This example shows how to format DateTime using String.Format method. All formatting can be done also using DateTime.ToString method.
Custom DateTime Formatting
There are following custom format specifiers y
(year), M
(month), d
(day), h
(hour 12), H
(hour 24),m
(minute), s
(second), f
(second fraction), F
(second fraction, trailing zeroes are trimmed), t
(P.M or A.M) and z
(time zone).
Following examples demonstrate how are the format specifiers rewritten to the output.
[C#]
// create date time 2008-03-09 16:05:07.123
DateTime dt = new DateTime(2008, 3, 9, 16, 5, 7, 123); String.Format("{0:y yy yyy yyyy}", dt); // "8 08 008 2008" year
String.Format("{0:M MM MMM MMMM}", dt); // "3 03 Mar March" month
String.Format("{0:d dd ddd dddd}", dt); // "9 09 Sun Sunday" day
String.Format("{0:h hh H HH}", dt); // "4 04 16 16" hour 12/24
String.Format("{0:m mm}", dt); // "5 05" minute
String.Format("{0:s ss}", dt); // "7 07" second
String.Format("{0:f ff fff ffff}", dt); // "1 12 123 1230" sec.fraction
String.Format("{0:F FF FFF FFFF}", dt); // "1 12 123 123" without zeroes
String.Format("{0:t tt}", dt); // "P PM" A.M. or P.M.
String.Format("{0:z zz zzz}", dt); // "-6 -06 -06:00" time zone
You can use also date separator /
(slash) and time sepatator :
(colon). These characters will be rewritten to characters defined in the current DateTimeFormatInfo.DateSeparator andDateTimeFormatInfo.TimeSeparator.
[C#]
// date separator in german culture is "." (so "/" changes to ".")
String.Format("{0:d/M/yyyy HH:mm:ss}", dt); // "9/3/2008 16:05:07" - english (en-US)
String.Format("{0:d/M/yyyy HH:mm:ss}", dt); // "9.3.2008 16:05:07" - german (de-DE)
Here are some examples of custom date and time formatting:
[C#]
// month/day numbers without/with leading zeroes
String.Format("{0:M/d/yyyy}", dt); // "3/9/2008"
String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yyyy}", dt); // "03/09/2008" // day/month names
String.Format("{0:ddd, MMM d, yyyy}", dt); // "Sun, Mar 9, 2008"
String.Format("{0:dddd, MMMM d, yyyy}", dt); // "Sunday, March 9, 2008" // two/four digit year
String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yy}", dt); // "03/09/08"
String.Format("{0:MM/dd/yyyy}", dt); // "03/09/2008"
Standard DateTime Formatting
In DateTimeFormatInfo there are defined standard patterns for the current culture. For example property ShortTimePattern is string that contains value h:mm tt
for en-US culture and value HH:mm
for de-DE culture.
Following table shows patterns defined in DateTimeFormatInfo and their values for en-US culture. First column contains format specifiers for the String.Format method.
Specifier | DateTimeFormatInfo property | Pattern value (for en-US culture) |
---|---|---|
t |
ShortTimePattern | h:mm tt |
d |
ShortDatePattern | M/d/yyyy |
T |
LongTimePattern | h:mm:ss tt |
D |
LongDatePattern | dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy |
f |
(combination of D and t ) |
dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy h:mm tt |
F |
FullDateTimePattern | dddd, MMMM dd, yyyy h:mm:ss tt |
g |
(combination of d and t ) |
M/d/yyyy h:mm tt |
G |
(combination of d and T ) |
M/d/yyyy h:mm:ss tt |
m , M
|
MonthDayPattern | MMMM dd |
y , Y
|
YearMonthPattern | MMMM, yyyy |
r , R
|
RFC1123Pattern |
ddd, dd MMM yyyy HH':'mm':'ss 'GMT' (*)
|
s |
SortableDateTimePattern |
yyyy'-'MM'-'dd'T'HH':'mm':'ss (*)
|
u |
UniversalSortableDateTimePattern |
yyyy'-'MM'-'dd HH':'mm':'ss'Z' (*)
|
(*) = culture independent |
Following examples show usage of standard format specifiers in String.Format method and the resulting output.
[C#]
String.Format("{0:t}", dt); // "4:05 PM" ShortTime
String.Format("{0:d}", dt); // "3/9/2008" ShortDate
String.Format("{0:T}", dt); // "4:05:07 PM" LongTime
String.Format("{0:D}", dt); // "Sunday, March 09, 2008" LongDate
String.Format("{0:f}", dt); // "Sunday, March 09, 2008 4:05 PM" LongDate+ShortTime
String.Format("{0:F}", dt); // "Sunday, March 09, 2008 4:05:07 PM" FullDateTime
String.Format("{0:g}", dt); // "3/9/2008 4:05 PM" ShortDate+ShortTime
String.Format("{0:G}", dt); // "3/9/2008 4:05:07 PM" ShortDate+LongTime
String.Format("{0:m}", dt); // "March 09" MonthDay
String.Format("{0:y}", dt); // "March, 2008" YearMonth
String.Format("{0:r}", dt); // "Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:05:07 GMT" RFC1123
String.Format("{0:s}", dt); // "2008-03-09T16:05:07" SortableDateTime
String.Format("{0:u}", dt); // "2008-03-09 16:05:07Z" UniversalSortableDateTime