This example shows how to format DateTime using String.Format method. All formatting can be done also using DateTime.ToString method.
There are following custom format specifiers y (year), M (month), d (day), h (hour 12), H (hour 24), m (minute), s (second), f (second fraction), F (second fraction, trailing zeroes are trimmed), t (P.M or A.M) and z (time zone).
Following examples demonstrate how are the format specifiers rewritten to the output.
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DateTime dt = new DateTime(2008, 3, 9, 16, 5, 7, 123); String.Format("{0:y yy yyy yyyy}", dt); // "8 08 008 2008" year String.Format("{0:M MM MMM MMMM}", dt); // "3 03 Mar March" month String.Format("{0:d dd ddd dddd}", dt); // "9 09 Sun Sunday" day String.Format("{0:h hh H HH}", dt); // "4 04 16 16" hour 12/24 String.Format("{0:m mm}", dt); // "5 05" minute String.Format("{0:s ss}", dt); // "7 07" second String.Format("{0:f ff fff ffff}", dt); // "1 12 123 1230" sec.fraction String.Format("{0:F FF FFF FFFF}", dt); // "1 12 123 123" without zeroes String.Format("{0:t tt}", dt); // "P PM" A.M. or P.M. String.Format("{0:z zz zzz}", dt); // "-6 -06 -06:00" time zone |
You can use also date separator / (slash) and time sepatator : (colon). These characters will be rewritten to characters defined in the current DateTimeFormatInfo.DateSeparator and DateTimeFormatInfo.TimeSeparator.
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// date separator in german culture is "." (so "/" changes to ".") String.Format("{0:d/M/yyyy HH:mm:ss}", dt); // "9/3/2008 16:05:07" - english (en-US) String.Format("{0:d/M/yyyy HH:mm:ss}", dt); // "9.3.2008 16:05:07" - german (de-DE) |
Here are some examples of custom date and time formatting:
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// month/day numbers without/with leading zeroes String.Format("{0:M/d/yyyy}", dt); // "3/9/2008" String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yyyy}", dt); // "03/09/2008" // day/month names String.Format("{0:ddd, MMM d, yyyy}", dt); // "Sun, Mar 9, 2008" String.Format("{0:dddd, MMMM d, yyyy}", dt); // "Sunday, March 9, 2008" // two/four digit year String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yy}", dt); // "03/09/08" String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yyyy}", dt); // "03/09/2008" |
Standard DateTime Formatting
In DateTimeFormatInfo there are defined standard patterns for the current culture. For example property ShortTimePattern is string that contains value h:mm tt for en-US culture and value HH:mm for de-DE culture.
Following table shows patterns defined in DateTimeFormatInfo and their values for en-US culture. First column contains format specifiers for the String.Format method.
| Specifier | DateTimeFormatInfo property | Pattern value (for en-US culture) |
|---|---|---|
t |
ShortTimePattern | h:mm tt |
d |
ShortDatePattern | M/d/yyyy |
T |
LongTimePattern | h:mm:ss tt |
D |
LongDatePattern | dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy |
f |
(combination of D and t) |
dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy h:mm tt |
F |
FullDateTimePattern | dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy h:mm:ss tt |
g |
(combination of d and t) |
M/d/yyyy h:mm tt |
G |
(combination of d and T) |
M/d/yyyy h:mm:ss tt |
m, M |
MonthDayPattern | MMMM dd |
y, Y |
YearMonthPattern | MMMM, yyyy |
r, R |
RFC1123Pattern | ddd, dd MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss 'GMT' (*) |
s |
SortableDateTimePattern | yyyy'-'MM'-'dd'T'HH':'mm':'ss (*) |
u |
UniversalSortableDateTimePattern | yyyy'-'MM'-'dd HH':'mm':'ss'Z' (*) |
| (*) = culture independent |
Following examples show usage of standard format specifiers in String.Format method and the resulting output.
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String.Format("{0:t}", dt); // "4:05 PM" ShortTime String.Format("{0:d}", dt); // "3/9/2008" ShortDate String.Format("{0:T}", dt); // "4:05:07 PM" LongTime String.Format("{0:D}", dt); // "Sunday, March 09, 2008" LongDate String.Format("{0:f}", dt); // "Sunday, March 09, 2008 4:05 PM" LongDate+ShortTime String.Format("{0:F}", dt); // "Sunday, March 09, 2008 4:05:07 PM" FullDateTime String.Format("{0:g}", dt); // "3/9/2008 4:05 PM" ShortDate+ShortTime String.Format("{0:G}", dt); // "3/9/2008 4:05:07 PM" ShortDate+LongTime String.Format("{0:m}", dt); // "March 09" MonthDay String.Format("{0:y}", dt); // "March, 2008" YearMonth String.Format("{0:r}", dt); // "Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:05:07 GMT" RFC1123 String.Format("{0:s}", dt); // "2008-03-09T16:05:07" SortableDateTime String.Format("{0:u}", dt); // "2008-03-09 16:05:07Z" UniversalSortableDateTime |
