How do I parse and convert DateTime’s to the RFC 822 date-time format?

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Solution 1

This is an implementation in C# of how to parse and convert a DateTime to and from its RFC-822 representation. The only restriction it has is that the DateTime is in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). I agree that this is not very elegant code, but it does the job.

/// <summary>
/// Provides methods for converting <see cref="DateTime"/> structures 
/// to and from the equivalent <a href="http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc822/#z28">RFC 822</a> 
/// string representation.
/// </summary>
public class Rfc822DateTime
{
    //============================================================
    //  Private members
    //============================================================
    #region Private Members
    /// <summary>
    /// Private member to hold array of formats that RFC 822 date-time representations conform to.
    /// </summary>
    private static string[] formats = new string[0];
    /// <summary>
    /// Private member to hold the DateTime format string for representing a DateTime in the RFC 822 format.
    /// </summary>
    private const string format     = "ddd, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss K";
    #endregion

    //============================================================
    //  Public Properties
    //============================================================
    #region Rfc822DateTimeFormat
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets the custom format specifier that may be used to represent a <see cref="DateTime"/> in the RFC 822 format.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>A <i>DateTime format string</i> that may be used to represent a <see cref="DateTime"/> in the RFC 822 format.</value>
    /// <remarks>
    /// <para>
    /// This method returns a string representation of a <see cref="DateTime"/> that utilizes the time zone 
    /// offset (local differential) to represent the offset from Greenwich mean time in hours and minutes. 
    /// The <see cref="Rfc822DateTimeFormat"/> is a valid date-time format string for use 
    /// in the <see cref="DateTime.ToString(String, IFormatProvider)"/> method.
    /// </para>
    /// <para>
    /// The <a href="http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc822/#z28">RFC 822</a> Date and Time specification 
    /// specifies that the year will be represented as a two-digit value, but the 
    /// <a href="http://www.rssboard.org/rss-profile#data-types-datetime">RSS Profile</a> recommends that 
    /// all date-time values should use a four-digit year. The <see cref="Rfc822DateTime"/> class 
    /// follows the RSS Profile recommendation when converting a <see cref="DateTime"/> to the equivalent 
    /// RFC 822 string representation.
    /// </para>
    /// </remarks>
    public static string Rfc822DateTimeFormat
    {
        get
        {
            return format;
        }
    }
    #endregion

    #region Rfc822DateTimePatterns
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets an array of the expected formats for RFC 822 date-time string representations.
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    /// An array of the expected formats for RFC 822 date-time string representations 
    /// that may used in the <see cref="DateTime.TryParseExact(String, string[], IFormatProvider, DateTimeStyles, out DateTime)"/> method.
    /// </value>
    /// <remarks>
    /// The array of the expected formats that is returned assumes that the RFC 822 time zone 
    /// is represented as or converted to a local differential representation.
    /// </remarks>
    /// <seealso cref="ConvertZoneToLocalDifferential(String)"/>
    public static string[] Rfc822DateTimePatterns
    {
        get
        {
            if (formats.Length > 0)
            {
                return formats;
            }
            else
            {
                formats = new string[35];

                // two-digit day, four-digit year patterns
                formats[0]  = "ddd',' dd MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss'.'fffffff zzzz";
                formats[1]  = "ddd',' dd MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss'.'ffffff zzzz";
                formats[2]  = "ddd',' dd MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss'.'fffff zzzz";
                formats[3]  = "ddd',' dd MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss'.'ffff zzzz";
                formats[4]  = "ddd',' dd MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss'.'fff zzzz";
                formats[5]  = "ddd',' dd MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss'.'ff zzzz";
                formats[6]  = "ddd',' dd MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss'.'f zzzz";
                formats[7]  = "ddd',' dd MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss zzzz";

                // two-digit day, two-digit year patterns
                formats[8]  = "ddd',' dd MMM yy HH':'mm':'ss'.'fffffff zzzz";
                formats[9]  = "ddd',' dd MMM yy HH':'mm':'ss'.'ffffff zzzz";
                formats[10] = "ddd',' dd MMM yy HH':'mm':'ss'.'fffff zzzz";
                formats[11] = "ddd',' dd MMM yy HH':'mm':'ss'.'ffff zzzz";
                formats[12] = "ddd',' dd MMM yy HH':'mm':'ss'.'fff zzzz";
                formats[13] = "ddd',' dd MMM yy HH':'mm':'ss'.'ff zzzz";
                formats[14] = "ddd',' dd MMM yy HH':'mm':'ss'.'f zzzz";
                formats[15] = "ddd',' dd MMM yy HH':'mm':'ss zzzz";

                // one-digit day, four-digit year patterns
                formats[16] = "ddd',' d MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss'.'fffffff zzzz";
                formats[17] = "ddd',' d MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss'.'ffffff zzzz";
                formats[18] = "ddd',' d MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss'.'fffff zzzz";
                formats[19] = "ddd',' d MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss'.'ffff zzzz";
                formats[20] = "ddd',' d MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss'.'fff zzzz";
                formats[21] = "ddd',' d MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss'.'ff zzzz";
                formats[22] = "ddd',' d MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss'.'f zzzz";
                formats[23] = "ddd',' d MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss zzzz";

                // two-digit day, two-digit year patterns
                formats[24] = "ddd',' d MMM yy HH':'mm':'ss'.'fffffff zzzz";
                formats[25] = "ddd',' d MMM yy HH':'mm':'ss'.'ffffff zzzz";
                formats[26] = "ddd',' d MMM yy HH':'mm':'ss'.'fffff zzzz";
                formats[27] = "ddd',' d MMM yy HH':'mm':'ss'.'ffff zzzz";
                formats[28] = "ddd',' d MMM yy HH':'mm':'ss'.'fff zzzz";
                formats[29] = "ddd',' d MMM yy HH':'mm':'ss'.'ff zzzz";
                formats[30] = "ddd',' d MMM yy HH':'mm':'ss'.'f zzzz";
                formats[31] = "ddd',' d MMM yy HH':'mm':'ss zzzz";

                // Fall back patterns
                formats[32] = "yyyy'-'MM'-'dd'T'HH':'mm':'ss'.'fffffffK"; // RoundtripDateTimePattern
                formats[33] = DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantInfo.UniversalSortableDateTimePattern;
                formats[34] = DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantInfo.SortableDateTimePattern;

                return formats;
            }
        }
    }
    #endregion

    //============================================================
    //  Public Methods
    //============================================================
    #region Parse(string s)
    /// <summary>
    /// Converts the specified string representation of a date and time to its <see cref="DateTime"/> equivalent.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="s">A string containing a date and time to convert.</param>
    /// <returns>
    /// A <see cref="DateTime"/> equivalent to the date and time contained in <paramref name="s"/>, 
    /// expressed as <i>Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)</i>.
    /// </returns>
    /// <remarks>
    /// The string <paramref name="s"/> is parsed using formatting information in the <see cref="DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantInfo"/> object.
    /// </remarks>
    /// <exception cref="ArgumentNullException"><paramref name="s"/> is a <b>null</b> reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).</exception>
    /// <exception cref="ArgumentNullException"><paramref name="s"/> is an empty string.</exception>
    /// <exception cref="FormatException"><paramref name="s"/> does not contain a valid RFC 822 string representation of a date and time.</exception>
    public static DateTime Parse(string s)
    {
        //------------------------------------------------------------
        //  Validate parameter
        //------------------------------------------------------------
        if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(s))
        {
          throw new ArgumentNullException("s");
        }

        DateTime result;
        if (Rfc822DateTime.TryParse(s, out result))
        {
            return result;
        }
        else
        {
            throw new FormatException(String.Format(null, "{0} is not a valid RFC 822 string representation of a date and time.", s));
        }
    }
    #endregion

    #region ConvertZoneToLocalDifferential(string s)
    /// <summary>
    /// Converts the time zone component of an RFC 822 date and time string representation to its local differential (time zone offset).
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="s">A string containing an RFC 822 date and time to convert.</param>
    /// <returns>A date and time string that uses local differential to describe the time zone equivalent to the date and time contained in <paramref name="s"/>.</returns>
    /// <exception cref="ArgumentNullException"><paramref name="s"/> is a <b>null</b> reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).</exception>
    /// <exception cref="ArgumentNullException"><paramref name="s"/> is an empty string.</exception>
    public static string ConvertZoneToLocalDifferential(string s)
    {
        string zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential   = String.Empty;

        //------------------------------------------------------------
        //  Validate parameter
        //------------------------------------------------------------
        if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(s))
        {
          throw new ArgumentNullException("s");
        }

        if(s.EndsWith(" UT", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential  = String.Concat(s.Substring(0, (s.LastIndexOf(" UT") + 1) ), "+00:00");
        }
        else if (s.EndsWith(" GMT", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential  = String.Concat(s.Substring(0, (s.LastIndexOf(" GMT") + 1 ) ), "+00:00");
        }
        else if (s.EndsWith(" EST", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential  = String.Concat(s.Substring(0, (s.LastIndexOf(" EST") + 1)), "-05:00");
        }
        else if (s.EndsWith(" EDT", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential  = String.Concat(s.Substring(0, (s.LastIndexOf(" EDT") + 1)), "-04:00");
        }
        else if (s.EndsWith(" CST", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential  = String.Concat(s.Substring(0, (s.LastIndexOf(" CST") + 1)), "-06:00");
        }
        else if (s.EndsWith(" CDT", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential  = String.Concat(s.Substring(0, (s.LastIndexOf(" CDT") + 1)), "-05:00");
        }
        else if (s.EndsWith(" MST", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential  = String.Concat(s.Substring(0, (s.LastIndexOf(" MST") + 1)), "-07:00");
        }
        else if (s.EndsWith(" MDT", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential  = String.Concat(s.Substring(0, (s.LastIndexOf(" MDT") + 1)), "-06:00");
        }
        else if (s.EndsWith(" PST", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential  = String.Concat(s.Substring(0, (s.LastIndexOf(" PST") + 1)), "-08:00");
        }
        else if (s.EndsWith(" PDT", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential  = String.Concat(s.Substring(0, (s.LastIndexOf(" PDT") + 1)), "-07:00");
        }
        else if (s.EndsWith(" Z", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential  = String.Concat(s.Substring(0, (s.LastIndexOf(" Z") + 1)), "+00:00");
        }
        else if (s.EndsWith(" A", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential  = String.Concat(s.Substring(0, (s.LastIndexOf(" A") + 1)), "-01:00");
        }
        else if (s.EndsWith(" M", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential  = String.Concat(s.Substring(0, (s.LastIndexOf(" M") + 1)), "-12:00");
        }
        else if (s.EndsWith(" N", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential  = String.Concat(s.Substring(0, (s.LastIndexOf(" N") + 1)), "+01:00");
        }
        else if (s.EndsWith(" Y", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
        {
            zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential  = String.Concat(s.Substring(0, (s.LastIndexOf(" Y") + 1)), "+12:00");
        }
        else
        {
            zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential  = s;
        }

        return zoneRepresentedAsLocalDifferential;
    }
    #endregion

    #region ToString(DateTime utcDateTime)
    /// <summary>
    /// Converts the value of the specified <see cref="DateTime"/> object to its equivalent string representation.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="utcDateTime">The Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) <see cref="DateTime"/> to convert.</param>
    /// <returns>A RFC 822 string representation of the value of the <paramref name="utcDateTime"/>.</returns>
    /// <exception cref="ArgumentException">The specified <paramref name="utcDateTime"/> object does not represent a <see cref="DateTimeKind.Utc">Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)</see> value.</exception>
    public static string ToString(DateTime utcDateTime)
    {
        if (utcDateTime.Kind != DateTimeKind.Utc)
        {
            throw new ArgumentException("utcDateTime");
        }

        return utcDateTime.ToString(Rfc822DateTime.Rfc822DateTimeFormat, DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantInfo);
    }
    #endregion

    #region TryParse(string s, out DateTime result)
    /// <summary>
    /// Converts the specified string representation of a date and time to its <see cref="DateTime"/> equivalent.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="s">A string containing a date and time to convert.</param>
    /// <param name="result">
    /// When this method returns, contains the <see cref="DateTime"/> value equivalent to the date and time 
    /// contained in <paramref name="s"/>, expressed as <i>Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)</i>, 
    /// if the conversion succeeded, or <see cref="DateTime.MinValue">MinValue</see> if the conversion failed. 
    /// The conversion fails if the s parameter is a <b>null</b> reference (Nothing in Visual Basic), 
    /// or does not contain a valid string representation of a date and time. 
    /// This parameter is passed uninitialized.
    /// </param>
    /// <returns><b>true</b> if the <paramref name="s"/> parameter was converted successfully; otherwise, <b>false</b>.</returns>
    /// <remarks>
    /// The string <paramref name="s"/> is parsed using formatting information in the <see cref="DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantInfo"/> object. 
    /// </remarks>
    public static bool TryParse(string s, out DateTime result)
    {
        //------------------------------------------------------------
        //  Attempt to convert string representation
        //------------------------------------------------------------
        bool wasConverted   = false;
        result              = DateTime.MinValue;

        if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(s))
        {
            DateTime parseResult;
            if (DateTime.TryParseExact(Rfc822DateTime.ConvertZoneToLocalDifferential(s), Rfc822DateTime.Rfc822DateTimePatterns, DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantInfo, DateTimeStyles.AdjustToUniversal, out parseResult))
            {
                result          = DateTime.SpecifyKind(parseResult, DateTimeKind.Utc);
                wasConverted    = true;
            }
        }

        return wasConverted;
    }
    #endregion
}

Solution 2

Try this:

  DateTime today = DateTime.Now;
  String rfc822 = today.ToString("r");
  Console.WriteLine("RFC-822 date: {0}", rfc822);

  DateTime parsedRFC822 = DateTime.Parse(rfc822);
  Console.WriteLine("Date: {0}", parsedRFC822);

The "r" format specifier passed into DateTime's ToString() method actually yields an RFC-1123-formatted datetime string, but passes as an RFC-822 date as well, based on reading the specification found at http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc822/#z28. I've used this method in creating RSS feeds, and they pass validation based on the validator available at http://validator.w3.org/feed/check.cgi.

The downside is that, in the conversion, it converts the datetime to GMT. To convert back to local time you would need to apply your local timezone offset. For that, you might use the TimeZone class to get your current timezone offset, and replace "GMT" with a timezone offset string:

TimeZone tz = TimeZone.CurrentTimeZone;

String offset = tz.GetUtcOffset().ToString();
// My locale is Mountain time; offset is set to "-07:00:00"
// if local time is behind utc time, offset should start with "-".
// otherwise, add a plus sign to the beginning of the string.
if (!offset.StartsWith("-"))
  offset = "+" + offset; // Add a (+) if it's a UTC+ timezone
offset = offset.Substring(0,6); // only want the first 6 chars.
offset = offset.Replace(":", ""); // remove colons.
// offset now looks something like "-0700".
rfc822 = rfc822.Replace("GMT", offset);
// The rfc822 string can now be parsed back to a DateTime object,
// with the local time accounted for.
DateTime new = DateTime.Parse(rfc822);

Solution 3

Following Kirk's idea, I decompiled sources for System.ServiceModel.Syndication.Rss20FeedFormatter class (System.ServiceModel.dll) and here is Microsoft internal parser for RFC 822 dates format (I slightly simplified their exception handling logic to reduce dependencies):

public static class DateTimeParser
{
    public static DateTimeOffset ParseDateTimeRFC822(string dateTimeString)
    {
        StringBuilder dateTimeStringBuilder = new StringBuilder(dateTimeString.Trim());
        if (dateTimeStringBuilder.Length < 18)
        {
            throw new FormatException("Invalid date format. Expected date in RFC 822 format");
        }
        if (dateTimeStringBuilder[3] == ',')
        {
            // There is a leading (e.g.) "Tue, ", strip it off
            dateTimeStringBuilder.Remove(0, 4);
            // There's supposed to be a space here but some implementations dont have one
            RemoveExtraWhiteSpaceAtStart(dateTimeStringBuilder);
        }
        ReplaceMultipleWhiteSpaceWithSingleWhiteSpace(dateTimeStringBuilder);
        if (char.IsDigit(dateTimeStringBuilder[1]))
        {
            // two-digit day, we are good
        }
        else
        {
            dateTimeStringBuilder.Insert(0, '0');
        }
        if (dateTimeStringBuilder.Length < 19)
        {
            throw new FormatException("Invalid date format. Expected date in RFC 822 format");
        }
        bool thereAreSeconds = (dateTimeStringBuilder[17] == ':');
        int timeZoneStartIndex;
        if (thereAreSeconds)
        {
            timeZoneStartIndex = 21;
        }
        else
        {
            timeZoneStartIndex = 18;
        }
        string timeZoneSuffix = dateTimeStringBuilder.ToString().Substring(timeZoneStartIndex);
        dateTimeStringBuilder.Remove(timeZoneStartIndex, dateTimeStringBuilder.Length - timeZoneStartIndex);
        bool isUtc;
        dateTimeStringBuilder.Append(NormalizeTimeZone(timeZoneSuffix, out isUtc));
        string wellFormattedString = dateTimeStringBuilder.ToString();

        DateTimeOffset theTime;
        string parseFormat;
        if (thereAreSeconds)
        {
            parseFormat = "dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss zzz";
        }
        else
        {
            parseFormat = "dd MMM yyyy HH:mm zzz";
        }
        if (DateTimeOffset.TryParseExact(wellFormattedString, parseFormat,
            CultureInfo.InvariantCulture.DateTimeFormat,
            (isUtc ? DateTimeStyles.AdjustToUniversal : DateTimeStyles.None), out theTime))
        {
            return theTime;
        }
        throw new FormatException("Invalid date format. Expected date in RFC 822 format");
    }

    static string NormalizeTimeZone(string rfc822TimeZone, out bool isUtc)
    {
        isUtc = false;
        // return a string in "-08:00" format
        if (rfc822TimeZone[0] == '+' || rfc822TimeZone[0] == '-')
        {
            // the time zone is supposed to be 4 digits but some feeds omit the initial 0
            StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder(rfc822TimeZone);
            if (result.Length == 4)
            {
                // the timezone is +/-HMM. Convert to +/-HHMM
                result.Insert(1, '0');
            }
            result.Insert(3, ':');
            return result.ToString();
        }
        switch (rfc822TimeZone)
        {
            case "UT":
            case "Z":
                isUtc = true;
                return "-00:00";
            case "GMT":
                return "-00:00";
            case "A":
                return "-01:00";
            case "B":
                return "-02:00";
            case "C":
                return "-03:00";
            case "D":
            case "EDT":
                return "-04:00";
            case "E":
            case "EST":
            case "CDT":
                return "-05:00";
            case "F":
            case "CST":
            case "MDT":
                return "-06:00";
            case "G":
            case "MST":
            case "PDT":
                return "-07:00";
            case "H":
            case "PST":
                return "-08:00";
            case "I":
                return "-09:00";
            case "K":
                return "-10:00";
            case "L":
                return "-11:00";
            case "M":
                return "-12:00";
            case "N":
                return "+01:00";
            case "O":
                return "+02:00";
            case "P":
                return "+03:00";
            case "Q":
                return "+04:00";
            case "R":
                return "+05:00";
            case "S":
                return "+06:00";
            case "T":
                return "+07:00";
            case "U":
                return "+08:00";
            case "V":
                return "+09:00";
            case "W":
                return "+10:00";
            case "X":
                return "+11:00";
            case "Y":
                return "+12:00";
            default:
                return "";
        }
    }

    static void RemoveExtraWhiteSpaceAtStart(StringBuilder stringBuilder)
    {
        int i = 0;
        while (i < stringBuilder.Length)
        {
            if (!char.IsWhiteSpace(stringBuilder[i]))
            {
                break;
            }
            ++i;
        }
        if (i > 0)
        {
            stringBuilder.Remove(0, i);
        }
    }

    static void ReplaceMultipleWhiteSpaceWithSingleWhiteSpace(StringBuilder builder)
    {
        int index = 0;
        int whiteSpaceStart = -1;
        while (index < builder.Length)
        {
            if (char.IsWhiteSpace(builder[index]))
            {
                if (whiteSpaceStart < 0)
                {
                    whiteSpaceStart = index;
                    // normalize all white spaces to be ' ' so that the date time parsing works
                    builder[index] = ' ';
                }
            }
            else if (whiteSpaceStart >= 0)
            {
                if (index > whiteSpaceStart + 1)
                {
                    // there are at least 2 spaces... replace by 1
                    builder.Remove(whiteSpaceStart, index - whiteSpaceStart - 1);
                    index = whiteSpaceStart + 1;
                }
                whiteSpaceStart = -1;
            }
            ++index;
        }
        // we have already trimmed the start and end so there cannot be a trail of white spaces in the end
        Debug.Assert(builder.Length == 0 || builder[builder.Length - 1] != ' ', "The string builder doesnt end in a white space");
    }
}

The first thing which may look unusual is that they return [DateTimeOffset][1] class instead of DateTime. But when we read more about it, it appears to be completely logical - DateTimeOffset stores date, time and timezone info (exactly as string in RFC 822 format). If you were returning just DateTime object, which timezone it would be in: UTC, local, or the one specified in parsed string - any answer would be wrong for some cases. So DateTimeOffset solves an important uncertainty problem. And you can convert it to timezone you need later using methods DateTimeOffset.ToUniversalTime(), DateTimeOffset.ToLocalTime().

I tested it on few cases and it seems it does the job perfectly.

I'm not sure though, why Microsoft decided to make this implementation private - it doesn't seem to require a lot of support.

Solution 4

Here is how Microsoft does it in the Rss20FeedFormatter. Oppositional's code doesn't get rid of the ":" in the GMT offset portion. Jeff Woodman's appears to do this. The code below does this as well (if not using Atom10FeedFormatter.zeroOffset).

private string AsString(DateTimeOffset dateTime)
{
    if (dateTime.Offset == Atom10FeedFormatter.zeroOffset)
    {
        return dateTime.ToUniversalTime().ToString("ddd, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss Z", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
    }
    StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder(dateTime.T)oString("ddd, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss zzz", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture));
    builder.Remove(builder.Length - 3, 1);
    return builder.ToString();
}

Solution 5

Based on the answer of Kirk Liemohn, I used this method with success:

private DateTimeOffset? ParseDate(string date)
    {
        const string FORMAT = "ddd, d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss zzz";
        const string FORMAT2 = "ddd, dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss zzz";
        const string FORMAT3 = "dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss zzz";
        const string FORMAT4 = "d MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss zzz";
        DateTimeOffset d;
        if (DateTimeOffset.TryParseExact(date, new string[] { FORMAT, FORMAT2, FORMAT3, FORMAT4 }, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.AllowLeadingWhite | DateTimeStyles.AllowTrailingWhite, out d))
            return d;
        return null;
    }

Example:

DateTimeOffset? date = ParseDate("Thu, 5 Apr 2012 23:47:37 +0200");
Console.WriteLine(date.ToString());
// => 05/04/2012 23:47:37 +02:00

It does not respect full spec of RFC but it works for my use cases.

Specifically, it does not work with timezone express like : "GMT", "CST", etc. (see "zone" in RFC822 Section 5.1). See the better answer of Oleksandr Pshenychnyy.

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Oppositional
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Oppositional

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Updated on July 09, 2022

Comments

  • Oppositional
    Oppositional almost 2 years

    How do I convert a DateTime structure to its equivalent RFC 822 date-time formatted string representation and parse this string representation back to a DateTime structure in .NET? The RFC-822 date-time format is used in a number of specifications such as the RSS Syndication Format.

  • user2294401
    user2294401 over 14 years
    The use of the Guard type in this code reminds me of the solution in the Argotic Syndication Framework. Is this beta code from Argotic? Their solution to this problem in the latest version of Argotic is best I've seen.
  • Oppositional
    Oppositional over 14 years
    This isn't beta code from Argotic, and I believe the latest of Argotic probobly has a better implmeentation than the one outlined here.
  • aron
    aron over 13 years
    Error 4 The name 'Guard' does not exist in the current -1 for not submitting working code
  • Richard Fawcett
    Richard Fawcett almost 12 years
    It seems that you're only handling the single letter suffixes A, M, N, Y and Z. The specification says that all letters other than J are permitted, with A-M (excl J) representing the range -1 to -12 hours, and the range N to Y representing +1 to +12 hours.
  • Michiel van Oosterhout
    Michiel van Oosterhout over 11 years
    In RFC 822 dates, the name of the day and the seconds of the time are optional. This is not handled by this code example.
  • Adrian
    Adrian over 6 years
    Can't resolve Atom10FeedFormatter. How do I fix that under VS2015?
  • Kirk Liemohn
    Kirk Liemohn over 6 years
    It has been 7 years, so maybe this won't work, but try the following if you haven't yet. Include System.ServiceModel.dll as an assembly reference and add a using statement for System.ServiceModel.Syndication. See also: msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/…