The following table describes the standard format specifiers for formatting
the DateTime object.
Format specifier Name Description
d Short date pattern Displays a pattern defined by the
DateTimeFormatInfo.ShortDatePattern property associated with the current
thread or by a specified format provider.
D Long date pattern Displays a pattern defined by the
DateTimeFormatInfo.LongDatePattern property associated with the current
thread or by a specified format provider.
t Short time pattern Displays a pattern defined by the
DateTimeFormatInfo.ShortTimePattern property associated with the current
thread or by a specified format provider.
T Long time pattern Displays a pattern defined by the
DateTimeFormatInfo.LongTimePattern property associated with the current
thread or by a specified format provider.
f Full date/time pattern (short time) Displays a combination of the
long date and short time patterns, separated by a space.
F Full date/time pattern (long time) Displays a pattern defined by the
DateTimeFormatInfo.FullDateTimePattern property associated with the current
thread or by a specified format provider.
g General date/time pattern (short time) Displays a combination of the
short date and short time patterns, separated by a space.
G General date/time pattern (long time) Displays a combination of the
short date and long time patterns, separated by a space.
M or m Month day pattern Displays a pattern defined by the
DateTimeFormatInfo.MonthDayPattern property associated with the current
thread or by a specified format provider.
R or r RFC1123 pattern Displays a pattern defined by the
DateTimeFormatInfo.RFC1123Pattern property associated with the current
thread or by a specified format provider. This is a defined standard and the
property is read-only; therefore, it is always the same regardless of the
culture used, or the format provider supplied. The property references the
CultureInfo.InvariantCulture property and follows the custom pattern "ddd,
dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss G\MT". Note that the 'M' in "GMT" needs an escape
character so it is not interpreted. Formatting does not modify the value of
the DateTime; therefore, you must adjust the value to GMT before formatting.
s Sortable date/time pattern; conforms to ISO 8601 Displays a pattern
defined by the DateTimeFormatInfo.SortableDateTimePattern property
associated with the current thread or by a specified format provider. The
property references the CultureInfo.InvariantCulture property, and the
format follows the custom pattern "yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss".
u Universal sortable date/time pattern Displays a pattern defined by
the DateTimeFormatInfo.UniversalSortableDateTimePattern property associated
with the current thread or by a specified format provider. Because it is a
defined standard and the property is read-only, the pattern is always the
same regardless of culture or format provider. Formatting follows the custom
pattern "yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ssZ". No time zone conversion is done when the
date and time is formatted; therefore, convert a local date and time to
universal time before using this format specifier.
U Universal sortable date/time pattern Displays a pattern defined by
the DateTimeFormatInfo.FullDateTimePattern property associated with the
current thread or by a specified format provider. Note that the time
displayed is for the universal, rather than local time.
Y or y Year month pattern Displays a pattern defined by the
DateTimeFormatInfo.YearMonthPattern property associated with the current
thread or by a specified format provider.
Any other single character Unknown specifier
use DataGridTextBoxColumn.Format property to get the required format.
