value to be `05/28/2014 12:53`.
What is the issue with that.
Your currrent culture's date-separator seems to be - that's why you get it. You have to specify InvariantCulture:
string dateString = dt.toString("MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
See: The "/" Custom Format Specifier
The "/" custom format specifier represents the date separator, which
is used to differentiate years, months, and days. The appropriate
localized date separator is retrieved from the
DateTimeFormatInfo.DateSeparator property of the current or specified
culture.
Another way is to escape the / with \:
string dateString = dt.toString(#"MM\/dd\/yyyy HH\:mm");
But in my opinion, if you already know the special meaning of / as "current culture's date-separator", it's better(in terms of readability) to use the correct CultureInfo (or InvariantCulture) instead.
This depends on your current culture date-separator. Try to include InvariantCulture as follows:
var dateStringFormat= dt.toString("MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Another way from #TimSchmelter's answer is to escape special symbols / and : so they are not treated as day and time separators.
var dateString = dt.toString(#"MM\/dd\/yyyy HH\:mm");
you will specified the format while converting date and time i.e. DateTime.Now.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm ss tt")
for more ref.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.datetime.aspx
I'm trying to convert a string from a text file to a DateTime, but I'm getting weird results. On one computer, it works, but another, it doesn't. How would I make this work on all computers? On my last question, you said to add the culture thing, and it worked for a few minutes, but it's not working again now. Heres my code:
string[] stringArray = File.ReadAllLines("C:\\Program Files\\PointOfSales\\RecordTotals.txt");
int lines = stringArray.Length;
for (int i = 0; i < (lines / 5); i++)
{
TransactionList.Add(new Transaction
{
TotalEarned = Convert.ToDouble(stringArray[(i * 5)]),
TotalCost = Convert.ToDouble(stringArray[(i * 5) + 1]),
TotalHST = Convert.ToDouble(stringArray[(i * 5) + 2]),
Category = stringArray[(i * 5) + 3],
HoursSince2013 = Convert.ToDateTime(stringArray[(i * 5) + 4], CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)
});
}
I'm getting the error String was not recognized as a valid DateTime.
Any clues whats up? Thanks!
Edit: Using MessageBox.Show(stringArray[(i * 5) + 4]); I get 26/10/2013 11:58:03 AM
Edit: Why won't this work to convert current time to the right culture?
DateTime Today = DateTime.Now;
Today = DateTime.ParseExact(Today.ToString(), "dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss tt", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Your string, on that system, is not a valid date in invariant culture: 26/10/2013 11:58:03 AM. The invariant culture expects month/day/year, not day/month/year.
You should specify the same culture that is being used to generate the file that you are reading. You will need to have some way to determine or standardize on the cultures being used for writing to the file, as well as reading from it.
Edit: Why won't this work to convert current time to the right culture?
That will fail if your current culture doesn't use dd/MM/yyyy for it's format. Today.ToString() doesn't have a culture specified, or a format, so it's going to, on a US system, write out using MM/dd/yyyy format, which will cause the call to fail.
In your case, I would recommend always reading and writing using the same culture - If you write your file using: theDate.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture), then you can read using Convert.ToDateTime(theString, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture), and it will work on any system, since the same rules (Invariant culture) are used for both writing and reading.
You should use custom "dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss t" format with InvariantCulture like;
string s = "26/10/2013 11:58:03 AM";
DateTime dt = DateTime.ParseExact(s, "dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss tt", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
Console.WriteLine(dt);
Output will be;
10/26/2013 11:58:03 AM
Here a demonstration.
For more information, take a look at;
Custom Date and Time Format Strings
EDIT: If your DateTime.Now doesn't fit "dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss tt" format, your program will fail. You should use InvariantCulture in all your programs with your DateTime.Now format exactly.
below is my html code
<MKB:TimeSelector ID="TimeFrom" runat="server" DisplaySeconds="False">
</MKB:TimeSelector>
and a text box which is having a date.
VehicleBookingDate.Text
I want to save date and time in my database. for that if I want to do like below
string t1 = tsTimeFrom.Hour.ToString() + ":" + tsTimeFrom.Minute.ToString() + " " + tsTimeFrom.AmPm.ToString();
DateTime Time_From = Convert.ToDateTime(t1);
It saves time with current date, where as I want to save this time with this date which is in VehicleBookingDate.Text.
how can I do that.
// use a string formatter to pull it all together
string s = string.Format("{0} {1}:{2} {3}",
VehicleBookingDate.Text,
tsTimeFrom.Hour,
tsTimeFrom.Minute,
tsTimeFrom.AmPm);
// You can parse it this way, which will assume the current culture settings
DateTime Time_From = DateTime.Parse(s);
// Or you can be much more specific - which you probably should do.
DateTime Time_From = DateTime.ParseExact(s,
"d/M/yyyy hh:mm:ss tt",
CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
You may want to use a specific culture instead if you know it.
Be aware that date formats vary significantly by culture. For example, the value 1/4/2013 could be interpreted as either January 4th or April 1st depending on what part of the world you are in. You either need to be culture aware, or you need to explicitly tell your user what format to use.
I have this:
var dateString = string.Format("{0:dd/MM/yyyy}", date);
But dateString is 13.05.2011 instead of 13/05/2011. Can you help me?
You could use DateTime.ToString with CultureInfo.InvariantCulture instead:
var dateString = date.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
The reason why / is replaced with . is that / is a custom format specifier
The "/" custom format specifier represents the date separator, which
is used to differentiate years, months, and days. The appropriate
localized date separator is retrieved from the
DateTimeFormatInfo.DateSeparator property of the
current or specified culture.
So either use InvariantCulture which uses / as date separator or - more appropriate - escape this format specifier by embedding it within ':
var dateString = date.ToString("dd'/'MM'/'yyyy");
Why this is more appropriate? Because you can still apply the local culture, f.e. if you want to output the month names, but you force / as date separator anyway.
// date separator in german culture is "." (so "/" changes to ".")
String.Format("{0:d/M/yyyy HH:mm:ss}", dt); // "9/3/2012 16:05:07" - english (en-US)
String.Format("{0:d/M/yyyy HH:mm:ss}", dt); // "9.3.2012 16:05:07" - german (de-DE)
so you have to change Culture from German to English!
you can write :
date.ToString(new CultureInfo("en-EN"));
try this:
var dateString = string.Format("{0:dd}/{0:MM}/{0:yyyy}", date);
Also check out Steve X's site for string formatting:
http://blog.stevex.net/string-formatting-in-csharp/
Simply try
var dateString = date.ToString("dd/MM/yyyy", new System.Globalization.CultureInfo("en-GB"));
If you want to force the date separator regardless of culture you can escape it, like this:
var dateString = string.Format(#"{0:dd\/MM\/yyyy}", date);
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8kb3ddd4.aspx
It seems a date seperator problem. Use this;
String.Format("{0:d/M/yyyy}", date);
Check String Format DateTime and look at DateTimeFormatInfo.DateSeperator property.
Try this:
var dateString = string.Format("{0:dd/MM/yyyy}", DateTime.Today, new System.Globalization.CultureInfo("en-GB"));