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I have a date which comes in a string like so:

09/25/2014 09:18:24

I need it like this (yyyy-mm-dd):

2014-09-25 09:18:24

The object that this date goes into is a nullable date.

Tried this does not work:

DateTime formattedDate;
bool result = DateTime.TryParseExact(modifiedDate, "yyyy-MM-dd",
               CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
               DateTimeStyles.None,
               out formattedDate);

Any clues?

Thanks in advance.

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6
  • possible duplicate of Converting String to DateTime C#.net Commented Nov 4, 2014 at 11:15
  • Are you confusing fornmatting and parsing? If the input-string is 09/25/2014 why do you parse it with yyyy-MM-dd? Commented Nov 4, 2014 at 11:17
  • You also seem to be confused in terms of what a DateTime stores... it doesn't have a format... it's just a date and time. See stackoverflow.com/questions/9763278 Commented Nov 4, 2014 at 11:19
  • Alright, all three are good suggestions but I need to store it in SQL which takes this 2014-09-25 09:18:24 Commented Nov 4, 2014 at 11:33
  • @Codehelp What is the column type that you want to insert this DateTime? Isn't that a character type I hope.. Commented Nov 4, 2014 at 11:36

3 Answers 3

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4

From DateTime.TryParseExact

Converts the specified string representation of a date and time to its DateTime equivalent. The format of the string representation must match a specified format exactly.

In your case, they are not. Use yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss format instead.

string s = "2014-09-25 09:18:24";
DateTime dt;
if(DateTime.TryParseExact(s, "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss",
                          CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
                          DateTimeStyles.None, out dt))
{
    Console.WriteLine(dt);
}

It is a little bit unclear but if your string is 09/25/2014 09:18:24, then you can use MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss format instead. Just a tip, "/" custom format specifier has a special meaning as replace me with current culture or supplied culture date separator. That means, if your CurrentCulture or supplied culture's DateSeparator is not /, your parsing operation will fail even if your format and string matches exactly.

If you have already a DateTime and you want to format it, you can use DateTime.ToString(string) method like;

dt.ToString("yyyy-mm-dd", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture); // 2014-09-25

or

dt.ToString("yyyy-mm-dd HH:mm:ss", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture); // 2014-09-25 09:18:24

Remember, a DateTime does not have any implicit format. It just contains date and time values. String representations of them have formats.

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4 Comments

Does not work. TryParseExact fails. Maybe something to do with the slashes not being in the input string. No?
@Codehelp Which one doesn't work? What is your modifiedDate exactly? You have an already a DateTime and you want to format it or your have a string with specific format that you want to parse it? Yes / character has a special meaning as I said in my answer but since you use InvariantCulture, this is not a problem.
Ok, tried Stefano's answer, converted it to DateTime and then tried your ToString. It's still the same that goes in.
@Codehelp What is still the same that goes in exactly? Please be more specific. I told you in my answer as It is a little bit unclear but if your string is 09/25/2014 09:18:24, then you can use MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss format instead. With .ToString() method, you have a string representations of your DateTime with a specific format. And now, you have a problem with try to insert this string value to your database? What is the column type that you want to keep it? And how do you insert it anyway?
1

In answer to your question, to convert it as you prefer, do it like this:

string originalDate = "09/25/2014 09:18:24";

DateTime formattedDate;

if (DateTime.TryParseExact(originalDate, "MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.None, out formattedDate))
{
    string output = formattedDate.ToString("yyyy-mm-dd HH:mm:ss", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
}

And then output will have your desired format.

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Comments

0 
DateTime  dateOf = Convert.ToDateTime("09/25/2014 09:18:24");
string myFormat = "yyyy-mm-dd";
string myDate = dateOf.ToString(myFormat);  // output 2014-18-25

Datetime format

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2 Comments

Why are you using ddd, MMM and d formats anyway? They are irrelevant with question.
Still, there is no guarantee that your CurrentCulture parses your MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss formated string since you use Convert.ToDateTime(string) method without any IFormatProvider.

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