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Converting String to DateTime in C#

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codeling 1602 - 6666
@2017-06-20 11:05:46

The following code demonstrates how to use the ParseExact method to convert a string to DateTime value.

 
using System;
using System.Globalization;

public class Example
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      string dateString, format;  
      DateTime result;
      CultureInfo provider = CultureInfo.InvariantCulture;

      // Parse date-only value with invariant culture.
      dateString = "06/15/2008";
      format = "d";
      try {
         result = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, format, provider);
         Console.WriteLine("{0} converts to {1}.", dateString, result.ToString());
      }
      catch (FormatException) {
         Console.WriteLine("{0} is not in the correct format.", dateString);
      } 

      // Parse date-only value without leading zero in month using "d" format.
      // Should throw a FormatException because standard short date pattern of 
      // invariant culture requires two-digit month.
      dateString = "6/15/2008";
      try {
         result = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, format, provider);
         Console.WriteLine("{0} converts to {1}.", dateString, result.ToString());
      }
      catch (FormatException) {
         Console.WriteLine("{0} is not in the correct format.", dateString);
      }

      // Parse date and time with custom specifier.
      dateString = "Sun 15 Jun 2008 8:30 AM -06:00";
      format = "ddd dd MMM yyyy h:mm tt zzz";
      try {
         result = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, format, provider);
         Console.WriteLine("{0} converts to {1}.", dateString, result.ToString());
      }
      catch (FormatException) {
         Console.WriteLine("{0} is not in the correct format.", dateString);
      }

      // Parse date and time with offset but without offset's minutes.
      // Should throw a FormatException because "zzz" specifier requires leading  
      // zero in hours.
      dateString = "Sun 15 Jun 2008 8:30 AM -06";
      try {
         result = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, format, provider);
         Console.WriteLine("{0} converts to {1}.", dateString, result.ToString());
      }   
      catch (FormatException) {
         Console.WriteLine("{0} is not in the correct format.", dateString);
      } 

      dateString = "15/06/2008 08:30";
      format = "g";
      provider = new CultureInfo("fr-FR");
      try {
         result = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, format, provider);
         Console.WriteLine("{0} converts to {1}.", dateString, result.ToString());
      }   
      catch (FormatException) {
         Console.WriteLine("{0} is not in the correct format.", dateString);
      } 

      // Parse a date that includes seconds and milliseconds
      // by using the French (France) and invariant cultures.
      dateString = "18/08/2015 06:30:15.006542";
      format = "dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss.ffffff";
      try {
         result = DateTime.ParseExact(dateString, format, provider);
         Console.WriteLine("{0} converts to {1}.", dateString, result.ToString());
      }
      catch (FormatException) {
         Console.WriteLine("{0} is not in the correct format.", dateString);
      }
   }
}
// The example displays the following output:
//       06/15/2008 converts to 6/15/2008 12:00:00 AM.
//       6/15/2008 is not in the correct format.
//       Sun 15 Jun 2008 8:30 AM -06:00 converts to 6/15/2008 7:30:00 AM.
//       Sun 15 Jun 2008 8:30 AM -06 is not in the correct format.
//       15/06/2008 08:30 converts to 6/15/2008 8:30:00 AM.
//       18/08/2015 06:30:15.006542 converts to 8/18/2015 6:30:15 AM.
@2017-09-14 11:45:21

Parse(), TryParse() and ParseExact() Methods

The DateTime struct has a lot of methods for parsing a string into a DateTime.  Most everyone has used the Parse() method, but the cost of the exception throws on an error can become a performance bottleneck if improperly formatted input is possible. 

 string logString = "20111231 031505";
 DateTime logEntryTime;
 
 try
 {
     logEntryTime = DateTime.Parse(logString);
 }
 catch (Exception ex)
 {
     // the above will throw
     Console.WriteLine("Didn't understand that DateTime.");
 }

The TryParse() methods have much the same signature as Parse(), except that they take a final out parameter of DateTime where the value is placed (if successful), and return a bool that indicates if the parse was successful or not. Use TryParse() when you want to be able to attempt a parse and handle invalid data immediately (instead of bubbling up the exception). Thus, the code above could be rewritten as:

 string input = "02/30/2010 12:35";
 DateTime recordDate;
 
 // let's say we want to parse the date, but if we can't, then we'll assume now...
 if(!DateTime.TryParse(input, out recordDate))
 {
     recordDate = DateTime.Now;
 }

What if you were reading data from a file, and the DateTime contained in it was a non-standard format.  For example, let’s say we’re parsing a log file that begins with a timestamp that is a date in the format yyyyMMdd HHmmss (like 20111231 031505 for 12/31/2011 03:15:05 AM), in this situation you should use ParseExact() when the format you are expecting is not a standard format, or when you want to limit to one particular standard format for efficiency.

 string logString = "20111231 031505";
 DateTime logEntryTime;
 logEntryTime = DateTime.ParseExact(logString, "yyyyMMdd HHmmss", null);
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