CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#
Tom
Tom

Reputation: 2230

DateTime.ParseExact is failing (string not valid datetime format)

I am trying to use DateTime.ParseExact on a timestamp that uses the format M/d/yyyy HH:mm:ss:fff and the compiler is telling me that this is not going to happen.

An example of my timestamp is:

3/26/2013 14:37:05:553

...and an example of my code is, where _CultureInfo is en-us.

DateTime someDateTime = DateTime.ParseExact("3/26/2013 14:37:05:553","M/d/yyyy HH:mm:ss:fff", _CultureInfo.DateTimeFormat);

See below image of what's going on... am I missing something?

enter image description here

New Edit

I've tried a couple more things with still no luck:

Below is something you can throw into a Console and run to see exactly how this is behaving on my end.

    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            CsvImporter importer = new CsvImporter();

            DateTime readtime = importer.Parse(@"""3/26/2013 14:37:07:238,00:00:01.6850000,23.138,23.488,23.175""");

            Console.WriteLine(readtime.ToString());
        }
    }

    class CsvImporter
    {
        public Char[] _SeparatorChars = new Char[] { ',' };

        public DateTime Parse(string text)
        {
            System.Globalization.CultureInfo _CultureInfo = System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentCulture;

            string txt = text.Replace('"', ' ');
            string[] columns = txt.Split(_SeparatorChars);

            return DateTime.ParseExact(columns[0], "M/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss:fff", _CultureInfo.DateTimeFormat);
            //return DateTime.ParseExact(columns[0], "M/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss.fff", System.Globalization.CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
        }
    }

Upvotes: 2

Views: 3177

Answers (3)

Tom
Tom

Reputation: 2230

The issue is with string txt = text.Replace('"', ' ');

This is turning column[0] into [space]3/26/2013 14:37:05:553 instead of 3/26/2013 14:37:05:553 like I'd expect.

Changing this line to string txt = text.Replace(@"""", ""); solves the problem.

Upvotes: 1

Joe Enos
Joe Enos

Reputation: 40393

Whenever you call ParseExact, make sure you're using an unambiguous format string. In .NET, the / character in a format string is the system date separator, not an actual slash. Same for the : character in times.

To parse a string with your structure, escape out the slashes and colons with backslashes, like:

DateTime.ParseExact(s, @"M\/d\/yyyy HH\:mm\:ss\:fff", null)
// or
DateTime.ParseExact(s, "M\\/d\\/yyyy HH\\:mm\\:ss\\:fff", null)

This will tell the parser that you specifically want the forward-slash and colon, regardless of your system preferences or current culture.

Upvotes: 0

I4V
I4V

Reputation: 35353

Try this (Changed d to dd and CultureInfo.InvariantCulture )

DateTime someDateTime = DateTime.ParseExact("3/26/2013 14:37:05:553", "M/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss:fff", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

Upvotes: 4

Related Questions