C# Can't get String to DateTime conversion to work

Question

I've done some simple string -> DateTime conversions before using DateTime.ParseExact(), but I have a string that I can't seem to get parsed properly. I'm probably doing something very obvious wrong but I just can't see what it is.

The code is as follows:

string date = "Tue Jun 23, 2009 2:23 pm";
DateTime lastupdate = DateTime.ParseExact(date, "ddd MMM dd, yyyy h:mm tt", null);

Running it gives a FormatException. Is my formatting string incorrect?

ps I've tried to use p.m. rather than pm in the input string but that didn't help either.

Jerry, I can't see either since you didn't post the exception. — John Saunders
– John Saunders, Commented Jul 7, 2009 at 9:47

weiqure · Accepted Answer · 2009-07-07 09:49:14Z

4

Try this:

DateTime lastupdate = DateTime.ParseExact(date, "ddd MMM dd, yyyy h:mm tt", new System.Globalization.CultureInfo("en-us"));

An error would occur if the culture was for example "fr-fr" or "de-de".

answered Jul 7, 2009 at 9:49

weiqure

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3 Comments

djdd87 Over a year ago

Why is this marked as correct? Your date is incorrect, which is causing the error.

Jela Over a year ago

That did it. I think my system's regional settings are set to Netherlands, so it's probably using that culture as well then. I had (still have) no idea what the supplied culture would do in the parsing process, as I literally supply the formatting of the string. My mistake. I'll do a bit of further reading into these functions :-)

Jela Over a year ago

Didn't edit the date. There's nothing wrong with it. June 23rd was a tuesday. I did edit the post to add the exception in there though. But weiqure's solution is valid, is it not?

cjk · Accepted Answer · 2009-07-07 09:47:52Z

0

Do you need to parse it exactly, or can you not just use DateTime.Parse?

answered Jul 7, 2009 at 9:47

cjk

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