CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#
kriss
kriss

Reputation: 1015

DateTime parsing - unexpected result

I have datetime string

dateStr = "2017-03-21T23:00:00.000Z";

then I am calling 

var date = DateTime.Parse(dateStr);

and unexpectedly my date equals

22.03.2017 00:00:00

I expected it to be 21.03.2017 What's going on here?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 96

Answers (3)

Tom
Tom

Reputation: 11

Because the format of type 'DateTime' variable is 'YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss'. If you run this code:

var dt = DateTime.Now;
Console.WriteLine(dt);

You'll see '24/03/2017 12:54:47' If you have 'YYYY-MM-DD' format, add .ToString("dd-MM-yyyy"), then:

string dateStr = "2017-03-21T23:00:00.000Z";
var date = DateTime.Parse(dateStr).ToString("dd-MM-yyyy");

Result:'24-03-2017'

Upvotes: 0

chindirala sampath kumar
chindirala sampath kumar

Reputation: 651

if the date format does not change then you can use the below code to get date part from date string. But it is a bit risky due to its strict dependency on the input format. 

        string dateStr = "2017-03-21T23:00:00.000Z";
        int year = Int32.Parse(dateStr.Substring(0, 4));
        int month = Int32.Parse(dateStr.Substring(5, 2));
        int day = Int32.Parse(dateStr.Substring(8, 2));
        var date = new DateTime(year, month, day);
        Console.WriteLine(date);

Upvotes: 0

Colin Mackay
Colin Mackay

Reputation: 19175

DateTime.Parse() is locale specific and will take into account your local time zone when parsing dates.

If you are in CET (Central European Time) during the winter your offset is one hour ahead of UTC. The date given is marked with a Z indicating it is in UTC, so DateTime.Parse() will adjust that to your local timezone.

There is an override that allows you to change that behaviour if you want, by specifying a specific DateTimeStyles enum. DateTimeStyles.AdjustToUniversal is what you are looking for as that should keep the DateTime as UTC.

And if you only want the date part afterwards, you can just call .Date on the DateTime object you got back from Parse()

So, something like this:

var date = DateTime.Parse(dateStr, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.AdjustToUniversal).Date;

Upvotes: 4

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