date time format issues in C#

Question

I am attmepting to change a date time format for a search from ddd MMM dd HH:mm:ss zzz yyyy to just simply yyyy-MM-dd i'm not able to get the syntax right in my conversion so any help would be great.

public DateTime CreatedAt { get { return DateTime.ParseExact(this.created_at, "ddd MMM dd HH:mm:ss zzz yyyy", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture); } } public DateTime SearchDate { get { return DateTime.ParseExact(CreatedAt.ToString(), "yyyy-MM-dd", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture); } }

searchDate is my issue.

Are you getting an error, or getting a DateTime object with the wrong values? — Geeky Guy
– Geeky Guy, Commented Oct 15, 2013 at 20:32

Pete · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-15 20:42:04Z

This won't work:

return DateTime.ParseExact(CreatedAt.ToString(), "yyyy-MM-dd", CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);

because CreatedAt.ToString() is going to create a date time string in the default format (not yyyy-MM-dd, which is how you're trying to read it).

But more importantly, why are you trying to convert a date from one string format time to another? If you have the DateTime value (CreatedAt, in this case), you can render it however you want (e.g. CreatedAt.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd")) There just doesn't seem to be any sense in converting it to a string and parsing parts of it.

And as Bob pointed out, if all you want is the date portion, take CreatedAt.Date. Try to think about what your real goal is, though and try to take the shortest route with the fewest conversions (and therefore conversion problems) as possible.

lol yeah unfortunately some nitpicker downvoted it, even though it was was the most helpful answer.

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