CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#stringdatetime.net-4.0datetime-format
Jesse Webb
Jesse Webb

Reputation: 45243

Custom DateTime format string not working as expected

I have a custom DateTime format string: "M/d/yyyy h:m:ss tt".

For example, with the date 'September 18th, 2012 @ noon', I expect the output of this to be something like "9/18/2012 12:0:00 PM".

The time seems to be formatting properly, but the date portion is getting messed up. I am seeing the dates formatted as "MM-dd-yyyy" and I can't figure out why.

Here is some sample code to reproduce the problem:

var datetime = DateTime.Now;
Console.WriteLine("Date: " + datetime.ToString("MMMM d, yyyy"));       // Date: October 11, 2012 --> correct
Console.WriteLine("Date: " + datetime.ToString("M/d/yyyy h:m:ss tt")); // Date: 10-11-2012 4:34:17 PM --> wrong

Here is the MSDN doc for custom DateTime format strings.

Any ideas on what am I doing wrong? How can I achieve my desired result?

Edit:
The thing that is incorrect in the last line of sample code is that there is hyphens instead of slashes and I don't know why.

Also, my computer's language is set to English (Canada). But neither my "short" nor "long" date format look like M-d-yyyy so I have no idea where that is coming from.

Upvotes: 10

Views: 12639

Answers (5)

Cristian Latapiat
Cristian Latapiat

Reputation: 1

Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture = Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentCulture;
var datetime = DateTime.Now;
Console.WriteLine("Date: " + datetime.ToString("MMMM d, yyyy"));

// Date: October 11, 2012 --> correct
Console.WriteLine("Date: " + datetime.ToString("M/d/yyyy h:m:ss tt"));

Upvotes: 0

nerdybeardo
nerdybeardo

Reputation: 4675

Try the adding the invariant culture, Using the InvariantCulture Property

Console.WriteLine("Date: " + datetime.ToString("M/d/yyyy h:m:ss tt", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture));

Upvotes: 1

lahsrah
lahsrah

Reputation: 9173

Try: 

datetime.ToString("M/d/yyyy h:m:ss tt", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

Your culture might be overriding your date separator.

Upvotes: 14

MiMo
MiMo

Reputation: 11953

/ is the date separator, that is culture-dependant - in your current culture it is defined as -. If you want always a / use:

Console.WriteLine("Date: " + datetime.ToString("M\"/\"d\"/\"yyyy h:m:ss tt"));

or

Console.WriteLine("Date: " + datetime.ToString("M'/'d'/'yyyy h:m:ss tt"));

i.e. put the parts that you want to be output 'as is' inside quotes.

Upvotes: 19

V Maharajh
V Maharajh

Reputation: 9629

This article explains how the current culture can change the output of DateTime.ToString(string). Read the section that contains this text:

This method uses formatting information derived from the current culture

This article explains how to get/set the culture so that you can test this possibility.

This article explains how you can explicitly provide DateTime.ToString with a culture to use.

Upvotes: 2

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