How to Convert a 'yyyyMMddHHmmss' String to a DateTime Object in C#?

Convert String to DateTime in C#

Converting a string date to a DateTime object in C# can be a challenging task, especially when dealing with non-standard formats. One such format is "yyyyMMddHHmmss", which represents a date without separators.

Problem:

Consider the following string date:

20090530123001

This string was created using dateTime.ToString("yyyyMMddHHmmss", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture). How can we convert it back into a proper DateTime object?

Solution:

The simplest approach is to use the DateTime.ParseExact method. This method takes three parameters:

• The string to be converted
• The format of the string
• The culture information (optional)

For the given string, we can use the following code:

DateTime dateTime = DateTime.ParseExact("20090530123001", "yyyyMMddHHmmss", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

This will successfully convert the string into a DateTime object.

Handling Invalid Formats:

However, if the string may not always be in the correct format, using ParseExact can result in a FormatException. To avoid this, you can use the DateTime.TryParseExact method instead. This method takes the same parameters as ParseExact but returns a boolean value indicating whether the conversion was successful.

The following code demonstrates how to use TryParseExact:

DateTime dateTime;
if (DateTime.TryParseExact("20090530123001", "yyyyMMddHHmmss", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, DateTimeStyles.None, out dateTime))
{
    // Conversion successful
}
else
{
    // Conversion failed
}

The above is the detailed content of How to Convert a 'yyyyMMddHHmmss' String to a DateTime Object in C#?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!