C# DateTime format

last modified July 5, 2023

In this article we show how to do formatting of DateTime objects in C#.

C# DateTime

The DateTime value type represents dates and times with values ranging from 00:00:00 (midnight), January 1, 0001 Anno Domini (Common Era) through 11:59:59 P.M., December 31, 9999 A.D. (C.E.) in the Gregorian calendar.

Format methods

To format DateTime objects, we can use DateTime.ToString, String.Format or interpolated string syntax such as $"{now:D}".

C# standard format specifiers

A standard datetime format string uses a single character format specifier to define the text representation of a DateTime value. For instance, the D format specifier denotes a long date format.

Specifier	Meaning	Example
D	long date	Saturday, March 26, 2022
d	short date	3/26/2022
F	full date long	Saturday, March 26, 2022 12:59:46 PM
f	full date short	Saturday, March 26, 2022 12:59 PM
G	general long	3/26/2022 12:59:46 PM
g	general short	3/26/2022 12:59 PM
U	universal full	Saturday, March 26, 2022 11:59:46 AM
u	universal sortable	2022-03-26 12:59:46Z
s	sortable	2022-03-26T12:59:46
T	long time	12:59:46 PM
t	short time	12:59 PM
O	ISO 8601	2022-03-26T12:59:46.7831825+01:00
R	RFC 1123	Sat, 26 Mar 2022 12:59:46 GMT
M	month	March 26
Y	year month	March 2022

The table lists standard datetime format specifiers in C#.

Program.cs

var now = DateTime.Now;

Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("D"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("d"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("F"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("f"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("G"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("g"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("U"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("u"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("s"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("T"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("t"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("O"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("R"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("M"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("Y"));

In the example, we use standard datetime format specifiers in the DateTime.ToString method to print the current datetime.

$ dotnet run 
Saturday, March 26, 2022
3/26/2022
Saturday, March 26, 2022 1:15:12 PM
Saturday, March 26, 2022 1:15 PM
3/26/2022 1:15:12 PM
3/26/2022 1:15 PM
Saturday, March 26, 2022 12:15:12 PM
2022-03-26 13:15:12Z
2022-03-26T13:15:12
1:15:12 PM
1:15 PM
2022-03-26T13:15:12.6729121+01:00
Sat, 26 Mar 2022 13:15:12 GMT
March 26
March 2022

Program.cs

var now = DateTime.Now;

Console.WriteLine($"{now:D}");
Console.WriteLine($"{now:d}");
Console.WriteLine($"{now:F}");
Console.WriteLine($"{now:f}");
Console.WriteLine($"{now:G}");
Console.WriteLine($"{now:g}");
Console.WriteLine($"{now:U}");
Console.WriteLine($"{now:u}");
Console.WriteLine($"{now:s}");
Console.WriteLine($"{now:T}");
Console.WriteLine($"{now:t}");
Console.WriteLine($"{now:O}");
Console.WriteLine($"{now:R}");
Console.WriteLine($"{now:M}");
Console.WriteLine($"{now:Y}");

In the example, we use standard datetime format specifiers inside interpolated strings to print the current datetime.

C# culture-specific standard format specifiers

We can pass the CultureInfo to the formatting method.

Program.cs

using System.Globalization;

var now = DateTime.Now;

var ci = CultureInfo.CreateSpecificCulture("sk-SK");
CultureInfo.DefaultThreadCurrentCulture = ci;

Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("D"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("d"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("F"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("f"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("G"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("g"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("U"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("u"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("s"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("T"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("t"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("O"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("R"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("M"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("Y"));

In the example, we print the current datetime with the standard datetime format specifiers for the Slovak culture.

$ dotnet run 
sobota 26. marca 2022
26. 3. 2022
sobota 26. marca 2022 13:22:00
sobota 26. marca 2022 13:22
26. 3. 2022 13:22:00
26. 3. 2022 13:22
sobota 26. marca 2022 12:22:00
2022-03-26 13:22:00Z
2022-03-26T13:22:00
13:22:00
13:22
2022-03-26T13:22:00.4524483+01:00
Sat, 26 Mar 2022 13:22:00 GMT
26. marca
marec 2022

C# custom datetime format specifiers

Custom datetime format specifiers are additional specifiers that allow us to build our own datetime formats.

Specifier	Meaning
d	The day of the month, from 1 through 31.
dd	The day of the month, from 01 through 31.
ddd	The abbreviated name of the day of the week.
dddd	The full name of the day of the week.
f	The tenths of a second in a date and time value.
ff	The hundredths of a second in a date and time value.
fff	The milliseconds in a date and time value.
ffff	The ten thousandths of a second in a date and time value.
fffff	The hundred thousandths of a second in a date and time value..
ffffff	The hundredths of a second in a date and time value.
fffffff	The millionths of a second in a date and time value.
ffffffff	The ten millionths of a second in a date and time value.
g/gg	The period or era.
h	The hour, using a 12-hour clock from 1 to 12.
hh	The hour, using a 12-hour clock from 01 to 12.
H	The hour, using a 24-hour clock from 0 to 23.
HH	The hour, using a 24-hour clock from 00 to 23.
K	Time zone information.
m	The minute, from 0 through 59.
mm	The minute, from 00 through 59.
M	The month, from 1 through 12.
MM	The month, from 01 through 12.
MMM	The abbreviated name of the month.
MMMM	The full name of the month.
s	The second, from 0 through 59.
ss	The second, from 00 through 59.
t	The first character of the AM/PM designator.
tt	The AM/PM designator.
y	The year, from 0 to 99.
yy	The year, from 00 to 99.
yyy	The year, with a minimum of three digits.
yyyy	The year as a four-digit number.
yyyyy	The year as a five-digit number.
z	Hours offset from UTC, with no leading zeros.
zz	Hours offset from UTC, with a leading zero for a single-digit value.
zzz	Hours and minutes offset from UTC.

The table shows custom datetime format specifiers in C#.

Program.cs

var now = DateTime.Now;

Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("M/d/yy"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("MM/dd/yyyy"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("yy-MM-dd"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("yy-MMM-dd ddd"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("yyyy-M-d dddd"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("yyyy MMMM dd"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("h:mm:ss tt zzz"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("HH:m:s tt zzz"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("hh:mm:ss t z"));
Console.WriteLine(now.ToString("HH:mm:ss tt zz"));

In the example, we build a few custom datetime formats.

$ dotnet run
3/26/22
03/26/2022
22-03-26
22-Mar-26 Sat
2022-3-26 Saturday
2022 March 26
1:44:03 PM +01:00
13:44:3 PM +01:00
01:44:03 P +1
13:44:03 PM +01

Parse datetime strings with format specifiers

Both standard and custom DateTime format specifiers can be used when parsing datetime strings into DateTime objects.

Program.cs

using System.Globalization;

var ds = "Thu Nov 11, 2021";
var dt = DateTime.ParseExact(ds, "ddd MMM dd, yyyy", CultureInfo.CurrentCulture);
Console.WriteLine(dt);

var ds2 = "10/22/2021";
var dt2 = DateTime.ParseExact(ds2, "d", CultureInfo.CurrentCulture);
Console.WriteLine(dt2);

In the example, we pass datetime format specifiers to the DateTime.ParseExact method.

$ dotnet run
11/11/2021 12:00:00 AM
10/22/2021 12:00:00 AM

Source

Custom date and time format strings

In this article we have formatted DateTime objects in C#.

Author

My name is Jan Bodnar, and I am a passionate programmer with extensive programming experience. I have been writing programming articles since 2007. To date, I have authored over 1,400 articles and 8 e-books. I possess more than ten years of experience in teaching programming.

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C# DateTime format

C# DateTime

Format methods

C# standard format specifiers

C# culture-specific standard format specifiers

C# custom datetime format specifiers

Parse datetime strings with format specifiers

Source

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