Convert string to date time in C#

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Hi,
I need to convert the date time format : 'Tue Aug 9 00:00:03 2016' to '2016-08-09 00:00:03'. I tried this below solution,but didn't work out. Please help me for the conversion to 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss' format. Thanks in advance.

What I have tried:

C#

private string ParseDateTime(string dateTime)
        {
            try
            {
                DateTime dateValue; string UTC_DateTime = "";
                if (DateTime.TryParse(dateTime, out dateValue))
                {
                    UTC_DateTime = dateValue.ToLocalTime().ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
                }
                else
                {
                    var date = DateTime.ParseExact(dateTime, "ddd MMM dd HH:mm:ss yyyy", CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-us"));
                   UTC_DateTime = date.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
                }
                return UTC_DateTime;
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
              return "";
            }      
        }

Posted 26-Sep-16 19:06pm

User1454

Updated 26-Sep-16 23:07pm

v3

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Comments

Maciej Los 27-Sep-16 2:19am

And what's wrong with your code?

3 solutions

Solution 2

First of all: a 'Tue Aug 9 00:00:03 2016' date cannot be converted into '2016-10-09 00:00:03', because due to August is 8. month in the year.

Second of all, all what you need to do is:

C#

string inputDate = "Tue Aug 9 00:00:03 2016";
string inputFormat = "ddd MMM d hh:mm:ss yyyy";
System.Globalization.CultureInfo provider = new System.Globalization.CultureInfo("en-US");

DateTime resultDate = DateTime.ParseExact(inputDate, inputFormat, provider);
//resultDate = '2016-08-09 00:00:03'

But(!), i'd suggest to use DateTime.TryParse[^] or DateTime.TryParseExact[^] method.

C#

DateTime resultDate1;

if (DateTime.TryParseExact(inputDate, inputFormat, provider, System.Globalization.DateTimeStyles.None, out resultDate1))
{
	Console.WriteLine("A result date is '{0}'", resultDate1);
}
else
{
	Console.WriteLine("String to date conversion failed!");
}

[EDIT]
Using DateTime.TryParseExact, you can loop through the set of formats, ie.:

C#

string inputDate = "Tue Aug 10 00:00:03 2016"; //'2016-10-09 00:00:03'.
string[] inputFormats = new string[] {"MMM d hh:mm:ss yyyy", "MMM dd hh:mm:ss yyyy"};
System.Globalization.CultureInfo provider = new System.Globalization.CultureInfo("en-US");

DateTime resultDate = new DateTime(1900,1,1);

foreach(string format in inputFormats)
{
	if (DateTime.TryParseExact(inputDate.Substring(4,inputDate.Length-4), format, provider, System.Globalization.DateTimeStyles.None, out resultDate))
	{
		Console.WriteLine("A result date is '{0}'", resultDate);
		break;
	}
} 


if(resultDate==new DateTime(1,1,1))
{
	Console.WriteLine("String to date conversion failed. Unknown format!");
}

Posted 26-Sep-16 20:34pm

Maciej Los

Updated 26-Sep-16 22:53pm

v3

Comments

Karthik_Mahalingam 27-Sep-16 2:41am

what about the input string in
1) Tue Aug 9 00:00:03 2016
2) Tue Aug 10 00:00:03 2016

Maciej Los 27-Sep-16 4:53am

See updated answer.

Karthik_Mahalingam 27-Sep-16 5:00am

Maciej,
am sorry, it looks complicated and using loop, not convincing.
however its upto OP.

Maciej Los 27-Sep-16 6:52am

Well, as i mentioned, there's few ways to achieve that...
Cheers!
Maciej

Karthik_Mahalingam 27-Sep-16 6:58am

hmm! cheers
:)

4, for your efforts

Maciej Los 27-Sep-16 7:04am

Thank you, Karthik

Karthik_Mahalingam 27-Sep-16 7:06am

wc :)

Maciej Los 27-Sep-16 7:44am

I hope you mean WelCome...
It's funny, because WC in Poland means: Toilets ;)

Karthik_Mahalingam 27-Sep-16 7:46am

:D
WelCome Sir
hereafter i should use full text.
lol.

Karthik_Mahalingam 27-Sep-16 2:44am

First of all: a 'Tue Aug 9 00:00:03 2016' date cannot be converted into '2016-10-09 00:00:03', because duu to August is 8. month in the year.

i think its typo by the OP.

Solution 3

A very simple method for your requirement :

C#

/// <summary>
   ///
   /// </summary>
   /// <param name="dateTime">input date format : "ddd MMM d HH:mm:ss yyyy"</param>
   /// <returns>output date format : "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss"</returns>
   private string ParseDateTime(string dateTime)
   {
       DateTime dateValue;
       string UTC_DateTime = "";
       try
       {
           //Tue Aug 9 00:00:03 2016  |  2016-08-09 00:00:03
           dateValue = DateTime.ParseExact(dateTime, "ddd MMM d HH:mm:ss yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
           UTC_DateTime = dateValue.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");
           return UTC_DateTime;
       }
       catch (Exception ex)
       {
           return "";
       }
   }

Posted 26-Sep-16 22:36pm

pparya27

Comments

Maciej Los 27-Sep-16 4:56am

Please, read the comments to my answer. You should avoid to return string instead of DateTime.

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Karthik_Mahalingam · Accepted Answer · 2016-09-26T19:14:00

Solution 1

Add these lines,

C#

private static string ParseDateTime(string dateTime)
      {
          var parts = dateTime.Split(' ');
          var day = parts[2];
          var validDay = day.Length == 1 ? "0" + day : day;
          dateTime = dateTime.Replace(" " + day + " ", " " + validDay + " ");

          try
          {

The day you are passing is in "d" format, but you are parsing in "dd" format, so it has to be well formatted to dd for single digit numbers by adding 0 at prefix

Posted 26-Sep-16 19:14pm

Karthik_Mahalingam

Updated 26-Sep-16 19:17pm

v2

Comments

User1454 27-Sep-16 1:26am

Thanks a ton!!! It worked . Modified to
var parts = dateTime.Split(' ');
var day = parts[2];
var validDay = day.Length == 1 ? "0" + day : day;
dateTime = dateTime.Replace(" " + day + " ", " " + validDay + " ");
dateValue = DateTime.ParseExact(dateTime, "ddd MMM dd HH:mm:ss yyyy", null);
UTC_DateTime = dateValue.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss");

Karthik_Mahalingam 27-Sep-16 1:28am

cool

Maciej Los 27-Sep-16 2:37am

Sorry, Karthik, but this solution is... low quality.
Please, see my answer.

Karthik_Mahalingam 27-Sep-16 2:42am

Hi Maciej
i knew its not a perfect solution, but how to handle the day when less than 10 and greater than 9 ?

Maciej Los 27-Sep-16 2:51am

Nothing ;)
It's quite simple to workaround it. I'll update my answer in few minutes.

Karthik_Mahalingam 27-Sep-16 2:52am

ok :)

Karthik_Mahalingam 27-Sep-16 3:07am

few minutes over ;)

User1454 27-Sep-16 5:14am

Thanks Maciej Los, the code which I tried earlier throws error of invalid date time format due to double digit month trying to parse using 'd'in dd MMM d hh:mm:ss yyyy. Once it was padded with '0' and using 'dd', it works fine. Also it worked with 'null' instead of other culture- specific info.