Parse DateTime in c# from strange format
Solution 1
You can use DateTime.ParseExact, or DateTime.TryParseExact for data which you're not confident in. For example:
using System;
class Test
{
static void Main()
{
string formatString = "yyyy'##'MM'##'dd' 'HH'*'mm'*'ss";
string sampleData = "2010##02##10 07*22*15";
Console.WriteLine(DateTime.ParseExact(sampleData,
formatString,
null));
}
}
The quotes in the format string aren't strictly necessary - this will work too:
string formatString = "yyyy##MM##dd HH*mm*ss";
However, using the quotes means you're being explicit that the characters between the quotes are to be used literally, and not understood as pattern characters - so if you changed "#" to "/" the version using quotes would definitely use "/" whereas the version without would use a culture-specific value.
The null
in the call to ParseExact
means "use the current culture" - in this case it's unlikely to make much difference, but a commonly useful alternative is CultureInfo.InvariantCulture
.
It's unfortunate that there's no way of getting the BCL to parse the format string and retain the information; my own Noda Time project rectifies this situation, and I'm hoping it'll make parsing and formatting a lot faster - but it's far from production-ready at the moment.
Solution 2
You can use DateTime.ParseExact method and pass the format you need.
Grant
Updated on March 03, 2020Comments
-
Grant about 4 years
if i have a datetime string in a weird format, such as
YYYY##MM##DD HH**M**SS
, how can i create a new datetime object base on that? i have read something about the datetimeformatinfoclass but not sure how to get it working.. -
Admin about 14 yearsthis is the most efficient way to parse a
string
toDateTime
. parsing with.Parse()
and.TryParse()
without format info is f..king damn slow! -
Tanzelax about 14 yearsmsdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/8kb3ddd4.aspx has the relevant parsing, if you're providing your own formatString