String Format for DateTime [C#]

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 and DateTimeForma­tInfo.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