String Format for DateTime [C#]
This example shows how to format DateTime
using String.Format
method. All formatting can be done also using DateTime.ToString
method.
Custom DateTime Formatting
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.
[C#]
// create date time 2008-03-09 16:05:07.123
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.
[C#]
// 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:
[C#]
// 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.
[C#]
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
See also
- [C#] String Format for Double –
format float numbers - [C#] String Format for Int – format
(align) integer numbers - [C#] IFormatProvider for
Numbers – parse float numbers with IFormatProvider - [C#] Custom IFormatProvider –
string formatting with custom IFormatProvider - [C#] Align String with Spaces –
how to align text to the right or left - [C#] Indent String with
Spaces – how to indent text with repeated spaces
- Custom Date
and Time Format Strings – MSDN – custom date-time formatting - Standard
Date and Time Format Strings – MSDN – standard date-time
formatting - DateTimeFormatInfo –
MSDN – date-time patterns for specific cultures - String.Format –
MSDN – method to format strings
