How to parse an HTTP Last-Modified header from UTC to DateTime in C#

Question

I'm trying to parse the date from the Last-Modified header in an HTTP response.

The date shows as follow:

Last-Modified: Sat, 01 Jul 2006 01:50:55 UTC

I tried DateTime.Parse, DateTime.ParseExact with no success.

What is that UTC thing at the end and why does C# doesn't want to parse it?

Update:

The server I am requesting from is PWS/8.0.16 which (i think) is Windows Personal Web Server... This server might be the culprit. (I am interested to know what this server is)
The data consists of jpeg images.
It seems like the date format for the Last-Modified header is not always the same. Sometimes, it ends with UTC. Others with GMT.

KavenG - if the answer was helpful to you - upvote it please. If it was the solution - upvote + update ) — MikroDel
– MikroDel, Commented Oct 2, 2013 at 20:48
This header value seems incorrect. "UTC" is not expected here, only "GMT", w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec3.html#sec3.3.1 (it's an rfc1123-date). If it was correct you could use DateTime.ParseExact(text, "r", null) — Simon Mourier
– Simon Mourier, Commented Oct 2, 2013 at 21:23
The question linked by keyboardP answers the question but the scenario is different. Should we keep both since this one is more detailed and specific? — KavenG
– KavenG, Commented Oct 2, 2013 at 22:47

JLe · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-02 20:53:22Z

11

Use ParseExact to specify the input format:

string inputDate = "Sat, 01 Jul 2006 01:50:55 UTC";

DateTime time = DateTime.ParseExact(inputDate,
                    "ddd, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss 'UTC'",
                    CultureInfo.InvariantCulture.DateTimeFormat,
                    DateTimeStyles.AssumeUniversal);

answered Oct 2, 2013 at 20:53

JLe

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2 Comments

KavenG Over a year ago

This solution is great if the date always ends with UTC. Use DateTimeStyles.AdjustToUniversal to keep the date as UTC. Otherwise, it will be converted to local.

Bogdan Kiselitsa Over a year ago

Also according developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Headers/Last-Modified it should always end in 'GMT', not 'UTC'.

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