Convert a string to a datetime using a pattern

[Iwan Petrow]

Hi,

I have a string which represent a date as follow: "dd-.MM-.yyyy hh:mm".
How could I convert this string to DateTime type (I prefer somehow to
set this as a pattern if it is possible because I have other
possibilities as "dd~MM~yyyy, hh:mm")?

Thanks.

 

[Arjen]

string myString = "1-1-2000";
DateTime myDateTime = DateTime.Parse(myString);

Hope this helps,
Arjen

 

[Mark Rae]

I have a string which represent a date as follow: "dd-.MM-.yyyy hh:mm".
How could I convert this string to DateTime type (I prefer somehow to
set this as a pattern if it is possible because I have other
possibilities as "dd~MM~yyyy, hh:mm")?

DateTime.Parse(...)

 

[Iwan Petrow]

Thanks.

But I want culture invariant.

I've found a class DateTimeFormatInfo which is good enough but I want
to forbid AM and PM. I use HH but it doesn't work (it accepts them).

Any ideas for forbidding them (AM and PM)?

 

[Ignacio Machin \( .NET/ C# MVP \)]

Hi,

One of the overloads of DateTime.ParseExact does it:

DateTime.ParseExact( "31-.12-.2005 23:51", "dd-.MM-.yyyy hh-.mm" ,
DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantInfo );

Note:
I wrote the above line from memory, it may have some error in the format,
check it first, also note that the casing is important MM=month and
mm=minutes

Cheers,

 

[Jon Skeet [C# MVP]]

But I want culture invariant.

In that case, pass the invariant culture into DateTime.ParseExact.

I've found a class DateTimeFormatInfo which is good enough but I want
to forbid AM and PM. I use HH but it doesn't work (it accepts them).

Any ideas for forbidding them (AM and PM)?

Have you tried using ParseExact rather than just Parse?

 

[Iwan Petrow]

Thanks

It works in most cases. But for this there is a problem:
DateTime.ParseExact( "31\\12\\2005", "dd\\MM\\yyyy" ,
DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantIn­fo );

It throws exception with message "string is not a date" or something
similar.
Why? Any solutions?

 

[Ignacio Machin \( .NET/ C# MVP \)]

Hi,

haa , tricky one , but easy to explain

if you look the help of DateTimeFormatInfo you will see at the botton that
there is a \c variant :
\ c Where c is any character. Displays the character
literally. To display the backslash character, use "\\".

So, if you change the expression to:

DateTime d = DateTime.ParseExact( @"31\12\2005", @"dd\\MM\\yyyy" ,
DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantInfo );

you will be ok, see that I use the @ at the start, IMO it's clearer that
using two \


cheers,

--
Ignacio Machin,
ignacio.machin AT dot.state.fl.us
Florida Department Of Transportation




Thanks

It works in most cases. But for this there is a problem:
DateTime.ParseExact( "31\\12\\2005", "dd\\MM\\yyyy" ,
DateTimeFormatInfo.InvariantInfo );

It throws exception with message "string is not a date" or something
similar.
Why? Any solutions?

 

[Vishal Mohan]

Vishal Mohan

(e-mail address removed)