Most efficient way to convert this string to DateTime [duplicate]

Question

I receive DateTime in this format => yyyyMMddHHmmss e.g. 20160214204032

Due to its somewhat unique format, I can't just use Convert.ToDateTime -- I tried, it didn't work.

It's easy enough to create a helper method that would parse the components of this date e.g

var year = myString.Substring(0,4);

but I'm concerned that this may have poor performance.

Can anyone think of a better way to convert a string in this format to DateTime?

You can use DateTime.ParseExact with format parameter as yyyyMMddHHmmss. And use DateTime.Year to retrieve it. — choz
– choz, Commented Feb 15, 2016 at 4:00

CharithJ · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-15 04:12:21Z

4

You cannot set format in Convert.ToDateTime. So, use ParseExact instead.

DateTime.ParseExact("20160214204032", "yyyyMMddHHmmss",
                                       System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)

edited Feb 15, 2016 at 4:12

answered Feb 15, 2016 at 3:58

CharithJ

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Comments

René Vogt · Accepted Answer · 2016-02-15 09:21:53Z

1

Due to its somewhat unique format, I can't just use Convert.ToDateTime -- I tried, it didn't work.

It fails because Convert.ToDateTime tries to convert from your system Date Time Format and throws exception if it can't.

using String Functions is also bad to convert to DateTime so you can do

DateTime dt = DateTime.ParseExact("20160214204032", 
                                  "yyyyMMddHHmmss",
                                  System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture)

edited Feb 15, 2016 at 9:21

René Vogt

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answered Feb 15, 2016 at 4:05

Nikhil Agrawal

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1 Comment

Ghasem Over a year ago

This should be a comment

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